pune fitness consultant garima kukreja has travelled to goa for the independence day long weekend to enjoy quality time with her family the kalyaninagar resident had planned the outing weeks in advance and the family of four drove down to the beach destination on saturday for a twoday staylike kukreja several wanderlusts have planned getaways with their friends and family to capitalize on the two consecutive public holidays in the week janmashtami on august 14 followed by independence daysharing her excitement garima said we like to head out on road trips and this long weekend suited us perfectly i have not taken a single day off thanks to the public holidays we zeroed in on goa early so that we could book before the last minute rush startedaccording to holiday planning companies this time bookings have been made much in advance courtesy the hype surrounding the longest weekend of the yeartravel companies like yatra reported more than a twofold surge in bookings by travellers as compared to the corresponding period last year expedia also pinned it on people travelling home for festivities such as rakshabandhan august 7 manmeet ahluwalia marketing head of expedia in india said indians love utilizing long weekends for short breaks and the trend has been catching up with young couples working singles and families dependent on schoolcollege holidays we have seen a growth of over 45 experiential travellers this year as indians plan short vacation with their familiessmart travellers took advantage of airfare sales to grab good deals said sharat dhall coo b2c of yatracom elaborating on local travellers holiday plans he said in the last few years we have seen a change in preferences among travellers from pune while budget hotels remain the preferred choice of accommodation homestays as a category has also gained popularity this weekend there has been a significant increase in the number of travellers from nearby cities visiting pune for trekking camping and adventure sportskaran anand head of relationships at cox kings shared details about the mostpreferred destinations august is the month of festivals especially in europe with many carnivals medieval fairs and music fests many indian travellers look forward to attend these carnivals and even combine a couple of european destinations together to enjoy the cultural shows to the fullest he said