Since last two years, I have started travelling in a meaningful way. For me travel is not about visiting all the places mentioned in a checklist or going by a fixed plan or doing adventurous sports because it is cool or taking a lot of selfies. I like my travel to be meaningful and enriching experience for both my body and soul. I like to sit in a local cafe, drink a cup of tea, and read a book. Travel to me is long walks around the unknown roads of the city. Travel gives me the opportunity to see the world with a fresh perspective. You learn a lot about city by talking to local shopkeepers and taxi drivers.
Travel to me is to slowing down the clock. All of us are too busy these days. This means most of us don’t have time to experience our surroundings or talk to our loved ones. As I am growing old, I feel the need to slow down. There is no fun in running for everything. Travel gives me the opportunity to take my time off from the daily routine and rethink about life from the fresh perspective. I prefer to travel alone or with few friends who believes in my way of travelling. I am not a big fan of group/family travel.
Travel to me is disconnecting from the busy world. If I am doing international travel, I prefer not to enable international calling. I try to minimise my use of internet to keep me away from unwanted urgent notifications.
One of my favourite pass time during my travel is reading books. In my last travel, one book that I read was The 7 Effective Habits of Highly Effective People. I will write about my learnings in a separate post. I spent couple of hours each day reading books in a local cafe. I could disconnect from the world and deeply understand the book. I prefer to buy physical books from the local book stores.
Travelling at my own pace give me the environment and liberty to discover my self. This is me enjoying a cup of honey lemon tea.
Shekhar Gulati 