I Made a Mistake While Planning My Kashi Trip—and It’s Been Eating Me Up

A planner’s confession: I love organizing family trips. But this time, I missed a key detail—and it consumed me.

🛕 The Excitement of Planning Our Kashi Pilgrimage

I’ve always been the trip planner in my family.

Whether it’s weekend getaways or religious yatras, I’m the one who looks up the routes, finds hotels, calculates budgets, and checks if grandpa will have a wheelchair available at the station. It excites me. It gives me purpose. And honestly? I love doing it.

So when we decided to visit Kashi (Varanasi), Prayagraj, and Ayodhya, I was thrilled. A spiritual trip with family, visiting sacred places, sharing meals, and creating memories—what could be more meaningful?

💻 Planning the Route: My First Mistake

I began researching flight tickets months in advance.

Lucknow seemed like the nearest big airport for Ayodhya, so I booked flights from Vijayawada to Lucknow, via Delhi. The timings worked, the layover was manageable, and the cost was reasonable.

Only later—after hours of obsessive re-checking and deep-diving into maps—did I discover:

Ayodhya has its own airport now.
A direct, faster, and much more convenient option existed.

And I didn’t know.

😓 What Followed Wasn’t Just Regret—it Was a Spiral

Since that realization, I’ve been stuck in a mental loop:

“Why didn’t I check once more?”
“Will my family be tired during the road journey from Lucknow to Ayodhya?”
“Will we miss out on time we could have spent relaxing?”
“Was I careless?”

Sleep got hard. I kept imagining uncomfortable car rides, cranky kids, tired parents, and that one comment: “We could have just flown to Ayodhya…”

🌊 The Added Pressure of Floods in Varanasi

As if the flight mistake wasn’t enough, another layer of anxiety crept in—flooding in Varanasi around our travel dates.

Questions piled up:

“Will the ghats even be accessible?”
“Is it safe to continue as planned?”
“Should I cancel everything and start over?”

The weight of keeping everyone safe—without disappointing them—felt crushing. I wasn’t just carrying an itinerary; I was carrying everyone’s wellbeing.

🧠 The Invisible Load of Being “The Planner”

People often praise the family planner—but rarely see the emotional load:

The desire to make everyone comfortable.
The responsibility you silently shoulder.
The self-criticism when things aren’t perfect.

My mistake wasn’t catastrophic.
But in my mind, it felt like I failed those who trusted me.

🧘 What I’m Slowly Learning…

I’ve had to gently tell myself the following—maybe you need it too:

I made decisions with love, not negligence.
I didn’t skip Ayodhya Airport out of laziness—I did my best with the info I had.
My family loves me, not my travel plan.
Even if we take a longer route, they’re still excited to be together.
There’s no perfect trip—only memorable ones.
Sometimes the unplanned car ride becomes the story everyone laughs about later.
Worrying doesn’t rewind time.
Being present—mentally and emotionally—can still save the trip.

🌼 Choosing Compassion Over Perfection

So here I am.
Still the planner. Still a bit anxious.
But a little kinder to myself.

If you’ve ever made a mistake planning a family event, a holiday, or even a simple dinner—and felt crushed by it—please know: you’re not alone.

You’re not failing. You’re feeling. And that’s what makes you someone who truly cares.

💬 Final Thoughts

I still think about that missed Ayodhya flight.
I still remember refreshing flood updates from Varanasi.

But here’s the truth: everything eventually went well.
We completed the trip, visited the sacred places, and made the kind of memories we’ll keep telling for years.

If you’ve been in a similar situation—or you’re the planner in your family—share your story with us via the Contact page. Your experience might help someone else, too.