How I Escape Clashes Over Money While Traveling

Yes, there have been a few incidences when I had indulged in stupid fights with friends over money. However, those were the times when we barely had money since we were in college and everyone was quite clingy about the meager cash they had. We could not help but accept the fact that we all were short of cash at all times, so we had to demarcate the lines about how we would split the expenses anyone made in the group. Splitting the costs were the early lessons in life that I was lucky to have in life.

Traveling with friends

There was one road trip to Coorg when I traveled with three other friends. We often had clashes about who would spend for what, the members of the group would look here and there whenever it came to paying the bills, and the fuel for the car was often a bone of contention among us. When we returned, we all had bitter memories to share. The next time, I decided that I would travel with friends who were of one mind about spending money at least; we could deal with other things easily.

We planned for a road trip to Mahableshwar, for which we had to book Self Driven Car in Mumbai, and I had made it clear that I would pay only if everyone will not behave miserly later. When my friends laughed about it, I got the signals that I would not face any problem with budgeting with these guys. I paid for the car rental, someone else paid for the hotel booking, etc. and we all divided the costs later.

Petty cash  

I like to convey it to my friends every time on a road trip that we should contribute a couple of thousands, which one person will handle. And this cashier deals with all the expenses that we have to make. He pays the food bills, toll taxes, and all other small expenses. We all just chill and have fun on the road trips, without thinking about who will pay this bill and that one.

Using mobile apps

Since the day I have been using Splitwise, the finances with my friends have been sorted like never before. This simple mobile application lets me divide the expenses with my roommates, friends, and even family. Whenever I have to go for a weekend getaway, we mention our expenses in the common mobile app, which is Splitwise in our case. When we return from the trip, it shows the net balance that each member has to pay to each other. Sorted!

Just by being clear and careful about money matters, I have organized the finances well with everyone who is in my closed circles. It certainly adds more value to any relationship when you don’t have to worry about something as significant as money, which of course gains more importance when you don’t pay heed to it. After having some of the most amazing road trips, I look forward to many more of them.

How I Manage Traveling With Kids Schedule

I cannot ignore the fact that I am a passionate traveler, who by the fate of time, is a parent as well. I have to keep in mind my kid’s holidays so that I do not disturb their studies for my travel plans. However, I have developed my schedules in a way that my personal ambitions do not poke into my professional life as well.

Maximize the family time

My parents live in Pune, while I live with my family in Mumbai. They keep visiting us almost every month for a weekend or so, and we also go there. However, whenever I have a travel plan coming up, but the kids are busy with school, I call my parents to live at my home. They babysit both my babies and I am off to a new honeymoon with my husband. We cherish the personal time we get with each other, regardless the point that we both miss the kids as well.

On the positive side, the children get time to spend with their grandparents. Thank God, they gel up well with each other. My mom is an energetic person and she takes care of the tot’s tantrums, up to a limit of course. If the children behave too badly, she is the one to teach them a lesson as well. All in all, I am happy that we all are a big Indian family, who live their individual lives along with the family life.

Traveling with kids

Even when the babies get one holiday from their school, or if there is a long weekend, we set off to an offbeat destination. I hate the clichéd cities and hill stations in India because they become immensely crowded during holidays. That is why; I have to prepare the list of places we can visit during such holidays because I cannot waste time in planning whenever there is a holiday looming over.

Last year, we hired Self Drive Car Rental Mumbai to go to Mahableshwar when the kids were not heavily burdened with work at school. They could afford to miss a few classes and I promised their teachers to get them back on track once we returned from vacations. The place was not very crowded, thankfully, and we had a great weekend.

There is one thing that I have noticed when the kids are at home and we are traveling; they are becoming independent individuals. The younger one is only four years old at present, and he knows where to put his laundry. He sits quietly while eating food, and does not need TV to finish off the stuff on his plate. Thanks to my parents who inculcated this positive habit in him, which I could not do.

My older son is ten years old, and he already knows how to google anything whenever we make travel plans. He finds out the best places to visit, the hotel deals, and many other things. I am amazed for sure how these kids are growing up so well! Thanks to their traveler parents and cooperative grandparents that they are able to become responsible beings.

How I Improved My Travel Blogs in Just One Year

It sounds incredible even to myself but I managed to have a few hundred followers on my travel blog in just one year but it was not luck; it was because of sheer hard work that I could succeed in establishing my blog. When I look back, it seems unbelievable that I was the same person who never believed in himself or his writing. Whenever someone asked me to introduce myself, I would fumble, forget writing things. However, I was a passionate traveler who desperately wanted to pen down my experiences.

After contemplating writing for more than a year, I came across an offer to create a cheap website. Disinterestedly, I clicked on it and found it attractive. It did not take me more than a few minutes to register the domain name that I clicked my mind without putting much thought into it. It was something related to wanderlust, but let it be for now.

Dedication

Writing requires undying commitment, and I became aware of this fact when I met a fiction writer. The lady from France told me that she lived in China at present. She worked as a translator in a highly demanding job, but she loved writing. She had written four books by that time and the obvious thing that she told me was that she sat at her work station for at least an hour every day, not matter she had ideas in her mind or not. Discipline was what I learned from her.

It was time to introduce self-discipline in my life. I set up my work station in a week, which involved some basic investment. Initially, I thought that I had wasted my money because I was not sure about dedicating myself to a new routine. Nevertheless, the first week of sitting at the desk went off in looking at the family photos from the past few years. It was not a waste of time, I would say because I let my mind wander in the direction of previous vacations with family and friends.

Focus and responsibility

It took me a more than a week to write 500 words about random things in my mind, but it was an important lesson in putting my thoughts onto the screen since I had visited a religious shrine that day. The following month, I went to the hills from my office. And when I returned, I wrote about my experience with Self-Drive Cars in Pune. At that point while writing about car rentals, I realized that I needed to be responsible with my words that I publish online. I could not endorse any product even if no one was paying me for it just for the sake of it.

I was on the way to become a travel writer whom people may look up to as they form their opinions. And if I misguide my readers for even a trivial thing, they may never take my words seriously. Just because I had developed a flair of writing in the next few months, I could not recommend just anything to my readers.

Learning technology

Before I began my blog, I never knew that I had to be technically aware in order to publicize my blog. I had barely heard about SEO and never paid attention to it. However, I had to learn about this dreaded technology, even though I hated it. Nonetheless, it helped a lot to gain wider audience for my blog in just a few months and I cannot be happier about investing my time in the right direction. All in all, it took just one year of dedication, focus, and learning to establish a successful travel blog.

Why India is My First Choice for Solo Travel

Whenever I would hear about India from my friends in London, they would provide me with overwhelming information that confused me like anything. However, there was only one piece of advice that stuck in my mind- someone told me that different people have different experiences in India, which may be good or bad at times. The elderly lady told me that I should go to India to feel it myself.

When I landed in India at the Delhi airport, I did not feel anything that was unsafe. In fact, it was one of the cleanest airports I had ever seen. No doubt that the scenario outside the airport was not as pleasant as it was inside, I was open to what lay ahead that day. No mentioning the places that I visited in India, I would like to mention why I choose this land of Gods over and over again for traveling alone.

The ease of information

Internet has made things much easier than ever before in many countries including India. I researched about the places I intended to visit before leaving home, and found valuable material from the bloggers. Just like the situation is there in London, you cannot trust the commercial websites because they never tell the true information. These websites pay attention to inviting more readers and contain only positive information, and ignore the negative aspects of any place, which are obviously important to know for everyone.

The bloggers provide the right information that people like me need to travel to India, and that too alone. I could also talk to some of the writers and locals in India who would give me the real time account of any place. I once asked a person about the weather, safety standards, and food availability, and got the accurate data about that place. It was never as easy before.

The huge number of places

Each corner of India is a new country in itself. As of now, I have been to the south, north, and north-east India. All of these regions are just so mesmerizing and every state gives a different vibe. I now realize what my friends meant when they said that going to India is an overwhelming experience. When I was in the south, I saw the natural beauty at its best. When I was in the north, I witnessed the vibrancy of colors, joyful people of Delhi, and the most delectable food on earth. When I was in North-East India, I got to participate in the lively traditions and festivals with the locals. Every state in the country gave me unforgettable memories.

The ease of transportation

I never knew that the concept of car rentals existed in India. A friend of minutes found out Self-Drive Cars in Hyderabad, and we had a gala time in the city and its surrounding places. Similarly, I could find the car rentals in other metropolitan cities as well, but I did not dare to drive. Only the local drivers can maneuver the cars on the challenging roads of India.

I could easily book the cabs and auto-rickshaws using the mobile applications, which I did not know I could do in India. Railways and airlines were quite obvious to choose for long distances. The concept of manual rickshaw in Kolkata intrigues me, but I have not been there yet.

I loved India for being so vibrant, which makes it my first choice for solo travel. Not to mention that traveling in India is not too heavy on the pocket. I can go there zillions of times and never get bored.