Literary Tours

Imagine this scenario – you walk into your college or office canteen and see all your colleagues and friends sitting together laughing, chattering away and having fun. Then, in a corner, you see a person sitting all alone, having lunch. Immediately, you are probably going to label this person as being friendless or being weird. You will also thank your stars that you are not in that person’s shoes, eating alone.

 

Fellow Toastmasters, we Indians are a gregarious lot and we often associate being alone with being lonely. From loneliness, it is just one step to imagining someone to be depressed or a black sheep. In the same way, we often associate solo travelling with being lonely and some people even say it is so low to travel solo. In fact, it is one of the best things you can do for your personality, mind and soul. It is probably even better than having a love affair.

 

My encounter with solo travelling began with a betrayal. That betrayal was no less than what happens to Kangana Ranaut in the movie Queen. Sure, I was not supposed to be on a honeymoon, but I had planned a week long vacation with my friend to Puerto Rico. But, when it came to the moment of commitment, the moment of booking the tickets, she backed out. I went on the trip anyway, all by myself. That’s how my tryst with solo travelling began.

 

The best thing about this love affair has been that I have never had to wait for anyone – not for friends to match their holidays with mine nor for them to have the same budget in mind as I do. So, I have been to the palaces of Russia, the beaches of Puerto Rico and the mosques of Turkey without having to worry about other people’s conveniences or bank balances.

 

I have also not had to compromise with a friend whose idea of a vacation is to sleep through the day or watch TV, while mine is to ride a bicycle along a beautiful beach path. How many times have you had to cancel your plans because of someone else? How often have you had to cancel going to a museum or a bar that you really wanted to visit? How often have you had to let go of trying that local cuisine in a new place just because someone else has a rigid Indian palate and does not like to experiment with food? My motto is to leave the friend baggage behind, and to travel light, travel solo.

 

Like any love affair, my relationship with solo travelling began with a lot of fear and anxiety. I was worried about staying all by myself in a strange country and a strange city. What if I couldn’t figure out the public transport? What if I couldn’t find my hotel? But, when I landed back in India after the trip, the only feelings that stayed with me were a sense of achievement and a sense of pride. I had done it alone. I had broken the shackles of fear.

 

This overcoming of fear goes hand in hand with becoming a better planner. When I landed in Russia the driver who came to pick me up at the airport looked like the quintessential thug with broken teeth and bruises all over his face. I was terrified as I got into his cab wondering if he would really take me to my hotel. But, because I had done a lot of planning and research, I had a general idea about the layout of the city and I could make sure that he was taking me towards the city center where I knew the hotel was located. So the amount of fear I have felt on a trip has always been directly proportionate to the amount of research and planning I have done for the trip. In the process I have also become a better planner.

 

There’s another reason I prefer solo travelling over love affairs. They say, love affairs change you as a person. Solo travelling does that, too, minus the heart breaks. Whenever I have been on one of those Dil Chahta Hai kind of trips with my friends to Goa, I tend to stick to them and I don’t really interact with strangers and new people. But, when I am on my own, I am forced to do so. In the process, I have made new friends, shared breakfast tables with complete strangers and definitely added a new dimension to my personality.

 

In the same way, travelling alone actually allows you to try out different versions of your personality. Think of Ranbir Kapoor in Tamasha. When he is in Corsica, he is this jovial person who tries out different styles of Bollywood actors. But, when he is india, he is a grim professional. He is able to try on different personalities only when he is alone in a new place. That’s what solo travelling does to you. It allows you to be whoever you want to be. So, you can have a boyfriend or a girlfriend or be single, you can be singer or a DJ when life made you a boring chartered accountant, you can play the fool when you normally tend to be quiet sane person. When you are in a new place on your own, there are no expectations of behavior from you or any preconceived notions about you. This does involve a little bit of lies, but if it’s giving you a high and if it’s not harming anyone else, who is stopping you?

 

Lastly, falling in love, they say, makes you a better person. But falling in love with solo travelling makes you a creative person. Who knows, you might end up writing your first novel or at least a blog with all the time you have on hand? There’s also a lot of time to introspect and reflect on your life. Whenever I have held the map of a new place in my hand, I am internally mapping the next few years of my life and how I would reach those goals of my life.

 

In the end, love affairs do add a new flavor to your life, but sometimes they turn bitter. For a long lasting taste of beautiful memories and experiences, try solo travelling.