To Europe, an Indian mind

You ain't no traveler if you haven't got bizarre tales and odd confessions in your travel diaries. From eye-popping moments of awe to jaw-dropping hilarious incidents, a journey is composed of various small elements that make it unforgettable. From meeting amazing minds, visiting mind-boggling places, traveling alone and fighting many day to day challenges to introspecting on different grounds, this trip turned out to be all that I never expected it to be. I went with a single motto of keeping it random every day. I wanted to relax and have a trip without any schedule. So, I decided where all I wanted to go the next day a night before. Some days I was out alone surfing streets with the crazily organized maps and hopping onto random transports, thanks to travel passes and sinking the vibe of the place. Another day, I was out with random people tasting different food and drinks, and discussing the lives and cultures of our countries; and some random conversations once we were down with that extra glass of Mojito in Barcelona. Followed by doing the mandatory, maintaining social media contacts.

Meeting different minds is the highlight of any solo trip. Some were very conventional in their approach, while others were direct as f**k. The experience was new every day. There were days when I was just too exhausted to step out of my hostel and hence end up relaxing the whole day with one grumpy hairy cat in Amsterdam, also to sleeping the whole day in Zurich to kill the night. Probably this is the best part of traveling alone, "you can do whatever you want to do and maybe not do anything at all", an axiom quoted by Kalsi, my dorm mate in Barcelona.

My mind was on the roller coaster ride. That's how I would like to further expand on. Amsterdam was my first halt. Even though I was dead tired, jet-lagged, I just couldn’t control myself from going out the very first night. My hostel, 'Cocomama' was close to the city center and well connected with trams.

Amsterdam is best known for its nightlife, however, I was out till 11:30pm only that day. This has got nothing to do with me being tired or anything, but my social conditioning. As soon as the clock went past 10, the feeling of being unsafe and watched swept in. I could see people walking and passing by freely around me, but I was just being more cautious than a regular tourist there and not to forget my pepper spray was very handy. I have always lived in Delhi, if not in Delhi then definitely in some part of India. Born and brought up in a country like ours, we are conditioned in such a way, consciously or unconsciously that it's not safe to be outside after 11pm, especially in a city like Delhi which is know to be very uncertain when it comes to safety of women. Even if you are out that late, caution is always an alarm. I am a modern independent woman but I am like all here. Hence, before leaving, I bought a Pepper spray for my protection, considering I was travelling alone. This feeling remained in me, for like 3 days. Then soon this cultural difference hit me hard. In India, women are expected to be overprotected as the chances of mishappening are likely to occur in the night. Our safety is in our hands and we cannot deny the fact that when our family restricts our physical presence outside in dark, it is for good. I went with the same mindset and reality hit me hard there. Probably thats the difference between a developed and developing country. The gap is huge to cover as it’s a psychological one, not just on fiscal ground.

Another thing that I noticed here was, whites (as the world refers to Indian skin color as “brown”) really like our skin color, piercings, and bindis.

I learned that a male traveler’s experience is very different from a female one. My pepper spray was the handiest in Berlin. Major language barrier (if you interact with 10 people, only 2 would be knowing English, that’s the ratio), non-welcoming Germans and unsafe roads, these were the major day to day experiences. This place is rich in history, maybe that was the reason for the sense of superiority I saw in them. But, on the other side, I even sensed that they do not somewhere respect their history. A simple example of justifying this would be, I went to 'Murdered Jews Memorial site' where stones symbolizing their burial were placed in thousands of numbers. Seeing people climbing on them for pictures was a disturbing sight. Even if they were tourists like me, there was no one to stop them from doing it.

My sole reason to visit Berlin was to experience it’s history. I was so keen to witness the same that I ended up spending my 2 days, only visiting the museums. Though I am not fond of them, I skipped the touristy thing of visiting famous museums of Amsterdam, except for Anne Frank House (which was FAB).

The way museums in Berlin have nurtured their belongings with audio guides is exceptional. So much, that a person like me who is not fond of traditional art, kept on reading the experiences faced by people in those time. However, in my statement, Berlin was a bit unsafe. Teasing, passing random comments was a usual sight there. My conditioning got fanned here as the place was surprisingly the coldest of all and had empty roads at around 7-8pm only. unlike other places, teasing and passing comments was the sight here. One day while I was walking back to my hostel, I heard some people doing the same in their code of language. When you are in your own country, you have a certain sense of confidence in dealing with these situations, however, in a new place where I don’t know what they were saying, it was a different feeling. This was in the night, however, the second incident happened in daylight, around 3pm. As I was exploring places and was crossing a road, a random guy on a bicycle stopped me. “Do you know that guy on your back? He is following you from past half an hour,” he said, when asked to speak in English as like everyone he as conversing in his own language to me. Thanks to my hair that evoked a sense of belongingness in people (funny it was, but hair worked for me during my trip). Two days, two incidents; my third-day mechanism was, firstly keeping pepper spray in my accessible handbag as it was now an important possession just like my passport and cards, and secondly trying to escape being out in dark. Hostel experience in Berlin was the least favorite as the people were not welcoming and everyone was roaming alone and did not want any company. Though I had many random conversations at the breakfast table, I would say other than the historical sense that I had there, Berlin was slow and rigid.

Other than Berlin and Amsterdam, Zurich and Barcelona were amazing as this Indian mind was in sync to a totally different life culture there with time. However, there was one more thing that I inferred while conversing with people from different countries. Two words that well define their life is "contentment and growing". I met people who were happily doing jobs in Supermarkets for 10-15 years and were really really happy with what they ere doing. One day, I met a 33-year-old lady who said the same. Being an Indian, I come with taboo baggage where supermarket jobs are considered to be suitable for uneducated people. That's the unsaid real perception of our country. Even if some educated person is doing it, its either a family business or to meet temporary ends. happily doing it for long time, is nowhere possible is our country. With the baggage of the same perspective, I ended up asking her, “Why do you like it?” “I am happy with what I am doing. I am paid well and I am treated well.” Another difference captured. There were no preconceived stigmas attached to this lifestyle for them. This conversation left me introspecting for long. Also, I met people from all generations working in hostels.

A plethora of freebies thrown in, affordable and a hot-spots for meeting travelers and swapping experiences. These were the picks for me in my first ever hostel stay experience while traveling. What staying in hostels does to your traveling and how it just adds a flavor of unmatched experience to your whole travelogue, its mind-blowing. Traveling to Europe alone was nothing less than an adrenaline rush to me, at the same time staying in hostels made it even more thrilling. Less did I knew then that for something which I was reluctant and unsure, it will turn out to be the highlight of the whole trip experience. Living in a hostel is for those eyeing at minimizing on spent and maximizing on experience. hostels are probably the best way to socialize and make unforgettable memories in your travelogue as the conversation you have here on eating table, chilling sofas, serene balcony, over pub and day crawls with random people are often unfiltered, unjudged, unplanned and definitely enriching that will leave you introspecting. A fully-stocked kitchen and a lounge area encouraged travelers to mingle, have fun and sometimes even plan a whole day with them. Travel-talks, social events, and parties were the highlights of my hostel stays.

Amidst all this, one thing that baffled me was this business of hostels. The staff so good, amenities amazingly good (free meals, wifi, access to common spaces), these hostels have a vibrant and amiable young staff that appeals more to travelers. Some are doing it as a part-time, some doing it as a full time, I myself once felt the drive to do it. That's another Indian taboo broken there and then! from getting a place to stay in, a good earning job to meet your needs, getting to meet so many people every day and chilling with them as one of them and lastly free pub access that covers your personal life needs as well. A perfect blend of professional and personal life, what is there to ask more then.

Traveling solo to any place in the world gifts you an experience that is exclusive and super memorable to you and cannot be put down in words. You step out of your comfort zone, test your limits, explore the unexplored and discover the shades of your personality that you never knew existed before. This was the best gift of this trip for me.

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