Chintan Shah, a solo traveller who believes that taking a journey is all about fulfilling your dreams, chasing your fears and to know the outside world with your own eyes. Know his adventurous trails of Rishikesh:
Tell us something about yourself :
I am in a sales profession, so travelling solo is an everyday affair. I am an adventurous soul, so it has always been easy for me to travel around and make friends. I like to travel often, to challenge myself and others when required.
I’m working with one of the heavy commercial vehicle giants of India in the sales and marketing department. As a part of my job profile, every now and then I am travelling to nearby towns alone, but that’s not solo travelling. In my words, SOLO travelling is to give yourself the little room from this so-called fast moving life.
How many Indian states have you travelled?
Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, Delhi, Gujarat, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttrakhand are the states I’ve visited till now.
Any interesting travel moment
I’m not so good at drafting and narrating my experience, but I will try to give words to my feelings and experience in the best possible way.
So….
It’s a little unusual in our country to travel alone, people look at us as if we are in a depression or suffering from any issues in life, I feel bad about those who have never travelled alone because, when you’re travelling alone, you’re actually travelling with yourself and as we all know if you start enjoying your own company than eventually, you’ll reach the level of inner peace.
Last year I decided to treat myself with an adventurous trip and travelling Solo was the first thing that struck me. After spending a good time on the internet I concluded with a small adventure trip to Rishikesh.
It took me a while to convince my mom about my dreams of jumping from a hill and to raft in the freezing river Ganga, but after much emotional drama she got convinced with my idea of exploring things differently.
I had never gone to North in winter and I heard it from my friends in North that the winters can freeze your breath here. After some online research, I decided to stay at the jungle camp, that was little far from the main Rishikesh area.
In the next five days here, I’d experienced Bungee Jumping, River Rafting, Flying Fox, the Maha Aarti and some sightseeing in New Delhi. These were my life’s most memorable days in terms of my travel experience. I started enjoying my company more than ever before.
The most popular places to visit at the destination
- The Ganga ghats (Haridwar)
- The River Rafting (Rishikesh)
- Bungee Jumping (Mohan Chatti)
- Flying For (Mohan Chatti)
Tell us about your fears and anxieties when traversing solo. How you keep them at bay?
The thought of travelling alone was never a big question for me as I have travelled alone so many times in my professional life, but when it came to personal solo travelling, I was little excited at the same time there were a few concerns as well. How will I manage with the climate as I have never faced such cruel winters? But with proper research, I could manage to do it very easily. The trip was for almost 6 days and there was no night stay repeated at the same place, so to carry the big bag was another issue, but to prepare for that I started walking with some weight on my back 20 days before the trip.
What’re your best travel tips?
Life is a journey and we all have to travel it alone, many passengers will board in and go, but we’re the only who’re going to take the entire journey. So pick up your bags and give yourself a chance to live life on your own, to see the world from on your own.
- Never be over-confident
- Always prepare well before you turn on your engine (start the journey), and
- Make sure you have sufficient diesel in your tank (money in your wallet).
Where are you off to next?
- If I manage to save well then Dubai for Skydiving
- A trekking tour in the North is top of the list now
- The bullet road trip to Leh.
