Grateful for Travel’18

Last post in this series and of 2018. I loved my blog journey this year. I hope you enjoyed it as much and have something to take back from this post too.

Have you ever felt so joyous that you couldn’t put it to words? You couldn’t express it in any other form either? All you could do is feel it, be mesmerized! I have. And this year I am grateful I felt so many times.

On my first trek to Baglan Range, when I reached the top of Salher, I saw many mountain ranges in front of me. I got lost in the beauty of the moment. I sat there, gawking at the mountains and reflected on my thoughts.

The mess in my mind cleared and I felt a weird joy rush in me. I sang and danced the entire walk down and the rest of the trip. Yes, that’s how joy flows out of me – through random singing and dancing. I get detached of reality, it is just me, the mountains making me feel happy and my mad celebration of it!

‘How do you manage to travel so much?’
‘How do you manage to have so much time?’
‘Who do you go with? Who takes care of you?’
‘Do you seriously trek? You are tiny, don’t you faint by the end?’

And so much more. These are a few common questions I was asked the entire year. But my answer to all of these is – ‘It is all about choices!’

I choose to travel. It makes me happy. I do it because I want to. It is difficult to choose it over a close friend’s birthday, or over a weekend sleep. It is what you choose to do a weekend in hand that makes you either have twenty plus trips a year like me or the travel year you have had.

This year I mastered the art of planning. I planned out time for all. There were weekends with friends, there were weekends with family, and then there were the best ones with my dear mountains. My friends and family know where my heart lies and that helps me plan my trips well. I hope to continue doing so in the New Year.

Once the decision is made to travel, the other issues pop up. Whom to go with? Where to? How to? And the rest. Fortunately, for me, all of these is taken care of by my cousin and his friends. I only bag pack and leave. For bigger trips my college nature club does and I just go.

I am blessed with these two groups I travel with. I hope to not lose either, but now I am at a point in life that I’ll travel with any group. I’ll find someone somewhere, just backpack, hope to be safe and go. There is no holding back now.

Why I say so because this year I let go of all the ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ I had about my travel ventures. Only the two of us, me and my cousin, went to Songiri Fort. Different combinations of four people trekked Rajgadh and Harihar Forts. I went to Sondai and Chanderi forts without my cousin.

I merged a few of my two groups on a trip to Vasai Fort. The best one was six people trek to Tandulwadi where I didn’t know anyone too well. It was quite literally to ‘let go and travel’ kind of year!

I didn’t let the number of people, or the combination of people hold me back from travelling. This is the prime reason for having such a grateful travel year. Yes, I missed many people on many trips, but life is like that. Not all humans can stay with you on all paths of life.

Talking about life, at this moment, everything is falling apart in many ways. Past few weeks has been full of weird emotional turmoil. But, as I reflect on the trips I have had this year, the smile comes back to my face, I have hope alive in me somewhere again.

My Konkan trip can be marked as the one giving me hope. We went in May, and things didn’t work out as planned, instead, we faced a crisis. Yet, the start of October had us execute the Konkan plan.

I love when things are planned, organized. I like everything to be done orderly. As my life right now feels to be falling apart, all orders being messed up, these two trips give me hope. Hope that everything will happen when it has to, I can only do little in the master plan carved for me already.

Not God exactly, but I believe in destiny and karma. Reflecting on both Konkan trips, I can tell myself to be calm. To do what I am ought to and leave the rest. Not everything in life can be planned, and it is part of life to face crisis and to grow through it.

 

The Konkan trip in October was special as I had a one moment of stomach-aching laughter, during the return journey of this trip. I have had many hearty laughs and Jawhar trip was joyous too, but this one was one of the best!

I wish I could pen the joke and make you laugh too, but it won’t, alas! Travel more guys, and if you are lucky, perhaps with ‘us’! I am grateful for this ‘us’ I proudly referred, but I don’t know how long this will last.

This week as I pen my last post of the year, two of my close trekking mates got hitched. As happy I am for the new chapter in their lives, I am equally or perhaps more concerned about the changes that might occur. Yes, it all boils down to choices.

I wonder if I’ll have their company for trips now, I can only hope. I am grateful for all the treks I have had till now. I don’t know what other changes are in store for the following year, but I sure am prepared.

I can proudly say that this year, I climbed a mountain, rappelled down a mountain through water and even in the dark. Bhairavgadh (Moroshi), Sandhan Valley, Bekare Waterfall, and Linagana loaded me with these experiences.

I wish to have every sort of experience around a mountain. I’ll continue to climb yes, but I wish to do all sort of adventure around it as well. This is part of my wishlist and I know I’ll do all of it someday.

One season that removes the most craze part of me is the monsoon. Sahyadri during rains is pure love! I haven’t had a single monsoon trek where I didn’t sing of joy this year. Siddhagadh, Manikgadh, Goarkhgadh, and Kamandurg felt like I was in la-la land. I couldn’t have asked for a better monsoon trek line up. I can’t stop my grin as I think of all these rainy trips!

Apart from Vasai Fort, I had three trips with my college Nature Club this year – Spiti Valley, Tree Plantation in Pinghals (Karjat), and Tansa Trail. Spiti Valley was such a saga. I am grateful that I can rewind and be at the highest post office posting cards to my loved ones, be at the highest village, monastery and even petrol pump!

Himalayan mountains are so huge, life there is so different, each time I come back, I feel small, and my life issues even smaller. I always get a lesson of how graceful and kind I should be. I’ll thrive to explore more sides of the mighty Himalayas to know more about them and learn more about life!

Tansa trail was a rainy get away. I felt fortunate to spot many different creatures and learn even about varieties of flora and fauna. I wish I could make time for more, but I am glad I had that one tree plantation session this year.

Nature Club trips add to my learning curve every time. It always manages to open up a new window of knowledge in me. It reminds me of the need to read, explore and learn more about nature. Each trip helps me respect mother earth more and find ways to give back to it.

2018 will be special as twenty-two trips are my maximum in a year! I am anxious about how the New Year will unfold in terms of travel. I hope I manage to follow my motto to ‘let go and travel’ and perhaps out past this year. Cheers to that!