 We realised way back in life, that the only way to live our dreams is to plan around them. There was never a doubt that we want to experience the world. That's a dream we have seen individually and it has only grown bigger since the day we have been together. No matter how many travel quotes you may have read like, 'just get started', 'get on a plane', 'get a tan', 'soak in a new culture' 'live every moment', the reality never seemed to leave my mind that one has to buy a ticket to get on that plane, stay at a place to soak in a new culture and practically be able to afford food to live every moment! So how do we manage funds to sustain our travel? As a wanderlust, I don't dream of roaming around in a Beemer or staying at exotic hotels but what I do seek, is to be able to sit in a dainty cafe and sip my favourite wine. To not think twice before buying a ticket to Disneyland or to not have money as a constraint, if I ever gather the courage to Bungee Jump (hope, some day! God help me with my fear of heights) With that thought, we got onto some planning. Now there's a thing with planning, it shouldn't be too little that you have not even covered the basic risks at the same it should not be too much that it constrains or scares you off. Imagine, while doing the detailed planning one realises that it's gonna be one hell of an uncomfortable journey and the plan just gets dropped. Every plan has its share of safe bets and risks. Even financial investment plans (the most traditional way to secure future) lays out, that more the risk, the better is the return. This whole Big Announcement bit, has been both exciting and nerve wrecking. In the past few days, I have received comments, notes and calls from friends saying, "Congratulations, are you having a baby?" to "Travel? Are you sure? You have such a settled life" to "OMG, I want to do this too. I am jealous" to "This will come with washing your clothes yourself!" We have a basic plan, have enough savings to sustain us for a year of travel. We have unlimited stay and work permit in at least 3 countries- India, Australia and New Zealand. We will work on the go on host of online platforms and location independent projects. Travel frugal to sustain longer. Explore our agility as full time travellers. But beyond that, there is no plan, which is both thrilling and terrifying. Terrifying primarily to Me (the more fattu of the two) and thrilling for Him (the virtual Fear Factor winner) We don't know, how this journey is going to be and how will we feel after it. But if there any truth in all the god damn "achieve your dreams" quotes then I am sure about one thing, that it will be worth the RISK!! PS: More coming up soon. Be with us in our journey as we take you through all our encounters and experiences
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  I have read so many Instagram profiles, which said, "We quit our jobs to follow our dreams", "Left everything", "Started afresh" etc etc. Now here's the way I look at it. To begin with, I hate the word "quit" or "left". One only moves on from one road to another, from one city to another, from one phase to another, the imprints of each place, phase or people we meet builds us as a person along the way.
I and Rit have now been working for 10 years, we are fairly educated (well, he is double masters) and quite successful in our professional lives. We have been together for a little over 4 years, married for three and a half. We have a beautiful family, siblings who would do anything for us and a bunch of amazing friends on whom we can count on even in the middle of the night. We have a sprawling house in Gurgaon, every corner of which is being lovingly laid out and put together by us in the last few years. We literally build this happy, comfortable and decently luxurious life, brick by brick together. We come from very modest backgrounds. The first time I sat on a plane was on a work trip in 2009. My first ever flight was an international work trip flight to Dubai. Same for Rit, his first flight was to Poland where he went to present a paper in his final year engineering. The star that this boy is, came back with a trophy! I am sharing this as a perspective that the life we have today, might look basic to some and amazing to some, but whatever place we have reached it is a Big Deal for us and our families (I guess the story of all the self-made young Indians, who had the support but had to painstakingly carve out their own paths). The best way to look forward is not to leave it but to build from it. We have a wish, a wish we always had but maybe now we have the courage to live it. That's what I meant by moving from one phase to another, chasing a different dream altogether. We want to absorb all the imprints that we have - a successful career, a loving family, a comfortable house, a fair lifestyle to embark on a journey. In this journey, we will have to let go of a lot of bricks and walls that we have built, but the experiences and confidence we have will only make it more exciting. So I won't say, we have quit our jobs, left our house to follow our dream of a full-time travel. I say cheers to a new journey, newer experiences, unexplored routes that await us and there is no better time to do this than NOW. |
