Travel on Nandaja.

A walk (followed by sleeping on benches) to remember

Tue, 06 Dec 2016 19:58:42 +0530

I am sitting near a fireplace in the outskirts of Threlkeld, a lake district village. The view from the window is absolutely breathtaking. I can see mist covered farms grazed by sheep, snow clad mountains, winter struck trees, and tiny little stone cottages. I can’t help but contemplate my journey this past couple of weeks around the United Kingdom and Ireland and I can’t control my urge to write about how incredible an adventure it has been. Backpacking in this part of the world is very easy in terms of navigating your way through, but not so much when it comes to your budget, especially when you have Indian Rupees in your bank account(which sadly has hit its record low). But I must say, being on a low budget made my journey 10 times interesting - thanks to all the incredible people I met along the way who helped me out or shared the same low on the budget situation.

My journey this time started in Cambridge where I met the rest of the PeARS team members and had an amazing time working, meeting great people from the university, exploring Cambridge, and a lot more. We even got to go up to the roof of King’s college chapel(which is a privilege reserved to the fellows in the King’s college), attend the Friday choir service, enjoyed tea in a room where Alan Turing possibly once did the same, and a lot more things which will remain in my memories as long as my brain is in a state to remember things. After our small get-together in Cambridge, Hrishi and I set out on a journey to explore the rest of UK. We had the best of times roaming around London, walking all around Amesbury trying to have a look at Stonehenge, surviving by eating the apples we plucked out of the trees on the roadside, trying to hitch rides to save money, walking around the bays in Cardiff, getting to the port by bus to catch a ferry to Ireland in the freezing cold in late hours, and crashing with some awesome cool people in Dublin who were angels in our low budget situation. From there I had to continue my journey alone since he had to get back home. I traveled around Ireland hitching, trekking, couchsurfing, drinking, and doing all kinds of fun stuff. Ireland was a mesmerizing beauty. I think Ireland is definitely the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life and Irish are the nicest of people I have ever met in my life. From Belfast in Northern Ireland, I again took a ferry to a port in Scotland. I stayed with an amazing bunch of backpackers in Glasgow, then road-tripped around the Scottish highlands from Inverness with a couple of guys I met in the hostel, and then reached Edinburgh.

All I wrote so far was a build up for the beautiful, mighty old Edinburgh. It is not because Edinburgh was the best of my whole trip, but the most interesting thing happened in Edinburgh. So here it goes…

After my incredible journey around the Scottish highlands, I arrived at Edinburgh after a 5 hour bus journey - tired, famished and desperately in need for a bed. I walked half an hour from the bus station to get to the hostel I’ve reserved a bed in, for 8 pounds a night. As it turned out I got all the dates wrong and booked it for the next day. So there I was, on a Saturday night in Edinburgh with no place to stay and freezing. Initially I thought it could be nice thing after all. It is one of the safest cities in the world. I could just walk about the whole night, enjoying the night life, saving the 8 Pounds, and check in the next day. Boy, was I wrong! I got out, started walking outside to realize how cold it was. My spirits went down and I decided to try in some other hostels in the area. I started hopping from one hostel to another only to realize that most places were fully booked due to the weekend tourists and the rest were charging humongous sums of money for a night(The highest was 50 pounds a night! For a bed! In a hostel!). To tell you the truth, I didn’t have that much money left for the rest of my trip. So I again started walking and came face to face with the harsh truth that I was stranded in the city of Edinburgh in that bone chilling cold. After what felt like an eternity of walking(my watch said I only walked for an hour, but I was so damn sure that it was wrong!), I heard an angel singing “Shine on you crazy diamond” from somewhere. I walked and walked to find out where the angel is singing from to finally arrive in front of a pub where there was live music going on. There were bouncers in front of it, from whom I got to know that the pub is open till 3 O’clock in the morning. A roof above my head till 3AM! I immediately went inside and ordered myself the cheapest beer they had, which wasn’t that cheap though. Then the party crowd arrived, most of them were very drunk(so very nice). I started talking and even dancing, and more drinking. In effect I spent more than what I would have spent in my supposed hostel booking. The crowd was too much and I decided to get out. From one of the bouncers, I got to know that the railway station will be open all night and I can sleep on a bench there. I reached the railway station at half past 2 only to realize that they close it at 12 O’clock.

I started walking again, badly in need to urinate and saw a McDonald’s that was open and packed with a lot of drunken Scottish people. I went straight in, ordered myself a cheeseburger and a coffee(I was hungry and cold) and used their facilities. Even McDonald’s had bouncers and I started talking with them. I helped them in cleaning after the mess the party people made. But unfortunately it was about to close and I had to hit the road again. The situation outside was very interesting. People shouting, throwing up, snogging, peeing, etc. I found a nice little bench near a park and decided to spend the rest of the night there. It was almost half past 3 by then. I took out my Kindle and started reading Notes from a small Island by Bill Bryson. He always brings my spirits up. Ironically, the part that my Kindle showed was the one when Bill Bryson is in Dover, with no place to stay and trying to get some sleep on a bench. The Universe was screwing with me big time.

Drunken Scottish people offer all kind of things, if they see you on a roadside bench in the middle of the night. These things can range from drinks, smokes, drugs, kisses, to more non-materialistic things like peace of mind, enlightenment, and ecstasy(or does it belong to the first category?), but no one offered a place to stay. I decided to walk again because it was too cold just to sit there. I walked and walked. I helped people with useful information like where they can throw-up, urinate, find a bus, etc. because I have seen them all. I finally arrived at another McDonald’s which is open 24 hours. The place was again packed, but I decided to get another coffee and sit there till dawn. I got a coffee and found a place in the far end so no one would notice. To my dismay, a bouncer did notice and asked me to leave(it was very humiliating, of course). I again started walking. The clock was hitting 5 now. Almost there, I thought. I saw a guy walking with a lot of takeaway food and soft drinks in his hand(more than what he could handle), biting on his room key. I asked him if he wanted some help. He said yes and immediately asked how much do I want. He thought I was a homeless person trying to get some money from somewhere for my next beer. I politely let him know that I was just homeless for that particular night and he accepted my offer to help him for free(Should have charged him 10 pounds!). When we were walking he said they were having an after party at his place and asked me to join them. How bad can it be, I decided to go in. His friends were 5 Scots in their early 20s, 2 girls and 3 boys, who were very drunk. Two girls were spooning with a guy, and one of the girls was topless. Another guy was wearing the girl’s bra and dancing. It was a very interesting group of people. They offered me some expensive drink which I politely declined. One of the girls started talking to me how much she wants to do “world travel”, which is the reason why she dropped out of colleges thrice. I listened to all of their ramblings till half past 6 and then took my leave(to my great relief). It was morning, and birds were chirping and my miseries were coming to an end. I went back to my first hostel and they let me in to the warmth of their sitting room. And I survived the night…

If you’re still with me, please get your dates right and Don’t Panic!

I only have one more week to go on this trip, so I doubt if I will have such interesting experiences in the days to come. Thank goodness for that! Bye for now. I should get back to my tea and the incredible view now.

Peace.

Travelling In And Around North India

Sun, 04 Sep 2016 18:58:42 +0530

When I quit my job, everyone kept asking - ‘So, what next?’ to which I politely replied - ‘Nothing decided yet’. In my mind, I already had the plan though. I wanted to travel. Where to? I knew that as well. I wanted to explore my vast and diverse country. I thought I will finish off my country first and then will go on to the South-East Asian countries, as if it is even possible to “finish off” seeing India. I have been on the road for a couple of months now and I haven’t even scratched the surface of the country. Every single place I have been so far had some novelty or other to offer. Looking back, this journey has been life changing. The experiences I have had - some good and some bad, gave me a lot of perspective on my own life. Moreover, I realised how perfectly content I am just being with myself. I always used to think I was an introvert. I was a bit shy in public and never felt comfortable in a big group. Travelling alone, when I got so comfortable being with myself, I started getting along with people so well. Someone wise once told me - ‘If you are not happy being with yourself, you can never be happy being with other people’. I understand what he meant now.

Every single memory I made will be cherished eternally, but still I do have some favourites. Like sleeping in a railway station platform, riding a bike up in the Himalayas, the trek I did in Pokhara, the 10 day silent Vipassana meditation retreat(story for a whole new blog post),celebrating my birthday with some total strangers I met, hitchhiking in the outskirts of Nepal, the delicious Tibetan bread that a lady prepared for me inviting me to her abode in Darjeeling, etc. Unlike my last trip, this time I was working alongside on the project PeARS[product placement] and it felt so relaxing working by looking at ever changing landscapes.

Only one word that can describe my feeling when this picture was taken - Liberation! And that makes this picture my favourite

All the stories you hear growing up, how people are so bad in the country, why a woman should never travel alone, etc. makes you so prejudiced about people. I didn’t even have a single bad experience of that sort (I, of course, travelled sensibly and cautiously not to get into trouble). People turned out to be really nice and most of the localites were curious to know why a girl from Kerala is travelling alone in the North. I went completely mental one day and decided to take a local bus from the India-Nepal border to Varanasi. The journey took almost 12 hours and was extremely uncomfortable. I was the only woman in the bus. The bus driver and the conductor made sure I never felt insecure. They made me sit in the front seat, kept talking to me whenever they could and even offered me tea. Well, my faith in humanity is restored, folks!

People have asked me before why I like travelling. I hated that question. One of my friends said travelling is a fad. Truth be said, I didn’t have anything to say in my defence. I think I now have an answer. How sometimes you start feeling that your life has started following a routine and everything has kind of become static, is something I could never make peace with. And I think my initial attraction towards travelling was the absence of this feeling. Once I started travelling, I started to enjoy observing the day-to-day life of people. People leading their lives in manners completely different from the way we do back home. The way of life is heavily influenced by the local culture, the climate, the heredity, religion, and what not. You learn so much about the history of a place just by observing the common people. On top of it all, the fellow travellers you meet, with so many adventures of their own to talk about, leave you inspired and wanderlust-ing more.

In four days, I am heading back home and I feel like I had to end this journey rather abruptly, like I haven’t had enough of it. But I think, I will never have enough of it because road is where I belong, with changing images but one unchanging theme - Life. I return home, not with a heavy heart but with a lot of unforgettable experiences, to plan my next adventure.

Namaste!

The Day I Decided to Travel

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 15:58:42 +0530

It was exactly 4 months ago, on the day after I met with an accident and was temporarily crippled, which ironically was the day of my 23rd birthday, I made the best decision of my life. I decided to backpack in Europe as soon as I (literally) get back on my feet and, of course, the consulate allows.

Growing up, I haven’t traveled much even with my family, let alone solo. I never realized I even had a flair for traveling till last year, when I had my little adventure in Rajasthan. Going to Rome has been on my bucket list since high school. Also, a bit embarrassing to admit, I was scared to death that my parents will get me married to someone in an year and I will never get to travel alone again. So on a sunny Friday afternoon of September 4th 2015, I decided, just like that, to travel to Italy the coming December and experience the European winter and Christmas, no matter what. Boy, Am I happy I did!

With very less capability to move and having my mother taking care of me like a 4 year old(guilty pleasures), after work, I didn’t have much to do. So I spent a lot of my time looking up about Visa procedures, ticket fare, overall budget, places to visit, and what not. That’s when I realized, planning for a European is a lot of work. All the bullshit the travel agents tell you about the Visa(which by the way no one should ever listen to, period!), the contradicting advises you find about the same on travel forums, etc. can almost change your mind, almost! But I kept at it. Decided to apply for Visa by myself and started planning the entire trip. Within a month I made a pretty good itinerary for my trip, covering 8 countries and my time as a patient was nearing an end.

The next couple of weeks were really busy. I won’t bore you with the details of my further preparations like convincing the parents(Very difficult), getting the Schengen Visa(Very easy), winter shopping, booking the tickets and accommodations, etc.

As of January 11th 2016, it has been 2 weeks since I returned from my European backpacking trip. How was my trip, you ask? Honestly, I am out of words to describe how amazing it was!

I started my journey in Italy. My backpacking trail then advanced to Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and ended in France, from where I flew back to Bangalore.

I was trying to capture the mighty alps, ended up taking a spooky selfie

I now truly understand the term ‘Seeing the world’. I have heard people saying about folks who are age old that they have seen the world. I don’t know if you just live for a longer period you can see the world, but if you travel for a longer period, you definitely can, in every sense. While you travel, You don’t just see the sights, you see the people, their culture, their way of life, their take on life, and you realize that the world you have been living in was so small and confined. It is amazing how much your mind opens up in such a small time span. I have never felt this free, this independent and this hopeful ever in my life. I feel like telling every single person out there that the world is huge and there are a lot of things to see and do out there. Life is too short for them all, but start right now and cover as much as you can!

So, yes, I proudly remember the day I decided to go on the trip and plan to make more of such decisions in the years to come. My travel adventures are a bit too long for a single blog post. More on it are coming real soon! Stay tuned! ;-)

Au revoir!