Traveling indeed is a guilty-pleasure experience for many individuals. We want to explore the pristine and surreal places without facing any of the discomforts which come along with it.

This is why tour packages and itinerary traveling are immensely famous these days. Companies are raking in by offering these services. And it’s totally understandable, because, not everyone is up for the thrill and uncertainty, the majority rather wants to have a safer and ensured experience.

But when you travel this way, you sacrifice the real essence of traveling altogether. We should rather call it a holiday than traveling.

Because, this way, you follow a schedule which someone else has planned for you. The organizer has curated the places to visit and things to do, which they think would be good for you. And since you have not visited that place earlier and maybe didn’t even do the proper research, those places could be sub-standard and you might miss out on the epic ones.

I believe traveling is not something where you are running from one place to another entire day and counting how many places you have visited at the end of the day and eventually consoling yourself that you thoroughly explored the place.

I believe traveling is more of an experience rather than sightseeing or following an itinerary. 

An experience, where you are not consumed in the same thought you usually do when you are not traveling. You might experience something as big as a mountain peak or as small as a cat crossing the road amidst a chaotic hill station that enthralls you like never before.

An experience where you get to know that, everyone you meet along the way is fighting a battle you know nothing about and dealing with problems of very high magnitude. It brings a sense of acceptance within you and makes you a little more empathetic.

An experience where every step brings challenges and every action brings wisdom. 

And the endorsable advantage of this way of traveling is, you don’t really need to splurge a lot on the trip. You can have a bare minimum budget and still, you can experience the things even the bigtime splurger don’t get to experience. 

Additionally, Planning out a trip on a very rigid schedule also brings impatience and compulsion. If your bus is leaving at 8 am and you could not wake up early because you were exhausted from the previous day’s outing. 

Wouldn’t you feel agitation? and wouldn’t it plunder the very purpose of spending a good and peaceful time, for which you had planned the trip in the first place?

But frankly and paradoxically, this way of traveling is certainly not for everyone. This is how I prefer to travel. Your preference might be some other way. And it’s completely okay. Because nothing is completely right or wrong. Everything has its pros and cons. So does the way of traveling the places.

The very fact that rather than accumulating stuff, you are stepping out of the comfort of your house with the intention of visiting a place you have never been before, doing the things you have never done before, itself is worthy of loud claps and whistles.

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Dazzling streets, splendid mountains and beaches, exotic and extremely delicious looking cuisines, and a host who looks immensely excited and contented with what they are doing and proclaiming that they can and want to do it for the rest of their life.

Traveling indeed is one of the most desirable and sought-after professions across the globe. People dream of getting a job that can pay them for traveling. Most of the travel blogs, social media handles, and youtube channels in this domain have this same basic motive behind their inception. 

But is it really that fulfilling and exciting? what it seems or projected by the so-called travel influencers?

After traveling to almost 25 (states and UT) of India, I can surely vouch for the fact that, NO, it is not!

The charm of Traveling when you feel like doing, and doing it almost all the time is completely different.

There will be times when you are stuck at home and badly wants an escape from the hustle-bustle of the chaotic life. And at that point in time, traveling feels like attaining an epiphany. you enjoy every second of it, even the discomfort which comes along with it.

But when you travel non-stop and there is no stopping then no matter how passionate you are, you are bound to get bored. This is basic human nature. 

If you are doing the same thing over and over again for years, it will become monotonous, even a thrilling and fascinating field like travel. 

If you really want to avoid monotony then you have to sprinkle a bit of everything, travel, family, friends, self-awareness, love, education, knowledge, almost everything which seems important to you in life.

Traveling for fun and traveling for the job is way different

When we see some people posting and proclaiming on social media that how they are proud of making a career out of traveling and not even a day seems like working.

But only if they can speak their mind.

Because, the moment something becomes a job and you are responsible for all the deadlines, quality of work, the value of money, paying bills, and future assignment prospects. 

When all these factors come into the picture, then you no longer think about having a time of your life at that particular place no matter how surreal it is. But rather you keep thinking about how you can extract as much information or content out of this place as possible so you can be rewarded or appreciated for the work.

This severely sabotages the experience you are going to have at a particular location.

It’s all about engagement

On social media, it “was/is/will” always about engagement. 

Finding a writer or content creator who writes what they have actually experienced and felt about a place, is very rare.

For the majority of them, it’s all the numbers game. How many visitors or engagement per “day/week/month/year”?

Again if they will tell you the truth outrightly, the growth they have expected for themselves over the years won’t be achieved. 

Traveling can be boring sometimes

After traveling extensively across India, I can certainly tell you that, not all the time, you will feel delighted while traveling.

Sometimes, traveling will feel like a burden, and going home right away will be your ultimate desire.

This could happen due to several reasons. Maybe the place you have selected is not good enough, maybe the bookings you had made got canceled at the last minute. Maybe you are not feeling well from inside. Maybe you over expected from a place.

But this is the reality, I believe, no influencer will ever tell you. 

Traveling for free is a myth

Nothing is free in this world.

When you see influencers proclaiming that they travel for free. It’s because either they are selling travel-related products or advertise which will get them incentives or they earn through the various engagement metrics on social media (and there is nothing unethical about it). 

But you travel to the very same place, you end up paying a lot more than what you thought you would. It’s because traveling seemingly requires money.

You can cut down the expenses for sure and make it a budget traveling. But that also would be nowhere close to traveling for free.

Read more stories

• Kedarnath trek – A place depicting the spirit of spiritual India
• A spiritual journey to Bodhgaya – The land of Buddha
• Kedarkantha trek – Exploring the most famous winter trek In India
• 11 beautiful budget-friendly places to visit in North India
• Things to do in Udaipur (A backpacker’s Guide)
• The Ultimate Guide To BackPacking South Goa

Want to start your own travel blog?
How to start a blog (in 2020): The detailed beginner’s guide