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Monday, November 19, 2007

Travel Tales

It is no secret that the wanderlust bug nudges me from time to time.. Once a friend asked me a question "What is it that you like most in traveling?" I never gave him an answer but I did ponder the question. So here is what I discovered..

A couple of reasons
- to see new and exciting places
- to get out of my comfort zone
- to see how others live and experience their cultures
- to try out new cuisines (although I'm not very good at it)
- adventure ;)

But above all these I travel just for the love of it.. I like go on and on and wish the road never ends.. Of course the destination also adds to the excitement.. But many a times I have felt that the road traveled is much better than the destination reached.. I just like to sit at the window and watch the life outside.. It's like a film with endless casts each playing their role in their own way - children playing , women engaged in household chores , family bonding , the green trees, the vast fields, the cute tea shops, the houses , the buildings, the smells, the chaos,.. It's like a constant learning experience and has a strange liberating affect.. it makes me smile..

And I believe travel is something one either loves or hates. So if you are in the first category and is smitten by this bug, I would like to listen to your version of the answer.. And hey don't go away saying you are in the second category.. Do tell me what makes you bond with your lounge chair and the TV remote. Any secret that I don't know?

9 comments:

ദീപു : sandeep said...

I dont agree with second point.
- to get out of my comfort zone

As you said, the fun is in the journey rather than destination.

I am a bit towards first but I end up on the other side... main problem is inertia (can be called laziness). A lounge chair and a book is equally tempting. Add a hot tea with this... Mmmmm
But, once I step outside my room, am willing to go any place...


off:
The link needs a small correction.

Dhanya said...

@Sandeep : I do it to get out of my comfort zone.. Stability and the comfort of the lounge chair makes me too lazy.. So I just want to destabilize myself n venture out ;)

And thanks for the correction :)

mathew said...

am a travelling aficionado as well..I agree with your reasons..But one important part of travelling is to choose whom u are travelling with..that can ruin or make a trip..right company matters a lot..

I travel for variety of reasons..like i had a Berlin trip for 3 days all alone coz i sort of had deep empathy about what happened during holocaust..otherwise i travel many places which were like childhood dreams..and then just to have fun with friends.that takes a bigger precedent than the place itself at times..

Jayashankar said...

You have made a fantastic point 'many a times I have felt that the road traveled is much better than the destination reached'
and that is why I don’t sleep when I travel. At times things look better in retrospect than in its actuality.

I travel to find something which I hear or read and finally return home with my own discovery.

Anonymous said...

There are places I have to see.. Kind of like a list that covers the earth and some more..
Then I don't really travel much.. ;)

Krishna said...

I travel just because I love to travel. Do I want to see NEW places? Not really. Want to get out of my comfort zone? Yes, but not with you ppl around. If that was the case, may be I'd go for a solo trip like I did last year. Culture and Life? Sorry, I am too busy shooting the landscape & ppl and I will worry about their living conditions later. Cuisines? Yes, I love to taste new stuff, but it was never a reason. Adventure? Yes, at least I love to think that way ;)

Btw, why not plan theme based trips from now on? [ focus on adventure just for a change:) ] Till now we had just 'chill out' trips. They were great, but don't you think these are now within our comfort zone?

hope and love said...

hmmm.. its the newess of everything that attracts me..

Unknown said...

I am in the first category...I love to travel ...but dont like to travel at night, because I cant enjoy the beauty of the place thru' which I travel. Atleast,I started enjoying the beauty of the route to my home from Blr, once we started driving :-) rather than going by the night travels.

For other trips, additional to the beauty of the place we go thru' or visit, it will be 100% funfilled thru the friends company. I love that.If all of them are not there, we dont organize trips:-(

Another reason is to see what we heard of...a time to relax... to chill out with friends.... somehow escape from all the busy schedules atleast for sometime :-)

Dhanya said...

@ Mathew : Yes I absolutely agree with you.. Right company matters a lot and that makes or breaks a trip.. but traveling alone is not my cup of tea.. I had to travel alone in UK and it was soooo boring that I dropped my site seeing plans and stayed at home for a whole 10 days!! And in india, I won't even dare to attempt it..

@ eashwar : yeh even I don't sleep while traveling unless it's pitch dark outside or I'm totally tired.. And yes travel gives you experience which you can't gather otherwise..

@ sini : I know you are a dreamer, but do come to reality and start traveling with us :)

@ krishna : I don't agree.. We do want to see new places, else all these years we would've gone only to wayanad :P Comfort zone is your home zone where you have all the luxury and don't ve to face any "surprises". I guess any travel takes you out of your comfort zone. Culture and Life - that what you experience! And no adventure theme for me.. I don't want to go way out of my comfort zone :)

@ hope and love : yeh travel gives you all new experiences :)

@ resma : Think we belong to the same category :)