Solitude In Traveling: Being Wanderlust

“Travelling has taught me better. Sometimes it is the delayed flights, flat tires, orthodox Indian families or bumpy bullock cart rides. Every bit of my journey has made me a better person.”

Wanderlust - A very popular hashtag now mostly making an appearance on people’s Facebook and Instagram posts, because as attractive as that person’s Instagram posts look that goes something like “OMGGG! #wanderlust #solo #traveling #so #much #fun #thank #god”, the truth is they hardly even know how to handle the logistics that come along with traveling.

Someone who doesn’t care about 9:5 job, saving every few bucks for dream trips, skipping final exams to see those breathtakingly beautiful mountains and valleys of Manali, traveling with 2k in your pocket and yet not freaking out, that’s what wanderlust is all about. Well, this phenomenal traveler has done all of that. She is 24, brave and bold enough to explore the country all alone. While the entire class was busy looking for jobs and attending interviews, Rose Tommy was busy packing her bags for her next expedition. “We all love traveling. It sometimes leaves me broke every few months but guarantees a lifetime of memories. I love those random, priceless memories that you can have in this beautiful world. Ever thought of playing cricket with local children on the streets of Delhi? Even I didn’t!” She laughs.

We all have our own path, our own set of struggles some take the easy ones and rest of them choose the roads that are less traveled. “I have never been more decisive in my life than the time when I switched to a different career path. I have never really cared about jobs or other monotonous activities people do on daily basis. In contrast, traveling has taught me better. Sometimes it is the delayed flights, flat tires, orthodox Indian families or bumpy bullock cart rides. Every bit of my journey has made me a better person. You take everything in stride and become a little calmer and wiser.”

At the age of 24, Rose has already been to some of the incredible places like Bali, Indonesia, Manali, Shimla, Mussoorie, Rajasthan, Nepal, Gokarna the list just goes on and on. While exploring all these places, one thing that she has realized is that being a woman it is difficult to set out alone. She firmly believes that India is not at all safe for women. She has had people asking pointless questions, men giving cold, long stares and even scaring her late at night because she is all alone. Sharing one of the worst experiences, Rose says, “Both I and my friend from Germany decided to go to Rajasthan. We left our hostels in the evening and were sitting in a café located near one of the stepwells. They are really deep. A bunch of people were playing and having fun near the well. By the time it was 7, a man fell inside. My friend heard someone yelling and immediately dived in to save the person’s life. We tried but it just slipped out of our hands. We were shaking and couldn’t sleep all night.” She added.

According to Paul Tillich, Language... has created the word ‘loneliness’ to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word ‘solitude’ to express the glory of being alone. From my interaction with the next gallivanter – Abel Thomas, I can assert that solitude has its own beauty and it is unquenchable. “There is always more to see, more to do and more to learn. When you travel you get a lot of time for yourself. That is the time you don't get in fast-paced cities and in between tiresome routines. I travel merely because I want to spend more time with me and see what is right around the corner.”

Abel believes that as long as you're open to a solo trip and have a positive attitude about it, you will likely have an amazing time. Solo traveling can be extremely invigorating, and it makes you more comfortable being alone. When you do it once, you'll likely have the confidence to do it again. Not too many people would hold back the opportunity to explore the wonderful places they offer. But as incredible as the experience is, it does come with its own kind of pressure. No matter what, at the end of the day, money does count. Abel says “Save! Save! Save! I've not been given extra money for all the travel so I make sure I'm keeping a tab on what I'm doing. There is a travel fund that I look after really well. Then while traveling, I'm looking at a budget more than ease. That again is not for everyone and that’s fine. Your travel plan is based on how you can travel. There is no one right way.” Talking about one of the unique experiences he said, “One of the lovely memories I have is when I was in Gokarna, awake all night in a bio-luminous beach meeting Mr. Timothy, who started talking to me about himself. The man was from England and now 34. He has been traveling all over the world and I asked him something that was bothering me, when does he plan on settling down, he has to at some point. To this he answered, a job, a partner and a house are all important things that a human needs in a life, but when I'm 70 years old and rocking on a chair, I'm not going to remember my job or the extra hours in the office. I'm going to remember the stories, random stories, I'm creating every day and to me, that's more important. We then watched the sunrise and he left as silently as he came. What a beautiful morning that was!” Though Abel is not very certain as to what exactly to do in future, he has decided to travel as much as he can. He is planning to travel within the seven sister states of the North East in the coming months. That's the dream, one step at a time. Like everything good in life, it requires effort and grit. That’s the thing about solo traveling it really pushes you, tests you, and drives you. And if all of that is up to your sleeve then the experience is going to be gratifying. More than Instagram worthy pictures (with 100 random hashtags), it can truly bring you life-altering, soul-feeding moments.

And if you can't take that up, oh well, you can always visit your aunty in Dwarka And if not that, you always have Netflix, right?