PLANNING TRIPS WITH YOUR FRIENDS

Four best friends were finally chatting over coffee at their usual spot after exams were over.

Samia: Guys you know what would be fun? If we went on a trip together!

Adrita: Oh my god yes! How come we haven’t been anywhere together yet? We’ve known each other since we were like 16.

Lea: That’s because Nazia’s mom doesn’t let her go to the bathroom without putting a GPS tracker on her.

Nazia: Hey that was one time and only because I threatened I’ll escape through the window.  Nowadays I’m even allowed to go to the roof all alone. Sometimes. After all, I’m 21 now.

Adrita: Okay then let’s do this for real. I’m sick of seeing everyone else travel with their friends on my newsfeed while I sit at home not even getting to watch TV because my grandma’s watching Sultan Suleiman.

Samia: You like watching Sultan Suleiman with her. Why won’t you just admit it?!

Adrita: I do not! Anyways, where are we going?

Nazia: How about we go to Sylhet? We could stay at a nice resort and go trekking?

Lea: Sylhet? We could but how about we be a bit more adventurous and go trekking in Thailand or Malaysia?

Adrita: You know what guys? I’ve been dying to go to Maldives. Come on let me show you pictures of how gorgeous it is.

Nazia: No no, wait. I know where we should go! Greece! We didn’t watch Mamma Mia! four times for nothing.

Lea: We should do a whole Europe trip!

Nazia: We could even do a cruise!

Adrita: Didn’t Elon Musk launch commercial space flights last year? Should we be looking into that?

Samia: Lea doesn’t your dad have a link with some big travel company? We should be able to get cheap tickets right?

Lea: Oh, you’ve met my dad’s fifth cousin thrice removed, right? Well his boss’ brother’s cat owns a really big ticketing agency so we’re in luck!

Adrita: Yay! Okay let’s be a little realistic I mean we’re all students who are broke. We should stick to a cross Europe cruise! How much do we all have saved up? I know I’m completely broke.

Nazia: You’re not broke! Didn’t you post about the 10k worth of makeup you bought the other day, you liar?

Adrita: Which is exactly why I’m broke. Calm down.

Lea: Okay, so far I have managed to save up 8000 bucks. If my student pays me 5000 per month and I keep all my expenses to a bare minimum then according to my calculations, I should have about 3-4 lacs saved up right in a few more months. I mean we wouldn’t even need that much.

Adrita: You should probably check your math, Lea. And if all else fails, I’m selling that ring my ex gave me. You know the rare pure platinum and gold one with 15 diamonds on it? He said he paid upwards of 7 lac for it. I know we saw an eerily similar looking ring in Chandni Chawk for 400 Tk but he swore it just looked similar because of the lighting.

Nazia: No, of course we believe you. It’s not like that guy ever lied to you about anything else.

Samia: Nazia! You know Adrita’s still sensitive about the whole Samir situation.

Lea: Anyways, so money is sorted. Are all our parents going to let us go?

Nazia: Let’s tell them it’s a field trip.

Samia: Where only 4 people who just happen to be friends are going?

Adrita: Fine. I’ll say I’m going to attend some summit or conference of some sort.

Lea: For what? Your talents are finding people’s exes on Facebook and screaming at young couples who hold hands on the street because if you can’t do it, nobody else can.

Adrita: So, what’s your point?

Nazia: Which places do these cruises take you anyway? Do we get to go to Austria?

Lea: No, no this is a European cruise Nazia. No kangaroos for you.

Samia: Probably starts in Turkey. Then goes to Italy. Right past Sweden because it’s frozen all year. Then England, Spain, Venezuela and straight to Germany.

Adrita: That does sound nice. I’m in!

Lea: Let’s do this!

The four friends then proceeded to plan the rest of the trip but soon had to rush home because it was already 6 pm and all their moms were panicking. Nazia’s mom alerted the police just to be safe since Nazia said she would be home by 5.59 pm and it was now 6.

Still, the friends were hopeful knowing that soon, very soon, they would embark on a great adventure. It would happen. They knew it.

Mrittika Anan Rahman is a daydreamer trying hard not to run into things while walking. Find her at anan_rahman7@yahoo.com