How travelling changes you for good :)

Being a perplexed human being is the nucleus of life. Some experience it soon and some at a later stage. But to what extent we have evolved ourselves is all that matters. Change is the law of nature and a sure shot thing bound to happen.

To have tranquility within is a rare phenomena only few of us can achieve as life leaves so many scars over one that we don’t remain what we used to be.

To leave behind those scars is what life is all about. The purpose of life remains opaque to us.

We all need a self introspection in our lives and the best way to do it is by travelling.

This I understood when I took my first trip to Rishikesh way back in 2012. That was my first encounter with such splendid views and spell bound nature. Being totally unaware about river-rafting and the way it is done, decided to give it a try. Watching those rafts rising up so high in the water gave me a sense of excitement and fear at the same time.

I did try and succeeded in doing so. Feeling myself deeply drenched in the water with every rapid that touched me, the sound of those rapids and the joy of people was definitely one the things that I missed in life.

1. Saying ‘Yes’ to new adventures. Sitting at our homes or offices would never allow us to adapt new things. We never allow ourselves to come out of our comfort zone, our idea of fun remains restricted to pubs, malls, shopping or maybe movies but once you travel, you leave everything behind you and start exploring new things you never thought you would ever come across.

MY FIRST SNOWFALL EVER

It was New Year 2014 when the four of us left for Manali. Sipping your coffee on such a 4 degree day inside a cafe and suddenly you peep outside of the window and see those rain droplets leisurely transmogrifying themselves into snow. You just run outside to feel them on you and you scream with utter spark. Running, dancing, laughing with the people you love under the snowfall was one hell of a dream come true. Never thought of New Year welcoming me this way. Perhaps, some things are waiting just for your embrace. It was the first snowfall of my life and 2014 too.

2. You have those “Once in a lifetime” moments in your memories closet. You truly have earned them and nobody in this whole world can take them away from you. Whenever life brings you down, you start unfolding those pages and reliving those moments again and trust me, there’s no other feeling better than this. You just smile thinking about all the good times and you feel lucky enough to have lived those moments that you know would definitely last for a lifetime.

EMOTIONS

Mid of 2015 again was a Manali time for us. Visiting a place again gives such a delight. I had befriended the place well before so now I felt like home. You establish such an emotional connectivity to that place and are no more a stranger.

3. You start developing emotions not with the people only but with the places you have visited. You don’t even need to memorize and the entire slideshow starts playing in front of your eyes. You have the feeling inside your heart that the place is all yours and it resides inside you.

MY FIRST SOLO TRIP

It was April 2016 when I had my first solo trip to Mcleodganj, Dharamsala. From taking a night bus from Delhi to Mcleodganj to getting an accommodation and two wheeler on rent, I did all the things on my own. It gave me an immense contentment doing such things on my own. How I landed in Mcleodganj, roamed around roads to find a suitable room for me, got myself indulged in the roads of Lama, interacted with the locals, all of it was an altogether different experience for me.

4. You know your worth & capabilities. You manage things on your own without relying on others. It gives you the freedom to choose and the luxury of going places. You know you don’t have to force things on yourself and that feeling drives you nuts, you have your alone time which you always crave for. You get to know yourself better.

5. You start valuing money. The same 500 bucks which buys you a pizza may lead you to the place that has been waiting for you. It’s never a bad idea to have less money while travelling but it definitely is a bad idea to not to travel at all. You start managing things and become more calculative when it comes to money.

MY SECOND SOLO TRIP

I, being accompanied by few of my friends on the first day had to be alone on the succeeding days due to some reasons. But it didn’t affect me in any way. Rather I was perfectly fine with the idea of going solo again. It was my 3rd Rishikesh Trip so I was very much familiar with the place. It was again an incredible experience. Sitting and sipping my coffee at Ganga Beach Café on Christmas introduced me to two new people, that too from a different country. A long walk with them and exchanging our travelling stories made me realize that it is indeed a very special feeling to meet new people all the way from different country but same interests. No wonder I am still in touch with them.

6. You learn how infinite this world is and how you still have so many places to visit, so many people to meet, so many stories to listen to and so many moments to capture

LIVING WITHOUT AN ACCOMODATION

It was New Year 2017 and it was an all of a sudden plan to Manali. It was all packed. We got a room but then we had a very heated argument with the owner so we had to leave. You know that the stars are not in your favour when you don’t have an accommodation for the night. But, every cloud has a silver lining. The solution was right in front of us. We had a known person in Manali who helped us. He too had a hotel but all his rooms were occupied, so he arranged few sleeping mats on the floor for us and a sofa to sleep and lit some fire as it was a very chilled night. It was 1.00 a.m when we asked him for the help and he didn’t utter even a single word of contempt and helped us in the best way possible.

7. You learn to appreciate small things in life and the people who take you out of your bad times. It would have been one hell of a terrible night if that guy didn’t help us. You learn to believe in the goodness and selflessness of the people.

8. You know people better once you have travelled with them. Spending time together tells you a lot about them. Their small habits, likes, dislikes, their food priorities, the way they behave and see situations all through a different perspective or not and this makes you have a stirring relation with them. You now have a very special bond to share. I have travelled with all of my favorite people and that I consider to be one of my biggest achievements in life. I consider myself lucky enough to have met them and travelled with them.

9. You start observing things when you travel, you don't believe in showing off your travelling pictures or those stupid check-ins on social media .Rather you spend your time in actually admiring the beauty of the place, seeking peace and pleasure in the lap of nature. The sound of chirping birds, uncluttered water, everything soothes you to the core and you just sit there and are lost into an entirely different world.

Till now, I have taken around 18 trips and all of them taught me different things. Aspects about life, people, inner-self and most importantly about the way Life is to be lived. We often expect too many things from life and always crave for everything extra but this greed would take us nowhere. Instead, one should travel to see how beautiful life can be and how very less we have seen. Expect nothing from life, instead make things happen so you don’t have to expect. Life is a one time offer, use it well.

Keep travelling,keep living :)