How would you like to chuck it all and travel around the world ? Tempting isn't it ?? Well that's exactly what two wonderful persons I know are doing right now. They blog about it here - follow it if you are interested in traveling ; its a gripping account of far away lands. If you fancy yourself on the road from Rangoon to Mandalay or on the Silk Road between Bukhara and Samarkand, then this is the travelogue for you.
I happened to be in Spain and voila, discovered that they were in Spain too - Ah the wonders of the internet. I was in Madrid and they were in Granada, so emailed them to meet at Seville which is where I spent a magical day today with them.
No doubt they'll get to updating their blog on this day in Seville. Their blog is still in Turkey, whilst they have physically moved on to Greece and onwards to Spain. They'll write about the Catedral de Santa María de la Sede (Seville Cathedral), an imposing and awesome structure where we stood reverentially in front of the bones of Christopher Columbus interred there. And about the Reales Alcázares de Sevilla (Alcazar) - the palace where you could feel the legend of 100 virgins a year demanded by the Moors from the Christians. Or the bullring, the oldest in Spain - this being off season, thankfully there were no bullfights. There was the rain in Spain, but it was the gentle variety that added to the charm and mystique of the place.
Its their call to write on the place. Mine to write on the experience with them. Wanderlust is always an instinct of man; and those who wander have a treasure trove of experience. Travel broadens the mind and travelers make wonderful company. If they are as nice as M and V, the time with them transcends words. It was only a day, but to me it seemed that I had somehow partaken of their entire adventure. I had walked with them, had shared the sights, had felt the tug of the journeyers. It was a very special day. As we sat in the station sipping a cup of coffee waiting for the train to take me back, I couldn't but think a wee bit of chucking it all and following in their trail ! Gracias M & V for the magic.
While I come back home to India, they go onwards to Morocco, to Mauritania and wherever else the road beckons. Good luck M &V. May you have many more wonderful experiences and the joys of visiting many a land.
For me, I am thankful, that for a day, just a day, I trod the path with you. Round the world, at least for one day.
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25 comments:
Magical indeed, thanks to the happy coincidence of discovering ourselves in the same peninsula with high speed rail connections and your willingness to exploit them just to spend the day with us. It was a great pleasure and a unique day in our travels. And thanks for writing the blog entry for the day, we are way behind and could use all the help on offer!
M and V
wow...thalai suthina ooray suthara mathiri pheeling varum..aana thalaye oora suthina!!! avvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv.... apdiye rendu boto pudichi poatta naangalum paathupomla :)
Indeed travel opens up one so much. but for lazier bums like us, we have a equally fruitful secret "Around the world in 8 minutes technique" technique.
the address is called
http://indigoite.blogspot.in/
@M & V - Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment. And get moving with updating your blog - you now have quite a few of us addicted to it :)
@Gils - Ha ha Ha ! More than "rendu boto" will come when they update their blog
@Sandhya - Well you are no mean traveler yourself, considering in the last two weeks you have been from Rameshwaram to London :)
Wow... what a post!! and what all I missed all these days.. will catch up for sure!
And for travel... aah! what do I say? Your post says it all... :)
Answer to your opening ques- Is a thumping Yes!! As a teenager I fantacised about it a lot, till my dad thought it made more sense to get a decent degree n a job and then decide if I could afford those trips. :D But whoever knew the profession I would choose would actually involve a decent amount of traveling, even if the destinations are not exotic, but places called Quakertown n Trumboursville in Pennsylvania. :D
Cheers to your friends on the world tour. Hope they have a great trip!
With this post on travel, for me, ever since i subscribed BM comes a full circle. Business, economics, politics, music , films, food and now travel.
Two thumbs up for this post.
Only recently i heard about sagarda familia of Spain and its architect. I heard this project is unfinished since its catalan architect died in the early century. The modern day architects are unable to match the expertise of this architect. Spain the land of rich culture is on my hit list. Will follow your friends but we would like to hear your travel experience too.
//Wanderlust is always an instinct of man // how well said. one of my wishes (before my faculties start failing ) is to travel with a back pack to some countries in the world enjoying the travel, the culture, people and the place, and feel like a true wanderer.
May you have more such days to wander and Good luck to your friends - May they truly enjoy the joys of travel.
@Vishal - You are a pretty widely travelled man yourself - so something on those experiences in Hindi in your blog ??
@Deepa - You've travelled all over in your childhood, haven't you. But Quakertown is not the high point of a traveling life :):)
@Asha - Much honoured. coming from a class travel writer such as you. Saharda Familia is of course in Catalunia - didn't go anywhere near there. Spain's a nice country to wander around.
@Vincy - Do so Do so. Take even a week off and roam around India without really deciding where you will be next day. Its good fun .....
It is a rare privilege to travel, and to experience other cultures. Unless we find a credible alternative to fossil fuels, travel for our children will be highly restricted. So please follow Ramesh's sound advice and travel whenever and wherever you can, with your children. Half the fun is watching the country and the other half is watching the sprog react to the country.
Ramesh is aware I have a deep affinity to Spain, and I would recommend very much Spain as a destination to anyone.
Such a wonderful post....M&V have a great travel blog...I'm sure I will be hooked on their journey once I read a few more posts.
I take every opportunity to travel....have covered most of India and US but so much more needs to be explored....Peru, New Zealand, Aurora Borealis, Masai Mara and parts of Europe are the top 5 destinations on my list.
Ahh! the joys of travel. Once upon a time my job took me to exotic places like Stavanger Norway, Budapest,Santiago, Accra, Saigon etc. Can never forget having set foot in Dakar Senegal when the big bird flying from Jo'burg to Washington stopped over at Dakar, we deplaned to let the cleaning crew 'restore' the plane midway through the 17 hour journey. Weekends between working days in Europe meant a bonus! Work took me to Helsinki and the intervening weekend took me to Tallinn, Estonia, a 45 minute ferry trip from Helsinki. Sadly my sarkari role in Aotearoa -the land of the long white cloud does not let me see the insides of a wide body plane. The occassional hour and a half flight to Christchurch is all I get. To me travel opened my mind (and my wallet!)so much. The more I travel, the more I realise after all we are more or less the same everywhere in the world!
@Ravi - Oh yes- you are half a Spaniard yourself. For that matter, half a Frenchman, half a Brit ......
@Shachi - Oh; your top five looks very inviting. Do so when R&R are at least 6 or 7 years old - they'll get to enjoy it too
@kiwi - Ah yes - you are the traveler numero uno, obviously with your moniker of The Million Miler. What else can you do when you live somewhere which is a million miles from anywhere else :)
I would have thought after all this, you would be content to never see a wide bodied plane anymore - a wide bodied canoe being a more preferred option !!
What a wonderful read....and what a interesting meeting it must have been.
I love seeing new places but dont so much like the travelling;-P.
What a fun trip, going around the world! Just looking at all the places they've been to on their blog, often off the beaten path, is quite inspiring. Am waiting for the kids to be just a couple of years older to do more extensive travel. In the meantime, I will have to vicariously enjoy it. Wishing your friends a safe and memorable travels...
Boss come to this part of the world too.
Philippines is awesome. Just came back from a trip and is spell bound. Wish i was earning and wasn't a student keeping an eye on my wallet!
Stayed in an island all alone!
This place has one of the beautiful landscapes :)
@appu:
all epdi alonea irukka mudium?? :D:D zenovukkay kostin :D
@Reflections - Get off that chair N :)
@ J - Real fun, isn't it. The next stage is their going overland in Africa. That must be some adventure
@Zeno - Alas, nobody is calling me to your enchanted isles. Although I suspect your enchantment is less the isles and more the maidens :)
@C'mon- That should qualify! I do have to take a plane, then drive for an hour, carefully navigating my way through the woods (with GPS being my only guiding light); stay in a hotel (so what if its not a Marriott); eat at a local resto which is more like a meeting place for the entire town and then they all stare at you because you are definitely from "around here" and after the second day one of them comes over to talk to you out of curiousity! *chuckles chuckles* These trips should qualify too! :D
Ah You are always welcome. let me know when you are coming. I will play the gracious host and i promise you i will not take you to movies [I am yet to watch a filipino movie yet]
Sorry to say maidens of this land dont enchant me ;) not sure why :)
@Deepa - Ha ha. I didn't know you have taken to befriending old knitting ladies these days :):)
@Zeno - Maybe the connoisseurs of Asin, Ileana, et al are setting their sights too high :)
Picture please Ramesh!
Fotuuuuu..I wanna seeee...
@Preeti - Alas, I don't even own a camera !!
Folks, I finally met up with Ramesh himself--the last time I might have seen him was more than 32 years ago (yes, "might have" and "seen" because he was two years my senior in school.) He did me a huge favor of timing his trip to Chennai when I was there. And dinner at a Thai restaurant in Chennai .... was wonderful; thanks, Ramesh.
Unlike Ramesh, I do own a camera and use it quite a bit. Maybe one day I should provide that photo along with the comments in his blog? ;)
@sriram - It was my pleasure entirely. Words re anyday better than pictures, aren't they ??
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