Travel makes you realize people are the same all the world. As you know, I grew up in Bombay and travelled a lot around India with my family. Now moving on to my journey, travelling alone or with friends.
My first solo train trip was to Hyderabad by second class sleeper, the year I graduated from college. My cousin lived there with his family and went to visit. Also visited with close family friends in Secunderabad. I had met the family as a 5 year old with my parents and now I was a young lady ready to take on the world. It was where I met my first boss, who asked me to stop by his workplace when I got back home. The offered me a job and soon enough I was off on my very first plane trip to Delhi for training.
Air travel was new to me. I remembered asking dad as an 8 or 9 year old, if we could go by plane and was surprised when he said 'No', I couldn't understand, he travelled on most of his business trips by air. I didn't know it was expensive. He told me, I travel by air since time is important in business and my company pays for all my business travel. When you grow older maybe you will also travel on the job. And I did.
In my second job, I travelled a whole lot more. As an analyst, my projects were in different parts of India. During the years I worked there, I lived in Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, Bangalore for extended periods of time. I had a great group of friends and colleagues, we traveled quite a bit, hiking and trekking together. Discovering new places when we went on business conferences and conventions together as a group.
Finally, landed up with a consultants job in the middle east.. and was able to visit Kuwait, Dubai, Bahrain, and peep into Saudi, too.
My future husband and I fell in love while travelling across Italy by train. We had met the year before thanks to a mutual friend when he visited India to mee his family. A few months later, I was working in the middle east. We kept in touch and decided to meet half way in Italy. It was great fun getting to know him and discovering our mutual love for travel, meeting people, visiting places, learning the history and geography of the country and city, exploring museums, churches, gardens, and trying out various cuisines... Together, we managed to see 10 cities in 9 days. Rome, Genoa, Venice, Milan, Florence, Pisa, Naples, Capri, Sorrento, and Pompeii.
We got married a year later. As newly weds we had a fun time travelling in India. We went to Delhi & Agra, Explored Goa, Tamil Nadu(Madras, Madurai, Kodaikanal, Coimbatore, Chidambaram to name a few) and also Palghat district in Kerala. Visiting with family and friends. I was surprised by his love for shopping and bargaining. Unexpectedly my papers were ready and I was able to travel back to the US with him 6 weeks later. Two days before the New Year.
Now you have some background and can better understand why travelling is such a huge part of who we are... More in the next...
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