I just started hating travelling of late. Planning the dates, watching airfares, booking the hotels, packing junk, checklists, cameras, blah blah..I am so done with it. This is not a pleasure trip- This is just an organized crap where fun is sought by everyone involved just coz they paid a good deal of money. There are always around 25 hundred strangers from all different directions waiting to go to the same bloody place where you want to go to, on the very same day, wanting to upload their picture on facebook at the end of the trip and waiting for their lazy friends to ‘like’ it!!!.. Do you see a point? Its just freaking boring, don’t you think?
I believe any trip that involves a planning phase that extends more than 10 minutes is not worth it. Think about getting up in the morning, getting into your car and just leaving the apartment without knowing where you are headed. Have you done that lately? Well, have you done that ever?
Take the car and just get out!. No plan, no destination, and surely, no GPS!!.
I like to go to a gas station where I have never filled my tank before, preferably on a road that is just about to get steep and curvy, may be close to a mountain whose name I have no clue about!. A stop over after 3 long hours of driving and a pitcher of nice chill beer after that!!.
Stop the car somewhere and take a walk, ask someone where you are. Talk to a stranger and talk to a kid - Strangers and Kids are the reservoirs of wisdom, You always get something new and something worth remembering. Stand on the sidewalk and look at people! Just look at them. Don’t observe, Don’t try to pay attention. They are there at that moment, so just look at them quietly. People crossing the roads, kids going around in their bikes, some happy ones and some casual ones. Couples walking by the street with their hands together, guys romancing and girls giggling. Just imagine how the same place would look, if you ain’t there at that moment!.. Picture the same place without people in it!. Give your mind some best possible imagination tests and evaluate yourself.
Walk up to a couple and ask if they want you to take a picture of them. On return, ask them to take a picture of you, but in their camera. Just smile at them and walk away when you get that whos-this-crazy-lunatic look!
Find a coffee place. A coffee shop closed by walls on all the sides will only help your imagination as much as an airport restroom will do. Find a spot where you can see the road, look at the trees and watch the kids. Go up to the waiter and say that it is the best coffee you ever had and you will be back the next day the very same time.
Find a place to crash and get yourself a simple meal. Go for a midnight walk. Just imagine your ex girlfriend or boyfriend is walking along with you, but this time just the way you wanted them to be - quite.
Find a book shop, buy some good books and read a lot! Sleep while you are still reading and find the book upside down on your chest the next morning. Go to a new place the next day and do some new crazy stuff that you haven’t done before. Spend a night or two and hit the road while your heart is still craving for more of what you are doing.
Play some good songs and drive back home.
No pictures to upload and no stories to tell people. Not only that it is different this time, but it is much better..
Again, don’t plan but just do it!!.
