The Internet has for some time now continued to be rife about ‘people
who quit their jobs to travel’. I would know better, right? *insert tongue
sticking out emoji*
The raison d’être - it would seem - is to inspire those at crossroads
that the adage ‘impossible is nothing’ does in fact hold true.
Mayhaps. I can only imagine it to be so.
Yes, ‘impossible is nothing’.
In just the same way that making the impossible happen requires many a
readjustment with and in one’s life from the way it once used to be.
Exit stability, predictability and all things fixed including the
paycheque and the bed you crash into after slo-mo’ing your way towards earning
that pay-check.
Enter uncertainty, life out of backpacks and all things erratic
including the paycheque (it does not always exist) and the bed (or something
that resembles one).
#TrueStory
Some hug their knees and dive in.
Some let the winds carry them.
Few flirt with it from the side-lines …never quitting that job of
theirs. It is these ‘schemers’ who are inspiring because their jobs are not even remotely linked with travelling. They are the ones who straddle both
worlds – the certain (with its paycheque) and the uncertain (with its
enamouring erraticism).
In this my first collaborative post, I present before you 10 such
schemers. 10 people (in alphabetical order) from different walks of life who’ve
been walking this tightrope with much élan.
I.
Amlan Dutta, 37 | Bhadrak, Odisha
“Eddie Vedder’s Guaranteed would
be the song that best describes my travel style” says Amlan who also digs street
food while on the move and advices against alcohol if you intend on an early
morning the following day.
So how does someone who manages the environment mandate of a sea port
in Odisha succeed in his customary two trips a year? “I carve my time out by ensuring all my work tasks are up to date and
the management is informed in advance about my travel plans.”
He is quick to add that “…with
better planning I’m sure I can do more than two trips! My most memorable trip
was one to Valparai (Tamil Nadu) where I’d gone to help a friend set up his
first field research station. We would get up before day break and head out to
the woods setting up mist nets and trapping birds to ring them with colour tags
for his study. It was fun as mist netting lets you see the endemic Western
Ghats really up close.” he reminisces.
For someone who has the Andaman and Nicobar Islands next on his travel
bucket-list, Amlan recommends that, “Winter
is the best time to travel so try wrapping up important tasks before. That way,
work phone calls and emails won’t be expected when you are on your annual
vacation. And at least three travel vacations can easily be taken in a calendar-year
by any corporate executive, if planned well in advance”
II.
Madhuri Mukherjee, 24 | Mumbai, Maharashtra
“Rumi’s quote - Beyond the ideas
of right doing and wrong doing is a field, I'll meet you there - best describes
my travel style” asserts Madhuri, an emerging markets risk analyst with
Credit Suisse.
As someone who (with much confidence) swears by rolling clothes while
packing as it saves space and does not ruin their shape, it is not surprising
to know that she travels “about twice a
month which are small breaks, clubbed with public holidays (if any) and once a
quarter - a long 10 day or so break - using paid leave.” Prod her into how
she does it and she says, “Well if you
try you can always make time. At the end of it, it’s just a matter of
prioritizing and doing what genuinely gives you joy.”
This wanderlust-ress has already enlisted Kutch, Nepal and Vietnam on
her travel bucket-list over the next two months and recollecting her favourite
trip she says, “It's hard to decide
between New York and Myanmar. New York was a place I’d dreamt of for the
longest time and even now after 2 years, I can still remember every walk so
vividly. Myanmar was a burst of colours, happy people, fantastic landscapes and
so much hospitality! It is a must visit for everyone!”
III.
Pooja Jerajani, 27 | Pune, Maharashtra
“Bali again in March! It
is the perfect place to learn the art of slow travel” replies Pooja about her next travel
destination.
A digital marketing
manager for Ministry of Villas and an online marketing specialist at Sanctor
Digital, Pooja, ask her how she juggles work with travel and she replies, “As a full time employee, I plot my leaves
in advance which gives me ample time to organise client work or train team
members to manage some jobs while I’m away. It also helps to grab the best
deals on flights!” Not surprising to hear her say that because as Pooja
discloses “While researching for
airfares, I recently learnt that international airfares are relatively cheaper
from airports that aren’t major business hubs. My flight ticket from Hyderabad
to Hong Kong was about INR 26,000 whereas my parents paid INR 35,000 for a
flight from Mumbai to Hong Kong.”
Inspired by Elizabeth
Gilbert’s journey in Eat, Pray, Love, Pooja visited Bali in 2013 for the first
time. “It was in Bali that I realised how
travel can be a spiritually enriching experience. I spent my mornings working
from beachfront restaurants or villas, went river rafting in Ubud and loved
watching the sky turn pink with every sunset! I even learnt to design a
WordPress blog here so yes, Bali was the trip that got me trippy!” says
Pooja who mentions Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’s Ilahi as the song that describes
her travel style!
Quiz her on any
advice she’d like to share and she forthrightly says, “I advocate working hard, earning money and having good financial
security. I love my job, but I’m definitely not a cubicle dweller. In fact,
getting a job I love instead of quitting, was the best thing that happened to
me. It means I have a stable income, I can plan better and save enough money to
fulfill my travel dreams. It’s not always easy, but I’ve made travel a priority
without sacrificing my beloved fixed life.”
IV.
Priya
Krishnan Das, 35 | Pune, Maharashtra
“I try and visit at least one new place
every month, even if it's an unexplored part of my city” says Priya, an
artist and illustrator who runs her own creative enterprise, ‘Purple Soul’.
“My work profile is best
described as doing anything creative that inspires me. So juggling travel and
work - both of which are equally important for me - happens without much
effort. And if you really love travelling, there is really NO excuse!” Having
planned her upcoming trip to Velas for the Turtle festival next month, Priya
attests her love for home-stays “as
nothing beats it when it comes to soaking up the local culture and food.”
She dates her favourite travel memory to the time when she “had gone as a volunteer to hand pollinate
vanilla flowers in a plantation in Karnataka. Staying in the middle of that
plantation was like fairyland and performing the role of humming birds to
pollinate vanilla flowers was a wonderful experience.” This probably
explains why when asked about a quote that best describes her travel style, she
mentions: “We travel not to escape Life,
but for Life not to escape us.”
V.
Priyanka Kadam, 30 | Pune, Maharashtra
“As clichéd as it sounds (and it
is tattooed on my right leg) - Not all those who wander are lost – is the quote
that describes my travel style”. Meet Priyanka who has been working as a
team leader at a software product company for the past eight years.
Quiz her on her ‘juggling’ abilities and she says, “I am annually entitled to 22 paid leaves
and 10 national holidays. I try to fit in 4-5 short trips (4-5 days) and 2-3
long trips (9-10 days) by clubbing the above 32 days with weekends. I do need
to plan ahead and inform stakeholders about my unavailability.” Recounting
her time in Myanmar in January she adds “Traveling
solo to Myanmar has been the most exhilarating travel experience. Safe travel,
convenient and cheap transport options, delicious cuisine, clean hostels,
honest sincere locals, rich heritage, beautiful Bagan sunrises, meeting new
exciting travel companions were some of the many reasons I will cherish this
trip for a long time.” With exploring Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland at
end of March next on her travel bucket-list, Priyanka’s travel hacks include, “Take holidays when most of your peers won't
be taking one; not around Diwali or Holi – then people won't notice your
absence! If you have a wish-list of places you want to visit, create an alert
for flight tickets on SkyScanner. And travel light. I travel with a 30 litre backpack. You don't need more than that
for even a multi month trip.”
VI.
Purbita, 33 | Hyderabad, Telangana
Ask Purbita, who devotes 8-9 hours on an everyday basis to credit
cards and transactions, about her trippy-est trip till date and she gushes “Standing in front of the Colosseum, I was totally
awestruck. It was like I could hear the echoes of thousands of people who’d lived
through centuries to tell the glorious tales of the gladiators.”
With Adam Agin’s ‘Your Heart Keeps Burning’ as the theme song of her
wanderer life, Purbita admits that “My
eager eyes are set on the official holiday calendar when the new year begins. I
make a note of all the long weekends that I can put to good use for smaller
weekend getaways. And I keep aside majority (1-2 weeks) of the leave dates open
for that one long annual leave”. She further offers that “We know how blessed we are to be living in
India where we have a festival almost every month. It just comes down to making
travel your priority (if that's what it truly is) and planning accordingly.”
That would explain how she’s already planned her trip to Hampi in the
next few weeks! She divulges a little
travel secret: “Eat where the locals eat
and try to strike a conversation with them. Bonding over food helps a great
deal in learning about the lesser known details about places that the travel guides
don't write about”
VII.
Shreyas, 28 | Bangalore, Karnataka
"A good traveller has no
fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving", that’s a Lao Tzu quote that aptly
defines my travel style, says Shreyas, who writes computer programs when
not traveling – which is about 3-4 times a year!
Admittedly though he adds, “It
is quite hard to strike a balance for me. My usual symptoms are that I start
looking at maps and saved locations on Google maps for long stretches of time.
I usually have a bunch of plans ready to be executed! If it feels right, I make
up my mind instantly. I am still getting better at putting my head down and
working when I am swamped…” With the caves in Badami, Ajanta and Ellora
next on his ‘map’ along with Delhi and Kolkata, Shreyas’ favourite travel
memory is “a week-long ride on the
Western Ghats and the coastline of Karnataka. So many wonderful memories - getting
a little lost in a forest with a drunk man, getting treated at Doddamane in
Agumbe, doing a scuba dive without even planning a lot and riding on the amazing
roads all the while!”
In response to those who claim that work does not leave them with
enough time to travel he asserts, “…maybe
they are just being lazy. I'd advise them to not even pack a bag and just head
out on a bike, car or a bus to any place they haven't been before, and feel the
place with an open mind.”
VIII.
Shri Ayyangar, 31 | Mumbai, Maharashtra
“My job description says I am
responsible for media relations, but I prefer to dip my hands into design,
photography and even site-visits to partner NGOs.” Meet Shri, who
absolutely loves the movie Eat, Pray, Love and has Manipur and Sikkim next on
his radar.
Prod him about juggling work with travel and he declares, “I'm fortunate that at my current workplace
that I could be working on festive holidays and use it to travel later. My
problem is finances as I am the sole breadwinner. So every month, I reserve a
particular amount for travel and time my payments smartly.” This might explain
his emphasis that “You need to PLAN travel
out! Decide the destination later if you have to. I have also realized that I
have to put my foot down firmly and assure my employer/supervisor that the work
will not be affected in any manner because of my travel. I have had situations
where I have worked on weekends in order to ensure no work remains unattended
or pending while I am away.” Shri reminisces his “first conventional trip to Ooty. I visited off-beat places and also
stayed at a home-stay that was right in between a tea estate and two villages
on each side of the cliff. I also had a leopard sighting near the Bandipur
National Reserve”.
A self-confessed 'luxury traveller'
he reveals, “I invest a lot of time
and energy in planning and comparing the best rates. And I am a shopaholic! I've
often faced issues at airports for excess baggage, so I’ve purchased a digital
weighing scale and I’m able to distribute the weight evenly in cabin and
check-in luggage.”
IX.
Sudeep Shukla, 30 | Mumbai, Maharashtra
Japan is what makes Sudeep, a digital content lead and social media
strategist, starry-eyed. “The whole
country was beyond what I imagined. There were nice surprises at every nook and
corner. That is the one place I would love to go again and explore more.”
One more believer of Tolkien’s “Not
all who wander are lost”, Sudeep verifies that “I try to travel every six months for an international or a big Indian
trip. I save enough each month and make the trip in the sixth month usually.
Plus since I love traveling I try to cut costs wherever possible and save for
my travels. And it is all about managing your work and personal life. Remember
you control your work, don't let the work control you and your travel plans”.
Any how-to tips? “I tell this to
a lot of my friends: You don't need to break the bank to travel. One can travel
to international places inexpensively provided you plan it out well. I blog to
tell people that if I can do trips in below 90K budgets which includes flights,
food, stay and internal travel, then anyone can. Just smart planning and being open
to staying less lavish.” Want to
know where’s next for this vagabond? “I’m
heading for a 16 day trip from Hungary to Croatia in mid-March. I planning to
drive around from Budapest to Dubrovnik and back while visiting Zadar, Split,
Hvar, Bol and if possible Kotor in Montenegro…”
X.
Vikas Plakkot, 26 | Bangalore, Karnataka
Quoting Kerouac’s “Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk
again. We had longer ways to go. But no matter, road is life” to describe his
travel style, Vikas is effusive when he talks about his three week trip to
Greece in the summer of 2015: “Inhabited
by a handful of people, Milos – a lesser known island in Greece - only has two
colours: white and blue. Riding a 50 cc bike through the mountainous island,
the only sounds apart from the bike were the buzzing of the bees and kissing of
waves. When I'm an old man, I’ll know where my sea will be!”
Co-founder of Just For Kicks, social enterprise that uses football to
develop leadership skills among children from low income schools, ask Vikas how
he manages his serious case of wanderlust and he responds with: “I get out at every chance I can during the
multiple long weekends India is blessed with. I must admit that the ability to
carry work along with me is a plus in ensuring those long trips don't cut me off
from my bread.” Such is his passion for travel that for those who claim
they cannot his knee-jerk reaction is, “'Find
something else, then!' If traveling does mean a whole lot, a few sacrifices are
due. Here's a quick tip: When you wake up in the morning to a probable fever
and feel like going back under the blanket, remember that this one day could
else be spent sometime later enjoying the magnificent views of Machu Pichu,
maybe. Stop taking those 1-day leaves for no reason. Accumulate them, use it
all at one go.”
Ask him for travel tips and he sagaciously mentions, “Plan your next destinations 8 months in
advance. Request for a price alert on three key sites: Kayak, Momondo,
SkyScanner. Too-early and too-late are high price zones. However, there is a
small 3-5 week window in the middle when prices dip tremendously. With a price
alert kept, you're sure not to miss that. I promise you return flights to most
destinations under 35K.” All of this coming from someone who’s off to
explore West and South Spain in May this year!
Need I say more?
Still think you can come up with an excuse? I’ll let George Washington have the last word: “It is
better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”
Are you one such schemer too? Or do you happen to know one? Are you putting that story out there to inspire the rest of us?
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P.P.S.: For opportunities to work with me, click here