Its been a long time that I have blogged about my travel stories. I realised I neither have the enthusiasm to write the nuances of a trip nor do i want to make it a commercial gig.
Hence, the posts come at their own pace. Also this blog is more like a personal travel journal and I have not come around the fact on why do I don’t want to do an all out commercial portal. That for some other day may be.
For now, i do have a story to tell.
Last year on this day, exactly this time, i had bought my sky blue backpack, left my well paying job in a television channel and packed off my stuff and left, left Bombay hoping to never really come back.
A year later I am here again back to the grind. But a lot happened on the road.
I have been a solo traveler since i was 21, which ideally means a decade back i took my bags and started travelling alone.
Earlier i used to save up and stay in fancy hotels as we didn’t have hostels as a concept then and a solo girl traveling in India was a rarity. Trust me it was.
But today it makes me so happy to see so many hostels springing up across the country and they operate with such professionalism that as a traveller i feel proud of the Indian hosteling landscape. Hence, over the last three years, i have never stayed in a hotel while traveling alone. I always, always end up in a hostel.
From Happy Panda hostel in Arambol to Lost Hostels in Varkala to the Zostel in Alleppy, Indian hostelling story is a revelation in its own. You would be surprised if i told you there are 5 hostels that I have personally counted in a small town like Arambol in North Goa, imagine the total number alone in Goa. And imagine the countless others spread across the country.
And yet, I meet very few Indian travellers who are genuinely happy traveling alone. Over the course of last decade I have figured a few things about solo traveling and I thought i should pen them down.
-Never be afraid of traveling alone. Its a journey of knowing ones own self. Everyday solo traveling throws up unexpected challenges and surprises, it is how we react in a situation to how we learn to let go or sometimes we just come to know a part of us which we didn’t know existed in our selves.
Everytime you are thrown into situations which are completely unexpected are the biggest lessons of our lives and when you handle it alone, simply on your own it will make you a far more confident person.
-When you solo travel for the first time, the first three days are the most challenging. You would be whatsapping, calling or simply surfing the net the whole time. Its on the third day either one completely gives up or falls in love with their own company. Luckily enough I find the little joy of sitting in a beach staring at the dark jet black cloudy sky mirroring on the sea while the horizon shines sparkling white far more enriching in life. And wait, wait for some more time, you will fall in love with the sea, sky, moutain, jungle, it wouldn’t matter where you are yoh will belong to the abundance of the world that’s nature.
-Smile, a traveler taught me to smile. She waltz into my life on a bright sunny morning in a hostel in Upper Dharamkot in Himachal Pradesh and said, helloo girl, why aren’t you smiling. She was refreshing and funnily the friends i made there, still remain my friends today. Would you believe if i told you a girl i met in the hostel who is from Slovenia is now coming to India and will be staying with me for holidays? You do end up finding some of the closest friends on the road.
-The joy of being on your feet, walking miles endlessly, losing the path, finding a new road or if you see something beautiful you can just sit take out your book and read or just stare into the nothingness of that moment and yet be filled with the most beautiful memories of your life. I remember cycling from one beach to the other, reading in one to napping on the other or to simply cycle around the entire Gili Trawangan in one go for hours! Its your choice, its your freedom its all yours to make your own decision, to think on your feet, to be alert or sometimes to simply let your hair down.
It means a lot of things to a lot of people to travel alone, for me its a part of who i am, not to differ from the crowd but simply to be myself, to be amazed by the magnanimity of the nature and smile from my soul 🙂
Barefoot-Stories 