Summer blues hitting you! Time for a quick getaway from the hot city. Enter: you zooming into the cool climes of a hill station, chilling beside a river bed, or going river rafting with friends and enjoying the rapids of the river. You may even visit a serene hill station, be in a resort – a pina colada in hand next to a beautiful swimming pool, a quiet, shady spot to sleep next to it. Another option is to tread the adventure path: pack your bags, go to the hill, trek to the deep forests and cool off in a treehouse with the birds and animals? All this sounds boring! Time to give a peppy twist to the hot, boring summers!

“Unexplored paths lead to undiscovered treasures” is so true! Post the pandemic, the aim of travel lust folks is more for fulfilment vis a vis the mundane sightseeing and selfies. Everyone seems to have reached a saturation point and wants to break free from the routine and regular work. The pandemic seems to have become a “predestined” way of changing the course of life. The quirky seems to be the preferred way of living life. “Do things differently” has become everyone’s mantra now – including travel ideas too!

Travelling has become a part of most people’s lifestyle. An escape from the boring routines and the madness! And most of you would be having a bucket list that normally starts at the beginning of the year. Penning them down, pinning it to our soft boards or sticky notes on our laptops – we have them all! The list is ready. But we are not. Such people are called virtual travellers who gaze lovingly at their computer screen wallpapers. Most likely, they would have researched where to go, where to stay, and explored possible hangout zones near their chosen spots too. I know the extremely meticulous travellers – right from their passports, documents, travel accessories to clothes – everything would be planned and kept ready a long time ago! 

Then there are the backpackers or impromptu travellers who just pick clothes, accessories, and everything needed for a trip and dump them all in a travel bag and just stride off the doors, choosing the quickest available transport. There is a third category – a blend of both. So which category of travellers do you belong to?

Get as quirky as you want when you plan your travels. Here’s what you can do to make your travel interesting! Discover the wanderlust in you!

Start a Travel Bucket List
So, what is a bucket list? A list of things you want to do. Having a bucket list in every walk of life helps! A travel bucket list can have the locations you want to visit and logistics for the same. So, a kind of a brain map for travel. Each time you spot an interesting place to visit, write the name of the place in a journal. You can even add “things-to-do” there too. Don’t wait for a very long list. Keep it short lest you only spend time planning (and end up in virtual travel). Have short term goals accordingly so you can start marking your calendars and plan leaves accordingly.

Ensure safe travel
Thanks to the pandemic and fear of acquiring the virus, people started restricting travel (also thanks to government guidelines). But gradually, various places have opened up. You can choose safe spots for travel. Do enough research on the location to find hygienic places to stay, local specialities and hangouts too. Make sure that the rooms are cleaned and sanitized thoroughly. Find safe food spots to sample local flavours instead of the regular restaurant food.

Do Vlogging
The latest travel lingo to be added to the vocabulary is V logging. Thanks to social media, people love to share travel stories with their friends on their social media handles. You can record your voice while shooting videos of interesting locales and upload it on a travel website/social media handle. These memories you make will  remain forever. Though it may be lost in the world wide web and for others, they will remain with us every time we watch them. As years pass by, we will need to look back, so make memories for yourself. 

Locales, off-beat
A quirky traveller will always choose destinations that are lesser known and off the “tourist” maps. You will get the feel of the local culture and place much better. With so many companies going hybrid, this seems to be a great time for travellers to step outside the four walls of the house and search for remote locations to work and have a vacation too! The locations can range from a simple jungle lodge, a beach shack, or even a homestay beside a river bank. There are many who love traditional houses and rural settings. There are many people who have started their own farms with animals, plants and growing their own foods. They even organize guided stays for the public. Almost every city, there are entrepreneurs who have opened up farm stays – a great place for children to discover the farm-to-plate food.

Travel, reset sleep cycles
The pandemic took a toll on most working folks. With the work-from-home routine, companies overloaded employees with work that was almost 24x7. As a result, insomnia set in with late night work routines. To reset sleep cycles, people started thinking of travelling and working simultaneously. Choosing a remote destination that has wi-fi as well as other good amenities – renting out service apartments, people sought a change in food and sleep routines too. Choosing to work at their pace is the solution most people have found to alter unhealthy lifestyles. 

Family time back!
Those with families started going on short vacations too since schools had gone hybrid as well. Travel also ensures spending quality time with the family, talking, playing games and eating meals together. This had been missing in the last decade. Family members and children seemed in parallel zones. The pandemic seems to have acted as a pause button on busy lifestyles. Search engine traffic became higher with people looking for shorter getaways with families as well as working remotely. In other words, it became akin to “targeting two birds with one stone”.

Finally, travel is also a way of going back to the roots. I have always discovered tiny facets of me that were undiscovered during my growing years. Each trip has been a joyous journey down the memory lanes. I still have old photographs of various travails and escapades with friends. The wanderlust in me is forever alive and keeps my creative juices flowing just like all of you will discover for yourselves once you begin travelling.

I love this quote: “I travel not to go anywhere but to go. I travel for travel’s sake! The great affair is to move”. So, cheers to new destinations, new journeys, and travails! Happy Holidays, folks!

Follow Priya Rajendran and The Word Route