Why I travel

‘So what are up to these days?’ An aunty visiting home enquired.

‘Some studying and some traveling’

‘Oh, good you are studying, but why do you travel?’

This is the first time ever an aunty visiting home made me think. I believe in ‘ignorance is bliss’ when such people come home, but this time it was different. I jabbered some ‘I like to travel because…’ answer to her but wasn’t satisfied. I began to find the reason why I travel.

As a kid, I didn’t like the environment in the house. I would always try to escape being home, be it going out to play, going for a picnic etc. It made me happy to be out of the home. We didn’t go on trips every summer, but I cherish the few times we did.

I loved these few picnics we had because it helped me escape from the usual vibe. This is the root cause of me loving to be outdoors though now I have found better reasons. I would go crazy and have fun on this trips because I knew I couldn’t do so back home.

In secondary school, it was the thing to brag about trips and travels one has had. It wasn’t the generation of phones and selfies but I remember friends getting photo albums to school and bragging about the beautiful trips to Matheran, Mahabaleshwar etc. Sometimes these albums would include photos of the places but more often it was the family members trying hard to pose on or with a horse, outside some temple or monument etc.

I no more am an escapist and the vibe at home over the years got better. Now I just like to escape my daily routine and be in nature. But the instinct to still be crazy and have fun when I am out is predominantly there!

I am the quiet one otherwise, but when outdoors, I am the one initiating conversations, singing, dancing and trying to have fun and making sure others do too. It is another level of happiness to make people comfortable on trips and having fun with them.

I am not the kind who likes to flaunt my travel. As a kid, I didn’t have anything to and now when I do travel, I don’t wish to. It is more about sharing what I learned than flaunting the pretty photos. Social media has made it easy to flaunt your life but I try my best to be kind who shares knowledge.

It has been two years since my first big trip and more than two years since I began regular trekking. Now, I have come to space where I connect to nature, where every travel is more about being able to spend time in nature, being able to connect with the environment.

Be it a forest walk, a mountain climb, hugging a tree, hugging a stone, opening up to rivers, I have done it all. I connect to every aspect of nature differently and learn from each in a different way. My subconscious has questions that nature breaks down and gives answers to in its own unique way.

The people I travel with and the people I meet, both add so much more learning to my being. This is another reason I always look forward to every trip because there hasn’t been a single trip with the exact same people as the previous one. There is always someone new adding a new flavor.

I travel because I wish to do something different from my routine. I travel because I connect to different elements of nature and learn from each. I travel because learning about a new place and sharing the stories about the same gives me joy. I travel because I learn from people I travel with and people I meet and all of this together adds to my being. The next time this aunty visits, I will have the answer to why I travel.