My Journey of Travel

Every summer or winter vacations, my Mom & Dad would plan a trip to some place new & thankfully it wasn’t a pilgrimage (surprised right?!). They took us to almost all the hill stations of North India (Kullu, Manali, Simla, Nainital, Massouri, Kashmir & few more I guess), to the famous cities of Western India- Mumbai & Goa (yes I am the loser who went Goa with parents 😑). However the concept of travel with my parents was very different from what we have now!

I still recall the year we traveled to Goa, we booked a seat with 30 others in a tour bus that 1 da­­y took us to all the beaches of North Goa & the next day to all churches of South Goa. No shacks visited, no water activities done & did not spend even 30 mins on any of the beaches!
It is funny how we completed almost the entire Mumbai in just 2 days by Mumbai Darshan Bus (which is still running btw), with a tour guide & his typical lame jokes calling out local sewage as swimming pool of Madhuri Dixit ! So we would cover all the famous spots for 20 mins each, try & grasp as much information as we could in that limited time, get 2 family photos clicked (with our limited film camera so no candid shots please), and then move on to the next spot. Well that was how things were then & am so glad that the concept of travel is changing over the time! But am really thankful to my parents because it was them who built my interest in travel since I was 6 !
After my school I got busy with Engineering (😜) and in the last year of college we 5 friends went to Rishikesh! Travelling almost after a break of 6 years, it was a life changing experience & that's when I decided I should explore a new place every year. Instead I went for an MBA (now please don’t judge me because that’s what majority Engineers do!). After my MBA I started working in a Bank (yes now you can judge me 😏), soon got married & sooner had a baby. So basically I have done everything that an Indian society expects of you (huh).

Parenting comes with a lot of sacrifices for sure & even though we were slowly preparing ourselves for it, I was really upset for few things that we would lose out on, from going to Pubs on weekends, to binge watch favorite TV Series to taking long naps, everything was gonna go for a toss. However, one thing that was pinching me the most was to lose out on my TRAVEL. I felt really sad when someone would say “Forget travel for next 5 years”, “When you go out on a vacation with kids, you are still working...” Well turns out, its not all wrong!! I still can’t go to pubs & I haven’t still seen Game of Thrones (sad but true) & lets not get me started on sleep ( am sure all mothers can relate), yet am still doing this one thing that I promised myself long time ago- Travel ! Whenever, wherever & in whatever budget, I make sure to get up & Get Lost !

So what if you have kids, old or young, there is always a place there for you to explore, enjoy, live & experience. All you have to do is to GO! Now my baby boy is 3 years old & from last two years I make sure that I take out at least 20 days for myself out of the hectic 365 ones to travel.

Just to sum up, I would like to quote William Wordsworth "To begin, Begin !"

Comments

  1. HARSH MEHTA21 January 2018 at 08:42

    Kudos swati...traveler mom..way to go.. ��

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown8 February 2018 at 11:23

    This blog reminds me my childhood days too. I love this blog.Actully I needed a travel guide like you friend like family.

    ReplyDelete

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