How Traveling Around India Made Me Smarter

I had always heard that travel helps in developing one’s personality, which I never believed until I took my first solo trip. Having read a lot of posts about positive things in life, I had to overcome my pessimistic side. It was high time that I started looking at the bright side of things, people, and places because I had started feeling too gloomy. Things that gave happiness to people made me worried. Finally, I decided to go for a solo road trip and then group trips, lots of them. Let me share how travel changed a naysayer into an optimist.

Not comparing myself

Before I went out of Mumbai, I always used to think of the bigger car my colleague has, the diamond rings on the hand of my sister, and the posh house of my neighbor. No matter how hard I tried to ignore all these materialistic possessions people had, I would always find myself feeling awful about not having them, even though I lead a decent lifestyle. While traveling around Kerala, I saw the happiness on the faces of deprived kids. People in the villages had very little compared to what I had, but they did not want to have anything from me. Not even once I heard them saying that my watch was glittering or my car was looking so good. On the other hand, I had heard myself talking like that to myself and others. Those scenarios in Kerala and many other naturally beautiful places taught me that there was no use comparing my life to that of others because there will always be someone richer or poorer than me.

Getting out of the comfort zone

Staying in a campsite near Pune taught me to survive outside my comfort zone. At that place, we did not have proper toilets, water was scarce and very expensive, food choices were not there, and we had limited clothes with us. Until that vacation, I had always stayed in hotels, traveled in a Self-Drive Car Rental or a friend’s car, and ate at restaurants while carefully selecting from an assortment of foods. However, staying in the camp taught me that I should not take my possessions for granted and I learned to find bliss out of my comfort zone, which was my office and home.

Not being lazy

Travel is not cheap, and that I knew already. Perhaps that is why; I never went for a vacation for so many years of my job life. Thanks to my friend, Rohan, who pushed me to travel with him because he did not have company. We went to Indonesia, which was certainly expensive, and we could not afford to sleep in the hotel rooms. Rohan was very excited about visiting each place marked on his itinerary, and I had to comply because we had limited time in hand. We made the best use of our days and nights in that gorgeous country, and returned home with our phones loaded with photos. Looking back at those memories, I thank myself for not being too lazy to move beyond the beaches.

The best thing that travel has taught me is that I should never doubt my capabilities. I used to spend a lot of time thinking negatively about the things that I wanted to accomplish, but hesitated to even begin. I always wanted to learn dance, but I thought that I would not be able to move my body.  Traveling to Kerala gave me the confidence to dance and I enrolled in the classes as soon as I returned. This is a good number of accomplishments, for sure, and many more to come.

How Did I Spend My Weekend in Mumbai

When I have nothing to do at times, I try to spend time with myself. I just take out my car or bike, and just go for a road trip to enjoy the company of my own self. It is oddly satisfying to be on your own sometimes, even if not too frequently. So this time, I was there at home on a long weekend, and I could not decide on what to do. I thought of watching a movie, but rejected the idea. I often get too restless watching a movie at home. I have got a smart TV and a heavy-duty speaker attached to it. Still, the idea of sitting glued to a thing as useless as a TV seems bizarre to me. I prefer studying or reading something, but I was not in a mood to do that either. The next idea I had was to go and fetch a Domioes pizza and devour it shamelessly at home. But again, sitting at home was not a good idea that day and eating a pizza with cheese dripping from it doesn’t seem fun in a public place, at least to me.

Finally, I thought of spending some money on myself. I looked for Self-Drive Cars online and chose a Hyundai Creta for my road trip as I was too bored of driving my hatchback for so many years.  I immediately left for Khandala as soon as I received my car around six the next morning. Since it was a long weekend, I had all the time in the world to spend on myself.

I stopped my car at a tea seller, fetched a samosa and a cup of tea from him, and sat down leaning on my car. While enjoying my lovely snack and tea, I had random thoughts about the people wandering around there. Many people had come from far-off places to witness the beauty of Khandala. Even though it is just like other hill stations, the Bollywood movies have made this place utterly famous. I heard a kid saying, “Aati kya Khandala?” [Will you come to Khandala with me?

He must have heard this line from a famous song from a Hindi movie. Another couple, who seemed to have come from North India, was very excited about being in Mumbai. I think they belonged to a small town somewhere in the North, where the girl might not have lived the modern life. She was delighted to be with her family, and was having fun getting her pictures clicked in newly bought clothes.

I heard an elderly couple talking about their young age; they were discussing about the shy time they used to spend in the early years of their life. Since I could hear their conversation clearly, I smiled at one point of time and they smiled back as they realized that I was overhearing them. I immediately moved from there and drove ahead to carry on my journey- a solo trip!