On Blind dates, and Destination Bucket Lists.

Honest answer to this question is because I am

“Curiouser and curiouser!”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Every time I read a travel related book I am inspired like reading “Asterix and the banquet” the thought of travelling round picking up delicacies and having a banquet sounds interesting.

Then there is the travel inspiration, exploring the world book Around The World In Eighty Days, the journey of Phileas Fogg and his valet Passpourte, imagine the travel it went something like this.

From London to Suez by rail to Brindisi, and a steamer across the Mediterranean sea. From Suez to Bombay by a steamer across the Red Sea and Indian ocean. From Bombay to Calcutta by rail, from Calcutta to Victoria in Hongkong by a steamer across the south china sea, then Hong Kong to Yokohama the steamer across south china. From Yokohoma to San Francisco by a steamer across the Pacific. From San Francisco to New York city by rail. From New York to London by a steamer across the Atlantic Ocean to Liverpool and rail to London. This sounds interesting too. We would have shift the logistics instead of Bombay it would Goa and our journey would begin in Goa instead of London…

Then there were there were journey’s of self-exploration of Eat, Pray and Love. With so much on my plate I feel like Alice from Alice in wonderland…

That by the way could have been a conversation between my mother and me.   She in her true no nonsense style would say why do you want to travel at all, and the simplest answer is to go somewhere, and brings us,

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’
‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.
‘I don’t much care where -‘ said Alice.
‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.
‘- so long as I get SOMEWHERE,’ Alice added as an explanation.
‘Oh, you’re sure to do that,’ said the Cat, ‘if you only walk long enough.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Why do you want to go somewhere? Taking us on another journey.

Once again why do I travel…. because I want to get to a destination…. why do I want to reach that destination may be because

• I have business there
• I have someone to visit.
• I want to explore – the geography

That brings me to the various attitude of travellers, I really do not know if I am right in saying travel attitude, for want of a better word I am using it, but this is the experience one seeks probably I told that there are nine types of tourists    they are

• Authentic explorers
• Cultural explorers
• Cultural history buffs
• Free spirits
• Gentle explorers,
• No hassle travellers
• Personal history trackers
• Virtual travellers

No matter what is the purpose of my travel, I realize each travel is an enriching experience, as we observe and interact with people, looking at the way people lived, the way they live today. So I make it a point to check out the places that would interest me as most of my travel is work oriented. That’s how I say yes to the world.

But my blind list is totally inspired by my work, and passion. A mystic journey that manifests in the material world.

From Goa to Bhutan… then the Ankor Watt from to Peking theatre, the Kabuki performance in Japan.  The Machu Peechu in Peru, a water journey across the river Amazon, then to the Grand Canyon, from there to the Niagara falls, to the Edinburg to Bakers street London. Then the Black Forest of Germany and the Swiss Alps, the festival of Nasruddin Hodja in Turkey,  it would then be back to pavilion.

Of course I do travel virtually quite a bit, I have my proposed plans of travelling through Australia, Kuwait and Turkey. But the divine says it is not be.

I have not yet planned aurora borealis, steppes and Mongolia that is for another jaunt of escapism,

For now I am just booking my tickets to the Brahmaputra cruise of Assam tourism. Oh! yes pitching for the Indian Railway Sufiyatra and Ramayana Yatra. As the cat said, one must begin some place. travelling is a lot like a blind date, there is an undeniable thrill of meeting strangers, and spending few hours together, indulging in each other’s life. We can be whoever we want to be, then leave it behind. Neither will ever look at one another again, or think of it again except maybe a little wistfully.

During the travel it is about keeping an open mind and saying yes to the world.

Frankly “Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”
― Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky