How travelling changed Sid and Nik

How travelling changed Sid and Nik is a blog dedicated towards the benefits of travelling and describes how it changed us[Sid+Nik] for good.

Its not that we have travelled the whole world or are experts on ‘travel’ but our own experiences of travelling abroad have taught us so many different things that I thought are worth documenting,hence this blog.

I love when people call us a ‘travel couple’ and I am totally addicted to it now.Having travelled to 9 countries and over 20 different cities,Travel seems to be our new oxygen and we are totally loving it.

But whats with travelling…is this a new fad?? or it is just for your Facebook posts and Instagram photos?? if its only limited to that then you have to go on a real vacation and experience the beauty of travelling as we do.

Apart from just seeing places, eating awesome foods,and clicking crazy photographs its the experience that counts.Travelling changes you in and out and you are completely a new person after your trip.

Travelling has left me speechless and then has turned me in to a story tellers,its not my quote but the points written below are definitely mine..:) so Here is our story about how travelling changed us …..yeah straight from the horse’s mouth..:)

1. Helped us to Come out of our comfort zones- There has been many situations where we got lost and were unable to find our hotel or we were unable to communicate with people around in their local language. There has been times when we ordered a dish, which turned out be a a mess etc etc. Such situations forced us to come out of our comfortable,protected and secured life and deal with the situation.This is something which only and only Travel can give you.
2. We learned many new things- Every new place has its own beauty and own charm and also its own rules. Travelling made us more active and now we can easily figure out things like “how to study city maps and map the closest way of walking”, “what to and how to order food abroad”, “when to take a taxi and when to opt for a local transport”, “which are the basic lingo phases to use often”, “what are the local gestures that are accepted and used by locals”, “How to book tickets on different kiosk machines” etc etc.It has made us more curious and creative in our actions and decisions.
3. We know ourselves better now- Many Times on our travels, we had to skip lunches,survive on a meal which was just one chocolate bar, had to walk miles without water or also had to physically strain ourselves to the core.If it wasn’t for travelling we would have never discovered this strength among st us. It has helped us rediscover ourselves and made us realise our strengths and weaknesses.
4. We evolved and grew as human beings- In Paris we had a close encounter with a fraudulent guy.In Berlin near Brandenburg gate, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg_Gate )one street artist dressed as a statue misbehaved with us and taunted us on being Indians when I refused to give him money.[I still did not get that guy’s point as to why he pointed out on us only where as other people from different nations too were refusing to pay him].But at the same time we also met a local German guy who helped us with the maps and suggested us the better route.These and many more bitter and sweet experiences have taught us that apart from colour,caste,religion and status we all are still the same with same needs only with different appearances.We can now connect to everyone as human beings and this has made us more mature.
5. Our Gut feeling has increased- Sometimes we can just sense things and can know this is not the right thing to do where as this is the right one. We can sense things because our ‘gut feeling’ guides us.This is something which we realised on our recent trip to Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka there is this huge market of gem stones and its difficult to identify which are pure ones and which are not.But our gut feeling guided us and we just followed it and hence were not trapped in all of it.Similarly it guided us in Venice, where at night we just sensed things and did not hang out late in Mestre area.When we are constantly on the go and exploring new area, our mind is working very closely with our brain and keeps it always active.Being in such situations increases our gut feeling. Somehow someway we can trust some persons while in some situations we are forced to exit.All these happens because of our inner intuition which increases 100% due to travelling.
6. We totally trust our instincts- Our instincts too have become strong and we can vouch for the fact that one can never fail if he trusts his instincts.Our mind is always showing us the right way, we just have to listen to it.We trust it completely and hence could find our way back in bad situations.

7. Trips and travel has made us Humble- When we are climbing the mountains and hiking through the forests or are looking at breath taking views and witnessing marvels of Nature, we realise that we are so small in front of Nature.Nature will never go out of style and will always outperform us.This feeling of gratitude has made us grateful and humble towards Nature.We appreciate and value it more now.

8. We are more patient than before- I used to get very hyper in uncertain situations and just would become cranky.But some times ,’When the flight is delayed’,’the train gets cancelled’, ‘our check in in the hotel is hours late than the time we arrive’, ‘our luggage exceeds the limit’,’we have to wear wet clothes during the whole journey’,’we have to kill time on airports’ and many of such situations which arise from travelling has increased my patience and has made me independent.I have realised it now, that some circumstances are beyond our control. We don’t have hold on such situations and what we need to do is just accept and let it go,which I can do now.
9. We treat ‘Time’ as ‘Money’ – When I look at old photographs from our trips, I realise how quickly time is passing by.Its been 5 years now that me and Nik are travelling together and it just feels like yesterday.That’s when it hits me that the time which has passed is never coming back and what I can make the most of it is the Present time in hand. Travelling has slowed us down and helped us to come out of the routine life and enjoy and Live the real life.
10. We have friends all over the globeTravelling has given us so many global friends and it feels so nice to know their cultures and traditions and the way they live.Having friends around the globe is always beneficial as you can rely on them for your next trips and can plan it in a better way.Like In Leipzig, Germany I stayed at my best friends(cooky’s) place for a day which enriched my experience altogether.Similarly in Rome, Munich,Singapore,Dubai we met so many like minded tourists as well as locals which are our good friends now.

    Exchange of thought process with global friends has made us broad minded and have widen our horizons.We don’t succumb to social pressures now but do what we think is important to do at that time.

     

11. Travelling Heals- Exploring Diverse places and meeting different people opens us up to new ideas. It gives us time to think on many issues which are going on in our mind and it heals it unknowingly.After each and every trip of mine I am more relaxed and feel complete with myself.
12. I have learned to detach myself at right time- This is something which I can do now and its only because of travelling.I always had a habit to attach my self to things,places and persons and cling to it over years but when you move in and out on a regular basis,you kind of know when to detach yourselves from that place,person or thing.The important things are the memories and spending good time then and there without bothering about whether it will last or not.

13. Indomitable spirit, yes we have it now- Unless and until we come across certain situations we never know if we have it in us to handle them.In Schliersee,Germany ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schliersee) we actually got on a wrong Bus and were in different part of the city.That part of Bavaria is totally German speaking region and we couldn’t communicate due to language problem.That was the time when our inner strength popped its head up and we could survive and come out of that situation without getting panic attacks.Going to places makes it happen.Suddenly the problems that you though were big seems like a piece of cake and you can handle them well.
14. We know it now that Life is all about cherishing memorable moments & having life changing experiences than materialistic things- Whoever has said “Collect memories not things’ is so correct and only and only exploring new places can make this happen.So we treasure memories.

15. Makes us enjoy what we have in the moment rather than waiting for tomorrow- New places,new people and new experiences train the brain to live in the present as it fades the past and stops overthinking. Isn’t all this achieved when we travel..?

16. We appreciate life in a better way than before- Many of us look at the other greener side of the grass and sulk over what we have at present.We never think about watering our own grass and making it greener.When we saw the other part of World, we definitely started loving our roots more and started appreciating the present.When we saw different types of people having so many difficulties in life it made us so positive and thankful towards our own life.

17. Last but not the least, we have learned to embrace change-  In our routine lives we give importance to so many unnecessary things like competition,rat race,job,money,position and its difficult to accept things when they don’t turn out the way we expected it to be.Travelling teaches us to take and accept ‘Change’.It makes us aware of the fact that ‘Change is the only constant thing in life’.Going through unknown situations, meeting unknown people, having a ‘no plans’ day has made us think about Life in a different spectrum.Nothing is permanent in life and hence now we know how to accept things more naturally than before 

    Travelling is the way of living life for us and has given it a creative lift. We see beauty in small things and are always happy and are content with our own selves.This has definitely made our bond stronger,deeper and thicker.

    I can jot down ten more positive advantages about travelling that has happened to us but the point is this is something that makes us look at things differently and changes our perspective altogether.

    Travelling does make a lot of difference to your personalities and makes you smarter, independent, adventurous and confident to face the World.

    So Guys what are you waiting for just start exploring this Big vast world as we do and let me know your experiences of travelling and how has it changed you.I am waiting to read it.

    Lets inspire others to travel !!