I love being left alone.

Solo time especially when traveling has been looked upon through different lenses. Let me give you a glimpse of what I have heard people ask me when I tell them I am planning or have done a solo trip, starting from the most asked to least. So you were alone, did you do something racy? This with an ever-knowing smirk on the face that they are sure you have done it all. Why is it assumed that people travel to do such things only, maybe and could be just as on a normal day, racy is part of the day, in travel also it is just a part. I don't travel to be racy all the time, and that might be a condition that would need to be discussed with my therapist and my partner in that order if it is so!

Now the next, so you have something to sort out with yourself, or are you suffering from some mental illness? My mental retort to it is, who does not have things to sort of within, if you think you don't have then there is a problem, here is 30$, you know what that is for!

Who would take care of your family, when you are away, polite way of asking is, “Arent you irresponsible to travel alone and leave them to fend for themselves for 5 days!”

then the usual, what do you do in your spare time, how can you be secure, how would you know what to do when to do et all….

I travel to experience this, only which travel can offer, and which would occur only once we’re elsewhere and we have a different hold on things. For me, traveling is not to see things, monuments, museums, restaurants, nature, people, and their customs. Of course, I would capture a spectacular moment, but before that, I like to savor it fully, so that it is well etched in my mind. Traveling like this helps me look at and understand more of myself than outside of me. Just by sitting in a chai shop and sipping the local tea, I tend to realize I prefer the “kaduppam ulla” chaya with comes out of that samovar that we see in Kerala to the spiced ones. You tend to sleep longer in a different space, just to recharge yourself, as there is a feeling in you that tells you there is no one waiting on you to give a decision, to be fed, to receive a package, or to thaw a packet in time for dinner. And much more!

*kaduppam — strong in Malayalam and ulla is “which possesses” , so together it is strong tea.