Girl, Just Travel !!

"Show me the pictures na...you haven't uploaded all of it have you?" "How much did it cost?" "How do you manage to travel so much?" "What did you bring for me??" "How do people back home allow you to go alone??" 

Each time I'm back from a vacation I get plagued by these questions... Hence this ramble. 

Some people (the list could fill a barrel) prefer to right away ask these instead of asking how my experience was or what places I visited. It is really annoying, to be honest. For being on the move isn't new to me.. I have been travelling with dad since the age of 5.. Cut to 30, being the enthu cutlet that I am.. The spark is about the thrill of travel..  I take a lot of pictures and check in on facebook and insta as much as I can..  but then again after a couple of updates it gradually wears off.. It then becomes about the place I am and the people I meet.

Recently someone I knew complained about how some people make travel all about glamor. The same person had gone ahead and mentioned how he/she has bills to pay and how he/she is left with 500 Rs in their account at the end of the month. Travel does incur an expense, but that is not the only thing about it. Travel is not only for the rich and elite, it is all about prioritization. If it is important to you, you will make time for it and set aside money for it. Or at least you should try. Nothing comes free in this world, neither does travel. 

While I was in Bangkok this time, I met an aged couple from Britain who asked me if I was there on work. I said no. When he asked me where I worked and when I told him I work in the IT sector, he assumed that I was here on work. When I told him that I was on a vacation, that I paid for, this was the elderly gentleman's response - "Really? IT must be doing well then". I have seen a lot of people who choose to travel only when they travel on work. Yes, it becomes easier when the primary expense is being handled by the company, but would that really count as a vacation? While some people travel to the places in and around the place they stay in, some don't even do that! Yes, saving money is important, but what about memories and experiences?

I travel because I like it. I like going to new places and learning new things. I try to squeeze in a vacation as and when I can, no matter how long or short it is. But there are people I know who travel only because someone else is traveling. Or if someone else has visited a certain place. Travel is not a competition. For me, it is a feeling and I would do it only because I feel like it. Not for anybody else. Trying to match up to someone else by traveling to the same place on a higher budget, or taking a vacation to a certain place only because someone else did, is so silly. Travel is not a mandatory thing. You do it only if you want to. Not because someone else is doing it.

Travel is about enjoying the place and exploring the local food and meeting new people, not buying memorabilia and souvenirs for ourselves and everyone back home. While it is okay to shop what you want, travel is not only meant for that. I pick up fridge magnets from every place I have visited and small trinkets here and there, but nothing more. Honestly, shopping is never on the agenda unless it is a trip for the sole purpose of shopping. Another thing that bugs me about travel is having too many things on the itinerary. People try to cover twenty things in a day by stopping at each place for less than ten minutes. What's the use, tell me? Did you get to enjoy the place and the time your spent there? Or was it all about taking a picture in front of that monument and posting it on Facebook? People who hardly use social media suddenly become active when they travel.

I did come back with quite a number of pictures, but probably only about two percent of it feature on Insta.  As much as I like posing for pictures, while traveling I don't care much about it. 

The purpose of travel for me is to take a break from monotony. The purpose of travel for me is to experience a new place and make memories, not show off. I travel because I want to, not because my friends/relatives/colleagues/neighbors are traveling. I travel because it brings me closer to myself in new ways, not because I want the world to think that I'm rich. I travel because I learn so much about others during the process, not because I get to check-in online on SM. Most importantly, I travel because it means a lot to me and helps me restore my sanity in this otherwise insane world. Money, people, online updates, pictures, are not even secondary.

Having said that, these are my thoughts alone. Everybody has their own purpose and reason to travel. But it is very important to first live the moment before trying to capture it. Or before flaunting it.

Why do you travel?

Cheers!

Priyanka