Travel and freedom - How one leads to the other!

Is travel MAGIC? Or is it just a hoax spread around by wannabe bloggers?

I am no-one to comment on how others feel. But from my own travel experience in the last 2 years, I can say one thing for sure: Travel will force you to venture out of your comfort zone and question everything that you take for granted.

Travel gave me time to think and talk to myself. Often we have questions popping up in our head with no easy answers such as: Do I want to continue doing what I am doing today? Should I take that other job which does not pay me as well my current one? Should I ask that girl out... what if she says no? And dozens others from different aspects of life.

Our daily routine is so busy with work, family, friends and social media, that we never think about these questions. These topics require deep thought which takes time. But our attention span has become so short-lived that anything that takes more than a couple of minutes is replaced by something more urgent and tangible.

But when you are traveling solo in unfamiliar surroundings, you are away from all the regular distractions such as work, family and friend commitments, etc. The people you meet will no longer be "your type". They will not have a moral and social responsibility to 'comfort' you. They are different from you and might have beliefs that are contrary to what you have been doing since so many years. You could find a person doing exactly what you have always wanted to do but you just kept waiting for the right time. By just talking to him, you will feel that there are so many ways to achieve the same goal. We are so habituated to thinking the exact way we think, that all other paths seem impossible or not good enough.

I was traveling in Cambodia once. I got to spend a lot of time alone in that country. Traveling alone forces you to be at peace with yourself. There are no distractions, no-one to tell you that everything is going to be okay. You have to do that for your own self. And to do that, you need to actually reach a state of peace and contentment. And though that process may take a month or two, once you go through it, you will feel the sense of freedom that people often relate to travel.

To me freedom is just the courage to try different things in life. It could either be in your personal life or your professional life. The ability to question what we are doing and why? And if the answer is not convincing enough, travel might help you find the courage to change your course of action.

And trust me, once you feel this feeling, you will never be able to undo it :) ...

Decoding India's frequent flyer programs !!

PS: You do not have to be a frequent traveller to take advantage of frequent flyer programs. If you are loyal to a program, every flight will add miles and soon you will be able to redeem your award flight.

In the past 18 months, I have travelled extensively both in India and abroad on various airlines and in different classes. I undertook ~90 flights, both domestic and international. Although there is a lot of information online on the effectiveness of various programs in the west, I could not find much with respect to programs in India. Having travelled on various airlines, I was able to learn a lot about how various reward programs operate. I redeemed miles for flights worth almost Rs 1,25,000.

There are various benefits of airline frequent flyer (FF) programs. I have often come across people who know about these programs but are not able to meaningfully use them. The purpose of this post is to provide information on these programs so that you have a better idea about which program is best suited for you without having to spend time researching it. I will publish a separate post on how best to use the miles accumulated and extract the maximum benefit out of them.

There are 3 programs in India: Flying Returns (Air India), Jet Privilege (Jet Airways) and Club Vistara (Vistara). Vistara's offering is the newest in the market.

Benefits and shortcomings of various programs

Recommendations based on specific scenarios:

• Jet
• Your spouse and children fly as well (not very frequently) and you want to be able to take benefit of their miles too. Their individual miles might be too less to reach meaningful levels. Use Family+ option in Jet's program and pool all miles together.

• Air India
• You are not a light traveller (AI offers higher baggage allowance) 
• You travel on other Star Alliance members frequently outside India (use Air India miles to book award tickets on other star alliance members)

• Vistara
• You travel mostly on official work and thus end up making last minute bookings. In that case you will be able to earn more miles on Vistara as awards miles are based on price of the ticket (last minute tickets are usually more expensive)
• You don't think that you need/want to use your miles on international sector (Vistara does not have many international collaborations as of now)

In this article, I have tried to simplify these programs so that one can benefit from them. There are various other ways to earn extra miles for each of these respective airlines - e.g. co-brand credit cards, shopping on specific websites etc. I will talk about these in a later post.

If you have any other questions or doubts on how best to use these programs, please reach out and I will help you in getting the most benefit from these programs.

Hope you get your first free flight soon... to a destination of your choice :) !!!

Additional Information (For the more curious :-) )

Additional Details

Pros and cons of the 3 programs

• Jet
• Pros
• Covers almost the entire country. So easy to find flights as per need.
• Customer care is comparatively more responsive
• Ability to buy and transfer miles, also allows you to club family miles
• Has 30 international airline partners to earn and redeem miles on
• Multiple other ways to redeem miles (shopping, car rentals, etc).
• Cons
• Most used program in India, so availability of award flights might be difficult during holidays and festivals
• International award bookings can't be done on phone. It is a lengthy e-mail process (AI does it on phone)
• Air India
• Pros
• Last minute availability of award flights better than on jet airways
• Part of Star Alliance, so points can be earned and awards redeemed on all star alliance members across the world
• Air India's tier membership benefits are recognized across all Star alliance members worldwide
• Ability to buy and transfer miles, also club family miles (only spouse)
• Cons
• Customer service not as good as private airlines
• Based on personal experience, the number of miles awarded are less as compared to others (it takes more flights on Air India to accrue enough miles for an award flight)
• Not many other avenues to redeem miles 
• Vistara
• Pros
• If you are a Platinum or Gold member with another airline, you can apply for the status match. You get the new Gold status for three months.
• More miles accrue for higher fare tickets
• As it is a new program, last minute award flights are easily available as compared to Jet and AI
• Cons
• Can't buy, club or transfer miles
• Only 2 international alliances, so miles can mostly be used in India for award tickets (soon Vistara plans to go international, so this might change soon)
• Not many other avenues to redeem miles except flight redempt

Some useful links:

Vistara domestic award chart: https://airvistara.com/trip/sites/default/files/pdf/Award-Flight-on-Vistara.pdf?_ga=1.212400720.515097922.1482330629

Jet award miles calculator: https://www.jetprivilege.com/use-jpmiles/mileage-calculator-use-jpmiles

Air India award miles calculator: https://flyingreturns.co.in/html/rd_airindia_flights.php

Looking back: How 1 year of travel has changed me...

All of us have dreams hidden deep down in our hearts somewhere. And in all the busyness and compulsions of life, many of us either never realize how badly we want them or never get an opportunity to take a step towards achieving them. I was fortunate that I got the chance to do what my heart had been aching to do. 

It has been a little over one year since I left my job as a banker. And as I reflect back on the time I spent travelling and writing, I feel so content. All this while when I was trying to find myself all over again, I got to thinking about the reasons why it took me so long to take this step; to follow my heart.

Thanks to my parents, since childhood, I have gotten everything one needs to grow personally and professionally. From getting into the top colleges of the country to working for the best of the banks in the world, I had it all. Then why was I not completely satisfied with my respectable lifestyle. After a lot of introspection, I realized that the answer lies in the same sense of security that I found myself surrounded with since I was a kid. 

In India, we as kids and teenagers often don't face any challenges where we have to fend for ourselves as we live in a bubble; a bubble protected by our family. We live our lives, do regular stuff, but the lack of challenge slowly molds us into people who are not major risk-takers as we never have had to fight our own battles. There was always someone to fight them for us. And by the time we are ready to fend for ourselves, our brain is streamlined to think linearly, in a guarded manner as we have been doing all along. 

As we hardly ever made our own decisions, faced our own fears, dealt with our own failures, we never got to know ourselves; our strengths and weaknesses. Every comfort that we get too early and easily in life simultaneously takes away our capability to face some hardship; whether the comfort be physical or emotional. By virtue of living in such a protected environment, many of us never face situations where one has to sail close to the wind or skate on thin ice.

After going through this transformational journey, I feel a lot has changed in me. If I am to pick one, it would be this: It is just fine to opt for a different path when faced with similar life situations as faced by your friends, partner, cousins, relatives or the super successful guy/girl next door. Very few people might support you when you need them to. I was lucky to find my family standing with me in all my decisions. It is all right if people around you do not understand your choices sometimes. It's your life and you know what your dreams are and where you aspirations lie!

A lot of people have inspired me (and still continue to inspire me) during the course of this year either in person or through their blogs. It gives me immense courage to know that there are people just like me who have taken their life in their own hands and are living it on their own terms. 

This write-up is as much about my own journey as it is about my heartfelt effort to reach out to people just like me who are still thinking whether to go for their dreams or not. It's our life, our choices, any sacrifices that need to be made along the way would be our too; but so would be the rewards and experiences that we gather along the journey.  

As someone has rightly said:

"The cost of not following your heart, is spending the rest of your life wishing you had."

I hope each one of you, at some point in your life, is able to live your life the way you want to and not the way you have to! I am thankful that I could do what I wanted to and promise myself to never let go of my dreams and aspirations. Our dreams are only so far away as taking a step towards them!!

Chadar - The trek that set me free

January 2016.

Chadar Trek.

Trip's never done before moment: Walking on a frozen river and enjoying freaking cold weather :)

I never knew I would be visiting Leh for the third time in my life (and twice in a 6 month period). The link to my previous blog on Leh: And the love affair continues... My date with the mountains of Leh !!. This trip was about raw nature, extreme cold, stretching my limits both physically and mentally and above all doing what I always wanted to do: surviving temperatures upto 30`C on the wrong side of zero. Making great friends was a pleasant surprise as I often travel alone and take time in forging bonds of friendship.

As if -30 could stop us from posing :-)

A familiar face, a trekker worth her salt :)

There was no let down on the CRAZY quotient...

This piece is not meant to make you want to do the trek. Chadar is much more than a vacation or a getaway to blow off steam. I will let the article flow much like the trek unfolded for me: full of uncertainty, colors, ups and downs and straight from heart (to be fair it felt like nature let me inside her heart).

I was expecting snow all around me, more like landing on a sheet of snow. But on final approach while landing, I remembered that Leh is a cold desert. It rarely rains or snows in Leh. The terrain underneath was mostly brown except for hill tops which were snow clad. 

A leisurely sunset :)

The experience starts with the cabin announcement - "The temperature outside is minus 10`C". The airport greets you with blankets instead of curtains on doors and windows. I saw rucksacks more than suitcases, youngsters more than elderly people, sport jackets instead of formal suits, sunblocks instead of makeup (no offence ladies :)) and much to my heart's content, mountains instead of malls, and all of this meant one thing and one thing alone - The trek was ON :). Most airlines stop flying to Leh in winters. Only GoAir and AI have some flights to cater to trek enthusiasts (or maniacs) like us.

To trek on the frozen Zanskar river had been my dream for many years now. And I consider myself quite lucky to have been able to experience it in person. A lot of effort and preparation went into the trip. But I always knew it is going to be worth it. And boy it was :).

At the onset... Our group :)

It is very easy to book the trek through any agency. There are many options online. I did it through GIO Adventures and they surely knew what they were doing. The details and logistics of the trek are not very difficult to figure out and your agency will definitely help you out with most things. I will not touch upon that much (please get in touch with me if you need pointers in preparing for the trek in terms of logistics, preparation and/or arrangements) and go back to the aspect where it touches your very soul - at least it touched mine in a way I never thought anyone ever could.

                             

Chadar, to me, was also about capturing the amazing Leh night sky in my camera. Not being able to capture the Northern Lights in Iceland (In search of the Northern Lights: Iceland - The land of Fire and Ice) still haunts me and this time I was sure as hell to turn the tables :). Waking up at 5AM to freezing temperatures just made it that much more fun (and freezing). The chill, ice and the narrow passage between the mountains enhanced my senses and increased the charm multifold. Thankfully my friends were there to help me often as using a DSLR and tripod in such conditions becomes a tad bit easier with some help. I loved the sky there and I loved my camera for clicking what I could not see with my eyes in pitch dark conditions (with the exception of the bright and the beautiful moon).

My first good-ish high exposure night click with a lot of help :)

The orange glow atop mountains is the moon-light :)

Walking on a frozen river was a first for me. From the moment I set foot on the icy surface and started walking the winding curves deep into the mountains with sun playing hide and seek, I knew that a part of me is going to stay here forever. And I am going to come back someday looking for the same :).

Walking towards the unknown...

Such an inspiration, lone patch of green amid hostile conditions... Felt so lucky to even have spotted it :)

Every place I go gives me something unique that no other place before that has given, be it a memory, a sight, a friend or an experience. At the same time, it keeps a part of me in exchange. I guess that's how the world works :). It's amazing how close such places are to us yet how far away from everything material we feel when we actually reach there. Being away from mobile, laptop, wify and whatsapp can be one hell of a detox.

Just when we thought Chadar is easy peasy :)

Visual of the trek for me: Breaking the dominance of ice around with such panache...

Chadar gave me a sense of freedom, of breaking free. The feeling of never letting myself being trapped in self-constructed enclosures again. And I will never forget that. That's my promise to the icy river, the snow clad mountains and the curvy passes in return for the peace and tranquil they gave me. I started my trek in a happy frame of mind. I came back ecstatic. And I could not have asked for more.

Some brave souls took multiple dips in super freezing water. Hats off :). The expression on their faces was priceless. I chickened out and just put my head under water instead of a full dip. Next time for sure :).

Before the dip expression. Post dip only Kavita knows, wanna elaborate? :P

Pagalpanti bhi zaruri hai ;)

That was food for soul. But that doesn't mean I did not have a blast in the traditional sense of course. In fact, WE had a blast in nature's lap. I leave you with pictures that speak for themselves :)

2 normal crazy people :P

Moment of truth: Climb vertical rocks or walk on fractured ice 

Our Support team :)

That's what happens when guys try to pose (Kavita and Vinod, even you guys couldn't save the picture) ;)

The child in me: I wish we let the child in us out more often, it's kind of fun and surprisingly harmless ;)

Aloo Tikki @ Neha Snacks in main market is UNmissable :)

Sitting on a transparent chunk of ice with a weird smile :P

Lift please...

Ab itti thand hai to kahin se to aag churani padegi na ;)

The one where everyone looks taller

Cold? Where is the cold :P

Wish you all the trip that sets you FREE. Go Discover yourself :)

Buying your first tripod - Strike the right balance between usability and price

November 2015.

This post is for beginners in photography and readers who want to buy a tripod for use during their travels but don't have much idea how to start looking for one. The post does not cover the intricate details about high-end expensive tripods but gives an overview of how to go about buying your first affordable tripod.

I am no expert in photography yet, neither am I an expert in tripods. I am someone who is learning photography. And as one learns to capture more challenging pictures, often in inadequate lighting conditions like starlit night sky or the Northern Lights, one feels the need of a tripod. I recently purchased a tripod and although there are a lot of articles on the internet about how to decide which tripod to buy balancing price and usability, I figured that I could put down the research I did which may be of some use to someone who is setting out on the path to learn photography and is thinking of investing in a tripod.

I have been traveling for nearly 8 months now and photography has become an integral part of my travels. And as I slowly graduated from point & shoots to more sophisticated cameras (I recently purchased a Nikon D5500 with a 18-140mm lens), I realized that there are situations where a tripod can make a lot of difference in how a picture turns out to be. Although many cameras (DSLR's or otherwise) and lenses these days have image stabilisation / vibration control functionality, still sometimes there is no substitute of having a good tripod handy.

When is a tripod handy!

Situations where a tripod might improve the quality of your pictures:

• Low lighting (needs slower shutter speeds which makes the camera vulnerable to shakes)
• Trying to capture the night sky (needs very slow shutter speeds and clicking with a hand held camera results in blurred pictures)
• Extremely cold conditions where your hands start to shake and a picture which otherwise would have turned out to be fine is affected by the shake of your hands
• Waiting for a specific moment to click a picture (say sunrise or sunset: holding the camera in your hand at awkward angles will tire you leading to shakes and lower quality pictures)
• Clicking a subject at awkward angles is easier if you have an appropriate tripod
• Taking a series of photos at different angles to produce a panorama
• It is easier to take your own pictures while traveling alone as a tripod gives you the freedom to click from various heights and at different angles 

Things to consider before buying a tripod!

Even though a tripod performs a pretty basic function, choosing the best tripod often involves many competing factors. I am putting these down in order of their importance (useful for a person who likes to travel and is buying his/her first tripod but not sure how much to invest in it)

• Weight of the tripod: You are used to carrying just your camera till now. But the tripod itself will have weight and will need effort to lug around.  Most of the times you will want to carry your tripod in cabin baggage while flying and thus the weight becomes more of an issue (7 Kg hand baggage limit). But keep in mind that tripod weight and sturdiness are related. Don't sacrifice too much of one for the other as the end objective of a tripod is to keep the camera steady. 
• Load capacity of the tripod: Depending upon the type of camera and lens you use or plan to use in the near future, different load capacity tripods might be relevant for you. All brands give the load capacity of their tripod. Entry level tripods support ~2Kgs and as you go higher, they support around 5Kgs. Unless you are a professional and using very heavy cameras and lenses, these should suffice.
• Maximum and minimum Height of the tripod: Maximum height is especially important if you're quite tall, since you could end up having to crouch. (Keep in mind that using the center column to increase the maximum height makes the tripod less stable). Minimum height is important if you take macro (shooting a subject from very close) shots often.
• Contracted tripod height: This is important if you want to fit the tripod in a small bag or suitcase like your cabin luggage while flying. Cabin baggage dimensions allowed in aircrafts are 55x40x20cms.
• Price of the tripod: I have put price lower down in terms of priority as there are many brands available in the market and you will probably be able to get what you want at different price points. So I believe price should come after one has considered above factors.
• Tripod Head: The two most common types of tripod heads are pan-tilt and ball head:
• Pan-tilt head: It has two to three separate handles which allow you to move the camera along different axes (horizontal, vertical) to be able to click pictures in a specific direction or at a certain angle. For ease of storage, do check that the handles are easily removable so as to make the tripod easy to pack and carry along .
• Ball head: Allows you to position your camera in any direction in a single action instead of using 2 or 3 handles as in case of pan-tilt head. The downside is that ball head is less accurate in terms of positioning the camera. In a pan-tilt head, one can change the positioning on one axis (horizontal / vertical) while keeping the other exactly the same (due to presence of two different handles). So, a ball head is easier to use but comparatively less precise when it comes to camera positioning.

There are tripods of different brands on Amazon India website (or any other e-commerce website of your liking). Couple of brands that I thought might be appropriate for beginners who want a tripod that lasts them at least a couple of years are Manfrotto and Vanguard (this list is not exhaustive and may change depending on the features you are looking for and the cost associated). Manfrotto is more expensive of the two. I personally found Vanguard to be a better bet when it comes to balancing quality and cost vis-a-vis its more pricey competitors. There are other cheaper tripods available online as well but I feel that they lack in something or the other from the above list and eventually the safety of your camera and lenses depends on the tripod you use.

I hope that I was able to provide some pointers which will help you in buying a tripod that suits your needs without going overboard in terms of cost. There are many other useful articles on the web that you could read to get more information on any specific aspect. 

Please feel free to comment and/or share if you find the post useful. 

Happy hunting :) !!

In search of the Northern Lights: Iceland - The land of Fire and Ice

Iceland.
September 2015.

Writing about Iceland is immensely challenging as no matter how expressive the words are or how fascinating the pictures are, it is almost impossible to do justice to what this paradise has to offer. Regardless, here I am trying to give it my best shot.

Isn't it a nice view to fall asleep to :-)
Jokulsarlon Glacial Lake

My recent trips were within the Asian sub-continent (most recently Bhutan) and it had been quite some time since I had traveled to one of the western countries. So began the phase of deciding which country to visit. I had nearly decided to do a 3 week trip to Austria and neighboring countries but then a friend suggested Iceland. And once I got to know Iceland a little, it was Iceland all the way. In addition to it being called the land of fire and ice, I would say it is the land of rainbows and waterfalls. You close your eyes for a few minutes while in the car and you are sure to miss one or the other in a picture perfect setting just along the road :).

Somewhere in Icelandic Countryside

Before you plan a trip to Iceland, keep in mind what are you looking for from the trip. Go in June-July if you want daylight for around 20 hours (will let you drive around for more time each day but most certainly will kill your chances to see the Northern Lights). Everything is at its most expensive during this time. As you move towards the shoulder season, the prices of hotels and car rentals come down substantially and so does the temperature.

I flew Lufthansa to reach Reykjavik (pronounced Reykyavik) via Frankfurt and I liked their in-flight service. Iceland's airline is called Icelandair. A lot of airlines fly to Iceland during the summers but some airlines discontinue their flights in the shoulder and off-peak season.

The view of the coast just before landing at Reykjavik was delightful. The feeling of landing on a landmass so far up north and so close to the Arctic was simply exhilarating.

Icelandic Coast close to landing

Iceland is a country where you should hire a car and head out. I was lucky to meet a friend in Iceland which made the trip even more fun. We drove the complete circle along the Ring Road with some diversions in between (in all ~1500Kms) in 6 days.

Northern Lights is one of the topmost attractions of Iceland. A lot of my misconceptions were cleared about them. Human eyes cannot see the relatively faint colors of the aurora at night. To the naked eye, it appears gray and white. But with a decent camera (capable of clicking pictures with high exposure settings) and a tripod, you can see colors like pink, blue, green, etc. We were extremely lucky to see the aurora 3 nights out of 8. It needs clear sky, cold conditions and luck to see this natural phenomena. On one of the nights, it was so bright that we could see light shades of green with our naked eyes. Unfortunately I didn't have the photography skills required to capture the aurora in my camera (I am learning those right now :)). It was my dream to experience the 'Aurora Borealis' and Iceland did not disappoint me.

Iceland is full of attractions which will leave you enthralled. Be it the famous Strokkur geysir in the southwest erupting about every 8-10 mins up-to a height of 15-20m (sometimes upto 40m), the sulphurous mud and steam springs at Namaskard which seem to be boiling with relentless energy, the Jokursarlon glacial lagoon where huge blocks of ice constantly break off the glacier and float on the lagoon as a result of the warming climate, the alluring azure blue crater lake in Myvatn, enormous natural pyramid made of basalt rock columns, the Green lagoon geothermal spa or the magnificent black sand Reynisfjara Beach.

Strokkur Geysir, Southwest Iceland (Erupts to heights of 15-40m)

Sulphur springs at Namaskard

Myvatn Crater Lake, near Akureyri, North Iceland

Basalt Rock Columns, Vik, South Iceland

Green Lagoon Geothermal Spa, Myvatn

Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach

 I was in for a visual treat while driving with spectacular double rainbows and meandering step waterfalls after every few minutes. In fact I came across them so often that after a couple of days, they seemed to have lost their charm (if that is even possible :)).

Seljalandsfoss, South Iceland (one can go behind the waterfall)

Iceland is definitely more expensive than some of the other European destinations, takes more time to reach, may have harsh weather (depending on when you visit) but once you overcome these factors, you will get to see mind-blowing landscape, incredible natural phenomena, startling terrain and erratic weather (there's a saying in Iceland - "If you don't like the weather, wait for 5 minutes").

Let's just say if you are someone who wants to get close to nature or need some solitude, Iceland is the place to be. And if you are still unconvinced about how amazing this small country is, then scroll down and decide for yourself.

Hverfjall Crater, Myvatn

6 days were too less for Iceland. I wish to come back to this place to explore the central highlands, trek the volcanic mountains, camp in the countryside, see puffins and of course to take back my heart which I left in this dreamy country.

With love, from Iceland :)

 P.S. Thanks to my friend for the contribution towards the pictures.