Is solo travel difficult ?

Is solo travel difficult ? is it risky ? Are you mad about travelling to Uttarakhand during flood situation? What if the landslide happens ? What if you don't come back ? All these questions were posed to me before going to Uttarakhand. Being the youngest child, coming from an orthodox family, everything you do will impact your parents. Relatives start asking about your marriage. They will label you as a bad boy, if you travel more. If you don't attend any marriage function, or come late for marriage function, you will be labelled as irresponsible. People start telling stories that you are overspending and wasting money on travel. Some xyz's son has 3 bhk house in 3 years of his earnings. What about you ? I really don't care if someone tells me but it really annoys me when someone tells my parents about this.

For all those who hate travellers, Even if your daughter wants to travel solo , support her. Because the confidence it will give her creates a new person who altogether can face anything in life. The impact of travel has on me is enormous. Let me answer some questions.

Imagine while coming back from school, all your friends say goodbye to you and move towards their house. Finally you move alone. Some people walk more than a km to reach the house. The next day you will meet them again. That is how solo travel works. You go alone and visit places and come back to join your family and friends. But here you enjoy the thrill. You enjoy conversation with strangers. You start believing there are good people also. You will forget all the pain, both physical and mental. You will accept the response "no" completely and you will say "no" whenever it is against your plan. In life also you might come across many no's. You might have got hurt with those no's. But after the solo travel, you can really find a person who start loving himself and ignores what people talk behind you. May be it would happen slowly. The enormous self belief, knowledge and experience can make you more stronger.

Is it risky ?

It doesn't depend on gender but the places we choose. Anything can happen anywhere. All the half knowledge media will give you false notion about the places. Uttarakhand is one of the safest places to visit. Himachal pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and all southern parts of India are safe for solo travel. May be all parts of our country are safe for solo travel. Once you start travelling , you will get to know how much information you need to reveal to strangers.

When comes to female travellers there are more female travellers who go on solo trips than men. Shivya Nath, Laxmi Sharath and all are famous solo travellers whose writings have inspired many travellers like me. They go on budgeted trips and also some on sponsorship.

Are you mad about travelling to Uttarakhand during flood situation?

Media gives only a half of the story. They say Uttarakhand but rarely mentions which part of the state. Dehradun to Haridwar was having little rain. So it was safe. Most of the previous groups didn't get permission to visit Badrinath. So even if it rains heavily organizers will take decisions on safety and security. Youth hostel is the most trusted organization who conduct treks in India. For 8 days I was with youth hostel and another 8 days I was travelling solo. You might find some people for company for some days also.

What if the landslide happens ?

Landslide happened on the way to Badrinath and also while coming back. But it was minor. Roads were blocked for 4-5 hours while coming back. We moved to some village nearby. Anything can happen any time even if you were crossing roads in Bangalore. So I am not worried about all the crooked up stories.

What if you don't come back ? (it was for fun and also some of them I thought serious.)

For the God Sake, think positive. You rarely find a responsible traveller losing his life. I want to cover all 29 states and many more countries. So lot of travel stories I am going to share in future.

Was it expensive ?

I did spent little more for flight tickets and Shatabdi express where I would have saved nearly 5-6 K. Even I took a taxi to Musoorie since there was a little time to cover all the places where I could have saved 2 k. In Delhi I went via metro to most of the places. In Dehradun, Hrishikesh and Haridwar I took private bus or shared auto. Musoorie is little costlier than Dehradun. So I took rooms in Dehradun. In Delhi I stayed in JNU hostel one day and another day I stayed in my friend's house. In Hrishikesh I stayed in base camp while visiting the nearby places. So I could have finished it in 16-20 k INR but time was a constraint.

I called home every day , even with the help of satellite phone so that my parents can sleep happily. Sometimes you need to take tough decisions so that you can reach your dream. 19 more states , 22 more UNESCO heritage centres and few neighbouring countries. So it is going to be a tough but awesome journey.

The impact of travelling on my life is enormous. Professionally and personally I have become more confident and I am not bothered about what people talk about me from behind. You make the decisions properly. That is why I suggest you to travel solo.

NoMads

Is solo travel difficult ?

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