The Traveler Kid

The alarm rings at 3:30 AM. My parents would wake up and start getting ready. Mummy would boil water, make tea and perhaps heat the snack or breakfast that we would be having during the travel. I’ll get another 20-30 minutes more to sleep. But was I asleep? Nope. I would be lying on the bed, wide awake and all excited. We would be leaving at around 4:30 AM to catch the 5 AM Venad Express from Trivandrum Central. Yes, the exams were finally over and the vacation was on.

This was my story, most vacations – Onam, Christmas or summer – as far back as I can recall. The journey wasn’t a big one; just a 150 kilometers travel from Trivandrum to Kottayam, to spent a few days with my cousins. But the thrill those travels gave me are beyond words.

My love for travel, thus finds its roots on those Trivandrum-Kottayam routes. The thrill sets in a couple of days before the journey itself, often messing up the last exam. And to this day, to the most recent Sikkim ride, the thrill before the journey, is for me, the best part of the journey!

Until college, I never got to venture much outside Kerala. The local city rides with my friends were my best memories. During high school days, Veli lake was my favourite hangout spot. Sitting by the lake, enjoying the cool breeze and pondering about all random topics, was bliss.

It was in college that I started to explore the world. Chennai and Madras Christian College gave me the freedom and the wings to fly. Punjab was the first on the list. It was in my second year of college that I visited my schoolmate who was then doing a course in Ludhiana. The two-week trip covered Ludhiana, Chandigarh and Amritsar.

The very next year, I planned a trip to Goa along with four of my close friends. Whatever happened in Goa, stays in Goa! It was a hell of a trip.

I explored Delhi and Agra during my internship days in Delhi. This was after my first year of post-graduation. As I did my PG in Hyderabad, I explored the city quite a lot during those two years. In my second year, I travelled to Jaipur on the pretext of attending the Jaipur Lit Fest. Well, I would have spent 30 odd minutes at the Lit Fest. Otherwise, the trip was all about exploring Jaipur and Pushkar.

It was after coming to Pondicherry that I got a companion for my travels. Until then, Indian Railways was my preferred mode of travel. After my first year in Pondicherry, Batman joined me.

Batman is a 2018 model Yamaha FZ (version 2.0) bike. Over the past 18 months, we have covered over 23,000 kilometers exploring Ooty, Mysore, Dhanushkodi, Bangalore, Gokarna and Sikkim!

Every trip is a unique story and it was after the recent Sikkim trip that I felt that these stories were worth writing down and sharing with the world.

Thus this blog is born.

I hope that you too get to experience the thrill and start exploring the world. Because, let me tell you,

The world is a better place if you keep exploring!