More For Less.

      Brisbane Skyline from Mount Coot-Tha .

Getting more value out of your travel.

             I toured Europe earlier a couple of years back. It was an organised tour through a travel company. It was guided in every detail  as to how/when you will move , at what times you will leave a place, what time you will arrive, you will get familiar food everyone likes , people around you will be people of your culture only , and you will have same ones all around in your trip. There was hardly any scope to alter your time spent at a place.  I wouldn’t  like to sound offensive but I will say , It was a kind of herd tour.

            My Australia tour was out of a beaten track and I made my own way through the destinations I visited.

             I realised I could get more out of this tour as I ventured to live like locals, to be with different locals/ tourists of different nations  every time I joined a group . I just stepped in a cab with a group members I had never met, and there was some kind of pleasant uncertainty , as to how I am going to spend my day. Every member of the tour I joined had  a small story to talk in introductyion . To put it  in short I was a ‘traveller’ and not a ‘Tourist’.

           I was on a hike tour of Blue Mountains with an Australian and a lady from US. I just hopped in to a village on my Blue mountains tour and had some quick bites & coffee at a restaurant I would never dream of, It had absolutely an Aussie flavour.

           I bicycled around Cairns with a bike of my host , and it elevated my spirits so high , that I bumped another guy like me and he enquired if I am a Spanish guy. It took no time to sit together for a glass of beer and exchange pleasantries.

          In all four cities of East coast I stayed at different homes , I had breakfast with my AirBnB hosts. I could chat with them on their lifestyles, what they do for their living, how  they find life in the place. I travelled by local trains to meet my groups at different meeting points. On an evening I went out just with a google GPS to reach Mount Coot-tha , to have a top view of Brisbane . And there was a kind of misery in getting  my way lost , knocking a house door ( as there was no one on streets) , and then fun  getting back to where I had to reach for bus.

         And believe me there was a new found knowledge right from  my third day of the trip when my host in Sydney made me understand how I should get the ‘Transit System card’ , and travel where ever I wanted by train/bus on same card. It was fun loading that card , and then saving money in the bargain. The biggest surprise was to sell back the same card to a retailer ( Seven Eleven) , and get back my loaded money from him !!

          For a travel adventurer , you have many portals like Visit-a-city  OR Viator.com OR for that matter AirBnB has its own experiences listed on their site .

          Believe me it not only gave me multiple times the value that otherwise I could get from an organised tour , but at a much lesser cost too.

          Don’t hesitate to check with me in case you need some piece of counselling, for planning your next tour as a traveller and not just a ‘Tourist’.

एक छोटा प्रवास - लहान पणा पर्यंतचा .

         आज सकाळी ६ वा , जाग  आली . रविवार आहे , बाहेर प्रसन्न वातावरण होत . बिछान्यात न रेंगाळता उठून सायकल रपेट करण्याची ईच्छा झाली . तयार होऊन सायकल काढली .गेट बाहेर पडल्यावर  कुठे जावं म्हणून विचार आला . आणि खयाल आया , why not revisit your childhood today !!

         सायकल लकडी  पुलावरून नारायण पेठेत वळवली. रमत गमत नारायणपेठ रमणबाग  शाळे वरून पुढे , रविवार , रास्ता पेठ करत तिथल्या गल्लयांतून फिरता फिरता लहान पणात  जाऊन पोहोचलो. मग सोमवार पेठेतल्या शाहू तलावा जवळ आलो. मन म्हणाले " जा आत जाऊन बघ ". मग काय सायकल लावली बाहेर आणि पोहोचलो आत.

       आत शिरल्या शिरल्या प्रचंड विचारांशी गप्पा मारायला लागलो. त्या कोपऱ्यात ( अडिच  फूट पाणी) मी पहिल्यांदा पाण्यात उतरलो होतो. ( साल असेल ६८/६९) , पाण्याची भीती अनुभवत हळू हळू ५ फुटात , नंतर ६ फुटात आणि मग चक्क काही दिवसात १० फुटात पोहोचून , प्लॅंक वरून उडी मारण्या पर्यंत मजल गेली होती. भयावर मात करणे इथेच शिकलो होतो. 

           लहान होण्याची जणू जादूची कांडी मिळाल्याचा आनंद अनुभवला. पुढील १० मिनिटे just , तिथली लहान मुले न्याहाळण्यात घालवली. 

      चक्क समाधी म्हणजे काय असते ते अनुभवले .

थोड्या वेळाने बाहेर पडलो आणि ज़िल्हा परिषद बिल्डिंग कडे निघालो. लहान पणी ही बिल्डिंग खूप मोठी वाटायची , आज माझ्यासारखीच लहान झालेली दिसली. त्या काळी आम्ही मित्र पैसे असतील तेव्हा , तेथील basement च्या दुकानात नीरा प्यायचो. दुकान उघडे होते . १५ पैश्याची नीरा , पंधरा रुपयाची झाली . का नाही होणार मी नाही का , २० किलोचा ८० किलो झालोय . निरेचा स्वाद पुन्हा एकदा त्या काळात घेऊन गेला .असे म्हणतात लहान पणचे चवी , आवाज , गंध खूप खोल store झालेले असतात. त्याचा प्रत्यय येत घोट घेत होतो.

      पुढे सायकल camp  कडे वळवली .  माझे बाबा त्या काळी जिथे ऑफिस ला जायचे त्या ठिकाणी गेलो तर मोडकळीला आलेली बिल्डिंग दिसली. तरी आत जावंसं   वाटलं . आत बघतो तर ४-५ कुत्री भो भो करत अंगावर आली. तिथेच परिसर न्याहाळत पायरी वर बसलो. कुत्री भुंकायची चक्क थांबली . बहुतेक त्यांना माझ्या मनाची तृप्तता जाणवली असणार. असाच बसून राहावंसं वाटत होत , पण आता बरीच काही ठिकाण साद  घालायला लागली होती.

        निघून लाल देवळाकडे ( it is a jew church ) मोर्चा वळवला .ज्या कट्ट्यावर आम्ही बसायचो तो नाहीसा झाला होता , आता लोखंडी रेलिंग लागले होते. पुढे MG रोड वरून जाताना , तरुण पणी कॅम्पात फिरायची फँटसी आठवली. नाझ कॅफे च्या जागी आता McD किंवा तत्सम कॅफे आलं आहे. अजून कॅम्प मध्ये बरीच इराणी हॉटेल्स आहेत . एका  हॉटेल मध्ये बरीच लोक बन मस्का , चहा , ऑम्लेट ची मजा  घेत होती . म्हटलं नीरे वर आता असले काही नको , आता पुढे चला . फिरत फिरत पुढे शंकरशेट रोड , गोळी बार मैदान , स्वारगेट , सारस बाग करत लोकमान्यनगर ला नकळत कधी पोहोचलो आणि परत सत्य स्थितीतल्या वयात पोहोचायला लागलो.

    येताना एक सकाळी वाचलेली बातमी मनाला खात होती.

  Anthony Bourdain- a celebrity travel film personality,  commited suicide. Man who always said he has the best job in the world. Who had been travelling places and covering innumerable cuisines of the world , who sat with likes of Barack Obama over a glass of beer, had a 11 year old daughter , was quite handsome and impressive personality at his age of 61. why should he do this?

   Is having everything you want a curse ? why don't these guys go and help out needy people of the world , if they are bored with everything they have had. Isn’t  world is too big for anyone, to have experienced every wonder that it offers.

   Perhaps he wasn't lucky enough to have an opportunity to go back to his childhood and become one again.

   I wish he had !!

Anniruddha .

         I was waiting for my flight back to India , at Melbourne international airport. Activities and . movement of people at airport was quite organised and systematic. 

        Australia has quite large capacities for any public domain utility. Be it a restaurant, transit service ( Buses/Trams/Trains),or any parking lot. You hardly see crowding of people wanting to grab things. People are at their own pace n comfortable. Further there is systematic deployment of intelligent automation systems in all services.

       So this boy was sitting next to me at airport lounge, in boarding area. We happened to stare at each other , and never missed each others inquisitive intent, and smiled. That (smile)  is always the shortest distance you traverse to reach other person, and we started chatting. 

       He was Aniruddha from Banglore, and had studied Hotel management here , and working as Chef , with Marriot at Melbourne. He said he is happy for having a job in Australia , as he gets paid well ( 38 Aus $/hour), and makes a good living and wants to continue there, though he wouldn't like to miss meeting his parents in Bangluru once in year or so. 

      I could see approximately 15/17 % of people hailing from India,who have made Australia their कर्मभूमी . It seems once you get a taste of life in developed world, you find  it difficult to come back to India. And in my moving around different cities I found many guys from Delhi, Gujarat , Maharashtra,Andhra , Tamil Nadu  who have made Australia their home. That made me wonder , if this is the way Indians will adopt , 'वसुधैव कुटुंबकम' approach and spread themselves all over the world. And this has already started happening. We see many youngsters pursuing post graduate studies in universities abroad, and settle there.  I don't know if patriotism becomes a debatable and ambiguous issue in days ahead as this happens....Only time will tell.

      Finally comming back to India , one cant miss a stark difference in the way people deal with each other here. But I promise myself , why not make a change at least in the way you deal with them. Let me see how much I succeed.

Entering the Blog world.

Hi Friends,

     Its been long that I have been trying to connect with many like minded friends.
I would come in to loud think with you shortly , and create a place to share life experiences.
See you soon,

Keshav.