What I travel for!

(Written on Dec 23 2012. Found it recently in my oneNote pages and hence posting this now.)

The week I had spent in Mexico was not all fun all the time. In fact, I was very bored and down in the first two days. I always thought I was fine traveling alone. Having  traveled for a month in Japan last year and a super short detour to Lisbon on my way to India this year, I thought I would be fine.  But I did not realize that Japan was all fun because I was still kind of stationed in one place attending the language school and the actual traveling was done only in the weekends. This meant that the trips themselves were very short, usually a day tour. I also could speak a bit of Japanese and hence I could have some conversations with the people. Lisbon, actually gave me a hint that traveling alone is not always fun. You can get bored easily even if you are in an amazing place, traveling alone . I had a super busy trip in Lisbon, trying to do as much as I could in the two short days I had there. The low energy levels battling the guilt/fear of not spending the time I had in that beautiful country did not leave me in a good mood. But I still did not think much of traveling alone. Like I said, the trip was very short and even before I knew it was in India for my brother's wedding.

Coming back to the Mexico trip, Mexico was strikingly different form Europe or Japan. You do not hear people warning you about safety when you are traveling to Europe or Japan. Europe is not that crowded as Mexico and even though Japan is as crowded as Mexico, you could get to anywhere with relative ease using the public transport. You can take a taxi in either of these countries and be sure that you won't be over charged. But Mexico is like India, where the cab drivers try to overcharge you if you don't know where you are going except for the name of the place you want to go to. Not having any plans, low energy levels and again the guilt of wasting time not doing much after going all the way there, the petty things like the ridiculous cab fares and above all, the loneliness really brought me down for the first two days. I was even thinking of cutting the trip short and going back sooner than planned. It got me thinking about the traveling alone thing.

Anyway, as I got kind of used to city and the hostel and more importantly when I got to meet and talk to a good number of travelers in the days after, the whole energy came back. In the little amount of traveling I got to do in these 2 years, I have realized traveling is as much as about meeting people and opening up your mind a little more when  they share their experiences and stories with you - if not more, as it is about seeing the beautiful places/monuments that the country has to offer. Having a conversation over a beer in a random bar, talking about just anything, walking in the streets just exploring neighborhoods, eating a homemade authentic Mexican breakfast, just being awed by the beautiful places/monuments, manmade or natural - moments/experiences like these is what traveling all worth it. One of my friends(I made on my travels) who is traveling for a few months on his own, told me that you're never really alone as you are always meeting people. One other friend told me that it is hard sometimes, as even though you are meeting people you make a connection with only a few(if any at all) and sometimes you are just by your own completely. But he told me that all this, teaches a lot about yourself. I think that's very true. Even though now I am not sure that I can actually travel for an extended period of time, say a few months to a year, I really want to do that once at least and learn more about the world and myself too.

P.S: Mexico and Mexico city never felt unsafe. I took the subways all the time, even in the night too and it was never a problem. You just have to be cautious as you would be in any other major city.

Living in the moment!

How do you decide on the amount of time you want to spend in a place you have never been to?How much time is enough time? These are probably the most common questions that everyone faces when planning a trip, and I am sure the traveler in each of us has his/her very own solution. Or if you are like me, you probably don't know what your traveling style and pace is and the only way is to go on a few trips and find out. Even after a decent bit of traveling in the last couple of years, I haven't found my pace yet, but one thing I learnt for sure is that there is never enough time. There will always be places that you will miss or places where you can't spend as much time as you want to. This realization has made me sensitive to one aspect that I grossly ignore in my daily life - the quality of time. 
                        When you know that you only have limited time at a place you really like, you would want to at least make the best of it. For this reason, when traveling, I am under a constant pressure to make the most of my time. Also, at any moment there is usually a lot going in my head and I greatly cherish the moments when the chaos in there calms down and I am, even if partially, able to live in the moment. Quoting from the movie American Beauty 'Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can't take it, and my heart is just going to cave in'. There really have been places where I felt that I need to put all my senses and soul into just taking all the beauty around me in and into just living those moments to the fullest. Places that make you feel there isn't anywhere else in the world you would rather be. Living in the moment is hard, but I do try my best to immortalize these moments in my head. I become super sensitive to the environment around me. The smell and the sounds, the weather and the wind, the colour of the sky, the people, every big and small detail around and most importantly the feeling that I have then, I try to take a note of and remember all these things. While places like Sagrada Familia,Trolltunga/Preikestolen/Kjerag always inspire such moments with their grand beauty,some really simple places/things too do the same to me. Like just walking in the streets of Barcelona enjoying the sun or sitting at the plazas savoring the night's warm breeze or just being there in a city(like Reykjavik, Iceland)that you've never ever imagined yourself in. 

I crave for moments like these when I travel. These are the experiences that stay with me for long time even after I come back from my trips. Those little details I try to remember, act as triggers for those happy memories, after which I am usually left with a joyous and content heart. 

P.S: This begs for an important question of why am I not so careful about the quality of time in my regular life and why don't I try as hard as I do when I am traveling, to enjoy it better. There is no reason to not to do this and I am working on it.