Before, I begin, I must put it out as a disclaimer that by stating my thoughts and ideas on travel, I am only giving my personal view. Do not travel until its absolutely necessary for you. For people like me travel is not just a vacation or part of life that is avoidable, as it is the only reason I live. Also for some it might be absolutely necessary to see the ocean or mountains to find peace and gain mental strength and avoid depression. This post is for them, in a way to help. However, I will strongly advice, in case you do travel , try not to come back to old people or very young ones, for whom, Corona can be more riskier as a disease contracted. With stronger immunity we generally will face mild symptoms of the deadly virus, but that might not be the case for everyone out there, if you are not sure about your immune health yet. In the end, I trust all my readers are mostly mature men and women and I put my faith on your intuitions and decisiveness. It is upon yourself, to decide if traveling and going out is an worthy option for you, depending how and where you live. Governments of state has slowly opened tourism with rules and regulations to follow, and it is absolutely necessary that all of us must comply to this rule if you decide to hit the road. For every travel lover out their, the pandemic and lock down has been a lesson of patience and frustration both. Mostly because, eyes that find beauty in the vast expanse of mountains and beaches , had to resort to pictures on social media to soothe their eyes. The freedom lost in the times of pandemic will be remembered for long. But the good news is slowly but surely the world is opening up. So even if in immediate future, we cannot plan our dream destination or vacation, we can certainly, have some flavors of wanderlust and take upon journeys. Here I am assembling some great ways to take a vacation, journey and trip during the times of pandemic which might satiate your hunger for the world for sometimes. 1. City Walks & Exploring unknown facets of your own town. Most of us might have been , living in our cities and towns for long, yet I am a cent percent sure, there are spots in cities , that we have not yet experienced or been to. As a tour guide, who gives multiple city tours in Kolkata , Delhi and Mumbai, there is always something new coming up in my tour, even if I had been there before. Every city has a rich history, various communities and their folklores, waiting to be discovered. If you google a bit or read a book based on your city , you will find lesser known places which might amaze you , when you visit them. Hence, for a start it would be a great idea to have explore your unknown side of the city. You can do morning explorations, perfect to avoid the crowd and maintain social distancing. Walks or on bicycles, are both a great way to explore your town and stories unheard in your own cities. Also do not forget to take your camera or phone to indulge in street photography, which will be a pleasure for you surely ! 2.Road trips with your friends or family. As more normal life get back on, it will be a wise idea, to take road trip in a rented vehicle or self vehicle to some places accessible to your current location with four to five hours of drive. Road trips are always great , and in current times , road trips will help you be securing better movement , avoiding public transportation. I am sure , we all have lesser known villages or natural spots near to our current locations, where we did not visit yet , and we kept it for someday. Often it happened to me, being young , I always thought of wandering the furthest places, and kept all that was good in my surrounding for later years, as retirement plan. Well now , it is exactly such a time, to test your choices. When we should access, this remote yet near places, we must savor the journey more than the destination. Take breaks on road to click more pictures. With monsoon just finished in India, most roads are vivid green and beautiful. Even if the spots are not in your bucket list, I recommend this highly, since in the end , Travel is more about journeys than destination. And what better way to enjoy journeys, than a good road trip! 3. Camping or hiking in nature or remote places. Camping does not always have to be on mountains, neither hiking. But if you can somehow access hills and mountains, your luck is with you. Even if not, you can always search out for a place, which is quiet remote and go for a camping trip. Do it alpine style to involve your adventure senses more. Alpine style camping or hiking , defines , when you go for a hiking trip or camping in the wild on your own, without any help of professional hands. It is indeed, one of the best experiences in holistic ways, where you learn a lot about survival. With right people it is often too much fun, and even if you are alone, it is a great time to spend under the spell of nature and solitude. There is no better way to see a sunset or sunrise, or take a bath in a natural lake, than from a vicinity of a tent. Generally , camping and hiking takes your to places which are not too crowded, and that will help your chances of social distancing. Hiking is also safe , as not much people are involved in it. Already goverments of Kashmir ,Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have opened up hiking and trekking. Following their rules one must be able to go back again to wilds of the unknown. If you are interested , I am myself going hiking in next month. Check out the simple plans here, and connect if you would like. 4. Travel to Homestays. Home stays are run by people , who live and run their lovely homes and give out exceptional experiences for travelers like us. Safety in times such as this, can be found best while traveling to their homes. Since they as residents will want to keep themselves healthy and safe, they will take the best measures for a secure stay. A lot of home stays, can be found remotely located which are not destination specific , but can add up to a travel experience greatly. I think , this is the perfect time to try those locations out. A simple relaxing stay in a new and strange place can calm your mind , and help you against the stress, the world is going through and putting on you. Add to that meeting the strangers and listening to their stories, which in itself , is of great adventure. For your part you are helping them, by letting them earn a little after the long cease of their work and livelihood. It is also true , now you are more prone to find better deals as not much people will be heading anywhere. Grab this opportunity to visit some of the most wonderfully located home stays around yourself. I will definitely recommend you to start shortlisting home stays now, by checking on Google and may be fixing a destination in mind. You can always also consult me for a free advice.Do connect with the host before traveling , so that they can aid you with the current scenarios, which will help your travel. Making sure, when you are arriving , also helps them to prepare for a safe stay. 5. Workactions This is a new term for the wanderlust stricken youth of India. In world wide travel, a many of people are known as digital nomads. They work but their job does not require them to be mandatory, to be situated in a single destination. With good internet, they can work from anywhere in the world, and that is how a lot of people , including me live from place to place of our desire. With the pandemic, most working companies have now WORK FROM HOME scenarios, where you are also a kind of digital nomad, if you have the will ofcourse. There are great many a hospitality properties with amazing wifi, giving the chance to people to come and stay with them and work from their beautiful properties located in amazing destinations all around. For example I know a property in Pushakar who charges only 7000 INR to start with for a stay plan , in their super cool hostel, and work from their. High speed wifi to connect and work, and amazing places in Pushkar in vicinity to go around. Ping me up privately if you want to know more. For a lot of people, they are moving to small towns and villages in the Himalayas, through me. They have rented amazing rooms in the heavenly destination and for next two to three months at least will enjoy travel and work together. This is one of the brighter side of pandemic, that this chance is on offer, and will surely not repeat. So for people who had a long wish of moving to mountains and staying long, this the perfect time, as your life could be a mix of vacation and work. Check out some amazing properties to work from mountains here. I hope soon enough, you can hit the roads, and start the journey. Travel will help your mind , and relax the stress we have been going through. Lastly , it will help people and regions economically , when you can take services from them. You can connect with me to know more about planning your travel during this times. Advises and friendship are free to those who love to wander! Do connect with me through my social media buttons on your right top corner.
Lastly , though we did cage up ourselves for the need of survival, I hope all of you can take up a little courage to take calculated risks. For life is not just about survival, it is To Live! |
Note from the Author," Travel made me rich and free. Magic and miracles are true , once you wander on the roads to places different and divine. I have collected so many thoughts and stories while being a Tour & Trek guide for last seven years. Sharing with you all, those memories and stories , and wishing you all , that someday you guys travel far and wide too. I am not a great writer , so ignore my grammar and spellings, read it with feelings, and you might just be affected with the wanderlust to hit the road" Categories
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