Spending a Night “Homeless” on the streets of Hungary

Any trip or a holiday creates numerous memories, memorable anecdotes and photographs. But travel stories are created when your best laid plans go haywire. All good stories start with an element of the “unexpected” – getting lost in a city, taking a wrong train and arriving somewhere else altogether, missed connections, getting deported are a few of such unexpected elements and I am sure you get my drift. My travels are self-planned budget trips and despite a lot of research there have been many occasions wherein all that could go wrong has gone wrong and in return many memorable stories created. But my favorite so far is being “Homeless in Hungary”.

At the start of our journey in Budapest

My Reflections on 2013 and Expectations from 2014

As I sit down to write this post today, I can’t help feeling that 2013 has just flown by. It seems like one minute I was penning down my travel targets and resolutions for 2013 (you can read more on it at 2012, the year that went by and 2013, the year to come) and suddenly it’s time to plan for 2014. But a year has definitely gone by and a lot has been achieved, many lessons learnt and many stories collected. When I had set my targets my 2013, I was so focused on travel that I set all my targets and energies just around it, but in the real journey I actually ended up learning so much more and meeting so many amazing people that I feel I have grown as a traveler and a person.

Chinese Fishing Nets of Fort Kochi, Kochi, Kerala

And it’s time for Europe again

I have been fascinated with Europe for a while. It all started in 2004 when my BFF, P first moved there and started sending postcards and sharing stories of a gorgeous world full of snow-clad mountains, fairy tale castles, scenic lakes, etc etc. All her stories created an image of a wonderland in my mind and I resolved to visit it as soon as I could collect some money. And as Paulo Coelho said in The Alchemist “if you truly want something, then the entire universe conspires in helping you achieve it” – well, mine sure did. After numerous failed plans, my first international trip was to Spain in 2006. And with this trip, the fascination increased.

Italy