Life on the Road : The Tribune India

Follow Us

Epaper

Login / Register

A-

A+

Updated At:Jul 29, 202308:44 AM (IST)

Puneetinder Kaur Sidhu

ravel is acutely subjective, much like life. And much like life, it has its fair share of fun and frolic, up hill and down dale, smooth sailing and swimming against the current, roadblocks, U-turns, and what have you. When I look back at over 30 years of independent travel, it is the anticipation, exhilaration, and sheer pleasure those experiences left in their wake, which I most vividly recall. Frightening escapades come with the territory, too, and I thankfully live to recount them. Like that one time I stepped on a loose stone while walking the Old Hindustan-Tibet Road and went flying into a Kinnaur khud. It could well have been my last adventure but for a providentially placed tree that broke my free fall, and the fellow hikers who perilously yet cautiously untangled me and pulled me back to safety. I’m sure each of us would have different lessons from the road; here are a few takeaways from my decades of journeying.

Stay Vigilant, Stay Safe

As more and more women take to travelling in India, their enthusiasm is being grudgingly met with acceptance, and a great amount of hand-holding by professional all-women groups that ensure safety nets. Still, women have to be doubly prepared for exigencies, and also plan five steps ahead. I can’t say this enough — don’t forget to pack that commonsense, and keep your wits about you at all times, alongside a list of emergency contacts. This held me in good stead when, on receiving uncomfortable and unsolicited attention from an employee at a place of interest, I reached out to the authorities for redressal, and received it promptly.

Embrace Positivity

This may not sound like the most pragmatic approach, but then neither does doom and gloom. A positive outlook, in general, prepares you to face reality, think on your feet, and find solutions quickly. Challenges are easier to navigate, adversity easier to laugh off, and courage easier to summon. While some amount of trepidation is expected, learn to place trust in yourself, and recognise the extent and limits of your capabilities. I’m still wrapping my head around having lasted three gruelling work weeks in a blistering Rajasthan last May.

Come Alive to Diversity

Travelling makes you come alive to the beauty of diversity, and it instills cultural sensitivity and mindfulness. There are, after all, countless ways of living, eating, and dressing, travelling even, here at home and abroad. That said, the more things change, the more they stay the same. I have found people the world over have the same aspirations — be it the Basque region or Tuscany, Serbia or Singapore, Mauritius or Australia. They just want to go about their life in peaceful co-existence, and are generally given to being kind and helpful. Therefore, despite cautionary advisories, I have learnt to invest faith in fellow itinerants.

Remain Curious

I hope to never lose the insatiable, wide-eyed curiosity that has brought me this far. From a school-going toddler in Shimla, walking in twos along forested paths, and learning about snake plants and stinging nettle, to later discovering the actual sting after tripping on a muddy Himalayan trail and landing on the plant. From backpacking solo in South Africa to signing up for a car rally through Bhutan, from carpooling across Europe to my current choice of self-driven holidays — none of it would be possible without a deep-seated quest for knowing the world we inhabit a little better.

De-clutter, Travel Light

I’ve gone from lugging around two large pieces of baggage, brimming with outfits for each day and activity of my first-ever trans-Atlantic holiday in the ’90s, feeling a bit like Sisyphus in the New York subway, to fitting all I need into a cabin-appropriate bag. It took all of two decades to get it right, but I have totally Marie Kondo-ed the art of packing. A life lesson I heartily recommend to all.

Slow Travel

Having done my share of whistle-stop tours and mindlessly running through bucket lists in the early years, I have now come to enjoy slow, immersive, and sustainable travel. Delighting in the boundless possibilities in our own backyard, finding newness in sameness, and increasingly advocating travel within India, are the obvious outcomes of this choice.

In the interest of full disclosure, experience and clarity notwithstanding, my travel plans are still known to go awry every now and then. Take my visit to Florence during Christmas holidays, for instance; I thought I’ll have the place to myself, except half the world thought similarly, and almost all my photos of the place are from an end-of-snaking-queue point of view. I still wouldn’t have it any other way because it’s these hiccups — minor or otherwise — that keep the fun factor, excitement, and suspense alive. After all, a good traveller, as defined by Lao Tzu, has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.

Money-Saving hacks

This is not an exhaustive list as there are no foolproof, failsafe, one-size-fits-all travel hacks to avoid breaking the bank, but it’s an empirically informed place to start.

Choose the timing

Wherever possible, plan getaways during that budget-friendly window between peak and off-season.

Plan ahead, book early

Save on flight tickets and accommodation, and avoid long queues at must-dos on your list. Consider long layovers for further cost-cutting.

Pack smart

Avoid excess baggage charges, lengthy security checks, and lugging around heavy pieces. Look up airline allowances, items permitted to check-in/carried into cabin to breeze through airports.

List free activities

Most destinations offer free or discounted entry to major attractions on certain days of the week, holidays, and during festivals; research beforehand.

Smart cards

Make extensive use of easy-to-figure public transportation with prepaid smart cards.

Local SIM cards

A necessity for extended travel plans, it saves roaming charges and provides connectivity for all those handy apps you’ll be using.

New-age aids

Google Maps, Google Translator, City Guides, Cab Hailers, Currency Convertors, Toilet Finders — all just a download away for the tech-savvy.

Pick the right co-travellers Your travel buddies can make or break your trip. Choose wisely!

A-

A+

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

The 24-hour general strike called by the coordinating commit...

Friday's encounter between security personnel and the terror...

The accused are currently lodged in Taloja jail in neighbour...

The quake takes place at 8.36 am

The ruling by the state's highest court comes after Kamaljit...

View All

The Tribune, now published from Chandigarh, started publication on February 2, 1881, in Lahore (now in Pakistan). It was started by Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, a public-spirited philanthropist, and is run by a trust comprising four eminent persons as trustees.

The Tribune, the largest selling English daily in North India, publishes news and views without any bias or prejudice of any kind. Restraint and moderation, rather than agitational language and partisanship, are the hallmarks of the newspaper. It is an independent newspaper in the real sense of the term.

The Tribune has two sister publications, Punjabi Tribune (in Punjabi) and Dainik Tribune (in Hindi).

Remembering Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia

Designed and Developed by: Grazitti Interactive