This can be the single most irritating question. WHY! Also, I ask this question a lot to others, ending up frustrating them. It works only when directed inwards. To the spirit animal. But that hardly happens. So, when others, the society, asks why, the best is to just carry on.
We all have heard a lot of clichés - the travel sets you free, it changes you, it teaches you - well they are all clichés for a good reason. It’s all true. The real question of course is Why Not Travel! When I try to answer this, i do not get a single convincing answer. It usually revolves around how it will derail the plan of usual progression of life, the 'life goals' which broadly includes - the marriage, the house, the child, the promotion, the hierarchy among peers, the standing in the society. So, I accepted the risks involved in all the mentioned 'life goals,' risking the future for the present, and moving forward. I am fortunate to have one less risk though - I am already married, ha! And less than a year into the marriage (arranged!) we both are lucky to be on the same page in relation to travel.
The plan was to make a budget, out of our savings, and see how many months we can afford on it. We took out 8 lacs, after doing some calculations of ‘securing our future’ and ‘living in the present.’ Thankfully we did not have any EMIs. We also considered coming back to no income and then looking for months before getting to work. The aim was to do at least 6 months. There was no specific reason why 6 months, just! Also, if we got over with the money earlier, we would come back home. There was one difference between usual 6-month travel and ours, that we would be coming back and forth to India a lot. Sometimes, for visas, sometimes for the ease of coordination, or sometimes to make up for lack of planning.
The trip would start in April, with first destination being Europe. Sitting in the airport, we did some rough calculations to find out that we can manage 6 months within budget if we follow 2 conditions. One, our daily accommodation cost should be Rs 2000 or less and two, we have to survive on $20 per day for both of us combined, which includes all meals, sights, purchases, local transport and miscellaneous. Challenge accepted.
So WHY did we do this? We carry on...
