How I Found Myself Addicted to Travel

I was having lunch with a colleague in office and scrolling through the news feed on Facebook. My friend, Nikhil, observed that I looked carefully at the pictures of people who had gone to a vacation. I was not interested in the poses they had made or the cute faces of their babies. I was more absorbed in the places in the background. I noticed each and every detail of the buildings or woods that lay behind the people. Nikhil was trying to have a conversation with me, but when he realized that I was more interested in Facebook, he quietly left after eating.

I apologized to him for not paying attention to him after I reached my seat.

He asked, “Are you getting itchy feet again?”

I nodded and started thinking of arranging my bike and clothes for my upcoming road trip.

“But you have just come from Africa?” he said.

“I know but I have already booked my tickets for Thailand” I said and smiled at him. I told him that I cannot live without traveling to a new place every month. I did not know this truth earlier, but I realized it a few months ago when I could not concentrate on anything in office.

I had become tired of getting restless after every trip, and then I observed that I am addicted to travel. As soon as I finish one trip, I come home thinking that I would sleep for at least a week out of tiredness. However, as soon as two days pass post the trip, I begin feeling irritated with everything. People with narrow mindedness frustrate me, I don’t like being around people with hermit-like tendencies, and I just cannot eat same food every day. I have tried so many recipes around the world that I try to make them at home as well, which in practice has made me a good chef.

One day, I found myself sleeping on a bench in a park near my home. I had come to the park with a family of toddlers. It was fun watching to toddlers for some time, but I was already tired from my month-long vacation in Bhutan. I was scrolling through the MyChoize Car Booking App to get an idea of the prices of the Car Rentals in Delhi. I did not realize when I fell asleep on the bench itself for an hour. When my friends returned from the garden after tending to their toddlers, they clicked photos of me and laughed over me for being a sleeping potato.

Incidents like this make me grasp that I have become a true traveler who does not need the luxuries anymore. There is a huge difference in the interior of my house before and now. Every room in my home used to be chaotic with loads of stuff, which I now understand that I don’t need anymore. I live a minimalistic life and I don’t need to buy expensive things to live a comfortable life.

I am happy to be a traveler at heart. And I intend to be like this for many more years to come!

How I Quit Homeschooling My Toddler

When I started homeschooling my 2.5 year old baby boy, Shaurya, I had never thought that teaching would be such a tough job. Since I was living in the USA at that time after visiting 26 countries with my husband, I thought of settling down there for a few years until Shaurya grows up. Since pre-school is very expensive in the USA, I decided to homeschool my kid until he is ready to enter the kindergarten, which would give me time to enhance my income.

The first few months of teaching him the alphabet were really awesome. I would often spend an hour or two on the internet learning how to teach the alphabet to my toddler. I didn’t mind spending the extra hours on my laptop to learn becoming a teacher myself, but the process became tough as Shaurya grew older. I had to spend more time in learning the teaching process myself, which started becoming frustrating. Moreover, I realized that I am not capable to homeschool him forever. I would have to either enroll him for online classes or send him to a regular school in the years to come.

Since I knew that the USA was not affordable at all in terms of buying a house, paying the school fees, and paying other bills, I decided to move to my home country, India. I have grown up in India and I know that there is a wide range of affordable schools here that I can afford for my kid. Even though I want to visit various countries and cities while bringing up a family, I want to be in a country where I can afford all my expenses.

Since my language interpretation work pays good money, I don’t have to worry about joining a regular office. However, Shaurya needs regular schooling at least for a few years in his early education.

We moved to India two years ago, and I decided to settle down in Delhi near my parents’ home. They are happy to have us here and I am content to know that I have someone when I need them to take care of my baby. I can leave Shaurya with them for a few days as I travel with my husband to different places for work and leisure. The setting makes it easier for Shaurya to not miss his school and we don’t have to miss travel either. We often use a car booking app to drive to and from their home and then go for a weekend trip.

The best part about regular schooling is that the kid gets to interact with other kids of his age, which contributes to his language development and social skills expansion. Since the day he has started going to kindergarten, he has shown tremendous growth in communicating with other kids in the neighborhood, even though the first few weeks were really tough for him.

I know that my travel dreams may remain slightly unfulfilled, but I don’t mind forgoing them for a few years for the sake of a better future of a baby that I have brought to this world. Until Shaurya grows up, we don’t mind becoming the weekend travelers, and we can resume our fulltime traveling when it is the right time.

How I Protect My Camera while Traveling

Whenever I think of traveling, I think of photos and then Instagram and then hashtags. I have clicked at least 5K to 6K finished photos until now, forget the raw ones, I cannot even count them. There was a time when I used to click photos using my smartphone for my blog. However, they were never too good to be uploaded on my website. Still, I had to be content with it because I could not afford a DSLR until college. And when I bought my favorite Nikon camera, I never knew that I would love it like my baby.

Now whenever I go out for a photoshoot, I have to take care of it all the time, but I don’t mind it at all. The first thing that I realized after buying it was that I have to have a good quality padded camera bag. My friend, Rohan, had lost his camera to a thief because his camera bag was too flashy I guess. He became an easy target for the thief and he swore that he would never buy such a bag again. And from that incident, I also learnt that I must buy a bag that doesn’t look like a typical camera bag. I have a sling bag that appears to be carrying books in it, and the look on the acquaintance’s faces is worth seeing when I take out a camera out of it.

The next thing that I do is to keep my camera with me all the time. When I fly, I never send the camera in the checked-in luggage. I don’t trust the airlines guys to handle my fragile things safely. I have seen them throwing even the bags with fragile notice without care. That is why; I keep my camera with me in my hand luggage.

Secondly, if I am driving my Car Rentals in Mumbai, which I often do for my professional photo shoots, I never keep the camera or the lenses inside the car. Yes, I can use the boot space to keep my valuables, but India is not a country to be trusted for the expensive stuff. The thieves here are the most clever breed of humans, and they are too smart to outsmart us. It is only in the emergency circumstances that I keep something valuable in the boot.

I used to love showing off the Nikon logo whenever I went for a shoot. The aspiring photographers especially love to notice their dream equipment with someone. I understand this feeling because I have also felt this for a long time. However, there were instances when the crooks also noticed the camera too.

Thankfully, I have never been robbed, but a few instances like this changed my perspective and I have started hiding the branding on my camera. Every Nikon logo on the camera or the equipment is now hidden under the black duct tape.

I know I might be overprotective for my camera, but I have been able to afford it after a long time of saving money during college. I don’t want to lose it too soon because I have seen veteran photographers taking care of their gear like I do.