My First Solo Trip

I took my first solo trip about a year ago and my experience was truly amazing. I am writing this blog to encourage every single person for whom solo trip is long due on their list but the plan could never get executed because of the various doubts in our mind- “Whether I’m gonna make it?”, “Is it risky to travel alone in India?” and so on. These questions become more vital especially for solo female travellers.

So, here I would like to share about my experience.

I always wanted to do a solo trip but could never execute it because I was not very confident on travelling alone to a new place. Nevertheless, I was determined to make it happen so I planned my trip to Ladakh on my birthday. I booked my return ticket with 6 hrs layover in Srinagar on purpose.

I have always heard about Kashmir and how beautiful it is but I never really got chance to visit it.

So, here is what I did. It was June 27th, 2019 and I was travelling back from Leh to Bengaluru via Srinagar.

I reached Srinagar around 10:30 am in the morning. I had 6 hrs layover in Srinagar which I planned purposely. A bit nervous yet excited, I planned to check out from the airport but I had two big luggages with me. Since, I cannot checkin 6 hrs before so, I had only two options- Either do a priority checkin or carry the bags with me. Well, I went for option 2 as I did not want to pay extra for priority checkin.

As you might be knowing already that in Srinagar all prepaid sim cards don’t work. So, I was clueless on how to find the routes and nearby places to visit in 4 hrs(Since I only had 6 hrs to roam around and come back to the airport for checkin). A security guard standing next to me somehow read my mind and then after knowing about my situation he offered to help me. He asked me to leave my bags to him and he will take care of it. I was glad to see his generosity.

He also suggested me few nearby places to see like Dal Lake, Lal Chowk etc. I was a bit hesitant and then I chose to carry my bags along. In Srinagar, you don’t have Uber or Ola so you have to be dependent on local taxis.

So, I stepped out of the airport and decided to go to Dal Lake. There were many taxis around but I went for a local bus to have an added experience. Well, I personally believe that if you want to know a place better, you should travel by public transports. You get to meet a lot of people and every people has their own story to share.

So, I boarded bus. It was a small bus with a seating capacity of max 10-12 people. There were few co-passengers in the bus but it was almost empty. Dal Lake was half an hour journey from the airport. I took the window seat to explore the place better. On the way, I saw patrolling everywhere. It made me a little nervous too but i still carried on. I saw Indian armies en-route in every few steps.

I did not expect to see so much traffic in Srinagar but yes there was. Finally, I reached Dal Lake. The driver informed me when my stop arrived. I got down from the bus. Dal lake has so many entry points. For me, Gate num 1 was the nearest gate from that bus stop. It was a beautiful sunny day. The moment I got down from bus, one auto guy came to me asking where I would want to go. Knowing that I want to go to Dal Lake, he said it’s walkable from here and he offered his help in carrying my bag. I haven’t searched a lot about Dal Lake before because it was not a planned trip. So, while stepping out of the airport, I only thought to sit and relax by the lake and be back to the airport. But, the auto guy started laughing listening to this and he suggested me for oh-so-famous “Shikara ride” saying the trip is incomplete without that. I told him that I may get late if I go for the ride but he assured me that he takes the responsibility of me reaching the airport on time. And yes, it turned out to be true.

So, I signed up for it and here is how the Dal lake looks in a bright sunny day-