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Importance of travelling the world alone, as married women

Posted on July 20, 2017 by Aditi Mittal

Marriage is indeed seen as a mini full-stop when it comes to the travelling around the world concepts, ideas of having to go alone somewhere without having to worry about what goes right or wrong in the family spaces and … Continue reading →

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Things to consider by married women traveling alone

Posted on June 28, 2017 by Aditi Mittal

Traveling is a joy, but you must do your exercise thoroughly, yet. From reservation of air tickets to the kind of food you select to eat, these factors are very crucial. You can pay attention to all types of detail. You will never know what things you can crop at any point of time. You may be being ready to face all such kinds of issues. Though, proper preparation can curtail a lot of issues. You may have an accident-free journey all over the world.

We hereby briefly examine the points that you need consider when traveling.

Financing alternatives:

Married women traveling alone shall not carry so much money with you when you will be travel abroad. You may contact your banker to apply for international credit or debit card. Most banks are offering this kind of facility. You may also use of travel prepaid card. These can be useful for air tickets booking as well as for booking local transport.

Budget and Finance:

Finance and budget are the most crucial aspect of any trip. Each country will have expenses, and being a traveler one should always be aware of those incidents that may might incur. It is always better to have a budget and finance in mind before going for embarking for a tour.

Transport:

Transport is one of the major and an important part of travel. One must remain aware of the offers available on various flights as well as various local transports. If you will be booking an ‘around world’ type of ticket, you can save a substantial amount of cash. These types of tickets are generally open for reservation tickets. You can contact a local transport authority for confirmation at all stages of your journey. Many nations have rail well-organized systems, so you can utilize these services to explore these countries and their glory.

Dining alternatives:

Being a traveller one must be very much flexible with one’s dining alternatives. Some countries may not be serving you vegetarian food. Travel around the world blog can help you to stay ready for such types of conditions. You also may not be used to of their cooking styles. It is very important that being a traveller one must should learn to be adaptive to each country.

Hotel and resort bookings Accommodation:

Hotel and resort accommodation bookings are available online in almost all types of countries. Being a married women traveling alone one must book hotel rooms in before actual visit to avoid any kind of disappointment later. Travel around the world blog can help you to know way to book apartments at and the cost of hotels.

Things to know about Married women traveling alone

Posted on May 5, 2017 by Aditi Mittal

Call it traveling or fun or having lifetime experiences, this married women traveling alone term never loses its spirit. Though over all these years traveling alone has evolved culturally and historically, it has always managed to retain its uniqueness, fun, and joy.

Married women traveling alone may not sound cool to you but if you will travel place which has the cool weather of its neighboring area with its rich heritage manages to allures tourists who love to explore this diverse and colorful city. As you move from one area to another, you will notice that no two places are similar and yet are co-related together in some or the other way.

Your husband may not be having time to travel with you, but why to loose fun of seeing some hand-pulled rickshaws, bustling places or the modernized Bridge and the silently flowing River, every avenue of a city has a story to tell.

Every country has culinary scene, which must be rich and varied as its history and savoring every cuisine that is available here is almost an impossible feat. While food dominates over the kitchen, Mughlai and Chinese cuisines too must be popular at that particular place.

For typical travel around the world blog, you can simply head to travel alone and believe us it is not as difficult as it sounds.

Shopping for different budgets and styles is made easier while you will be traveling alone via; street shopping, handicrafts, malls and the options are endless. These types of vibrant cities actually come alive during festivities, where everyone gears up for this event. Taking a stroll in these places or enjoying a boat ride across River, you will experience the culture and their penchant for enjoying good and artistic things in life. As you get to know that particular country or city better, you will realize that it has a character of its own and blends every visitor very easily along the huge crowds.

However, a daylong of shopping has made you fill your luggage bags with new and beautiful stuff from the local market after which it is the time to take a break and enjoy the nightlife in clubs and pubs of that country. If you are a passionate person to taste beer, it is affordable and provided with hospitality at the bars and pubs which highlight your trip to any popular and amazing tourist’s destination.

You can definitely mention all these experiences in your travel around the world blog.You cannot actually move for it unless you take real life experiences of traveling alone.

Helpful Safety Guide For Women Traveling The World

Posted on April 25, 2017 by Aditi Mittal

At present, many women love to travel the entire world for getting more fun and thrilling traveling experience. Safety plays a vital role in planning your world travel, so you can follow these useful safety tips or guidelines that will make your world trip safer. It is significant to research the chosen destination completely before taking your trip. It is an essential advice for women traveling the world. You need to allocate some time for loop up the safety details regarding the selected destination. Along with this, you can also check the safe neighbourhoods, taxis, transportation facilities, and medical centers available in the place. When you take a trip to a new city or place, you do not trust someone quickly.

Keep Your Things Safely

When you consume alcohol or other drinks, you dull the senses as well as slow the reaction time that in turn immediately makes you helpless to others. Instead of getting dangers, you can drink slowly and pace yourself. This useful advice is helpful for women traveling the world unaccompanied. Additionally, you should prefer the bag that will accommodate your essential items, including your camera, your jewelry, your smartphone, your passport, your medication, your credit cards, and other valuable equipment.

Follow The Best Travel Tips

You do not put the most important things into the general backpack or luggage. If you place them away from your vision, there is the possibility to lose them completely. There are several ways available to travel the entire world safely, but the best one brings you additional safety. For getting the desired level of protection, you can travel like a local. You need to learn the culture followed by the local people and dresses used by them. These are two major things that let you to less vulnerable to the criminals.

Make Your World Tour Safe

If you take a trip with a limited budget, you will face lots of challenges while meeting your safety needs. For eliminating the dangerous situation, you can spend some additional cash and stay safely. The extra spending not only brings you more safety, but the essential spending also let you enjoy lots of fun activities. These are important tips that help you to get all the benefits while you travel like a local. Here are the additional tips for women traveling the globe as follows:

Prepare for worst with secret cash and documents
Get suitable travel insurance
Check in frequently
Keep in touch with your family members and friends

The Sailing Bee

Posted on September 2, 2014 by Aditi Mittal

Hello people,

My travelzandstories has now moved to ‘the-sailing-bee.com‘. The aim is to reach much wider audience and give a better experience to readers. Don’t forget to subscribe !

Read my recent article on – The Living Root Bridges of Meghalaya. Would love to hear your thoughts on it.

P.S. The site is fairly new, some links may not work. I am still working on it 🙂

Mawlynnong, a perfect village for your retirement

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Aditi Mittal

It is true India is not one of the cleanest countries in the world. Leave cities, its villages are equally filthy. But what if I introduce you to a village where you’d be surprised to see no garbage! Yes, no garbage at all.

Mawlynnong, a small village located in the East Khasi Hills of Meghalaya is about 80 kms from Cherrapunje. The village is home to 90 families with total population of around 400. Having credited as the ‘cleanest village’ of Asia, Mawlynnong was on my list for long when I first heard about it. It was hard for me to believe the existence of such place in India. But it does exist.

The drive to this place is not only picturesque but quite an adventure since the road to it is blanketed by fog all throughout the year that makes tad difficult to drive. I always have a picture in my mind before visiting a place, however this village broke all notions. To reach to the interiors of the village we had to cut through the dense grassland. Since, it was pleasant weather I rolled down my window to feel the fresh breeze of the hills, and I could hear the loud buzzing of crickets.

It was pitch dark everywhere.

I asked our driver if it is always like this or is there a burnout? He replied that village has no streetlights. I was not surprised though.

As we were proceeding towards the village, we encountered men sitting on the road and drinking. Seeing me a bit puzzled, the driver told that it is normal here since there is no source of entertainment; people sit on the road and have ‘fun’.

Suddenly, the car stopped. I asked the driver why did he stop, we want to go to the village soon. He said, “this is it, this is the Mawlynnong village.” I was surprised because first, it was dark and second, it was dead, I could see nobody there. I checked my watch to see if we were late, but to my surprise it was just 7p.m.!!

This is how it looked in the morning

Photo Credits: TravelsandStories

We approached to our guesthouse that we had booked; the owner of the place was called Henry. Apparently, in Meghalaya, Christianity is predominant and almost all speak basic English! That was a breather. So, Henry showed us our bamboo hut that I was super excited to see. And it didn’t disappoint me a bit. The hut was a quaint cottage with two twin bedrooms, a common bathroom and dining area. Still basic but looked luxury in this small village.

Photo Credits: TravelsandStories

Henry told us that it is good if we leave to see the Riwai living root bridge early in the morning to beat any crowd what so ever.

Since it was too dark, I couldn’t have a first sight opinion of the village. And now, I anxiously waited for the morning. We all retired early after a long day.

The morning was even more beautiful than expected. A dewy morning with drizzle and I was awestruck by the greenery there. It was 6 a.m. and still did not see any village people.

Photo Credits: TravelsandStories

Riwai Living Root Bridge is located in Riwai Village, which is just a kilometer away from Mawlynnong. The bridge is another tale altogether and needs another post to be told.

On our way back to the cottage I finally saw local women cleaning the roads (which were already cleaned) and for the first time I noticed the cute bamboo triangular bins hung all around the village. These ubiquitous bins are the proofs of efforts taken by the locales to keep this place in tranquility with nature.

Photo Credits:TravelsandStories

I am sure you’d be mesmerize by the simplicity of the village to the extent that you might just start plan to spend your after retirement years there. Mawlynnong is an inspiration model to all the villages of India. It is so good to see when people respect nature and live in harmony with it. We have all read in schools about the importance of eco-balance but as we grow this knowledge holds little relevance. I was reintroduce to the concept again in this village and I could clearly make out how happy people there were. I just hope the credits of this village spread worldwide and inspire people to respect and preserve the nature. And believe me we don’t have a slightest idea how much a happy eco-system can give us back.

When to go:

Though it is still rainy season in August but it is the best time to see this beautiful village.

Where to stay:

If you are somebody who can’t leave his or her comfort zone, this place is not for you. There are no proper hotels here. There are only few bamboo huts owned by villagers, which are not advertised on Internet. Contact Henry (09615043027) or Carol (09436104844) for booking a bamboo hut.

Things to know:

Since these bamboo huts are like homestays so only option to eat here is with the family. The food is basic but delicious and big portions.
If you are a bit finicky about blankets, you can take your own since here the bedding would have a little damp stench. But you can’t complain.
Check out the Tree House near the Bamboo Hut
Since the village is all green, carry insect repellant.
Carry rainproof cloths and footwear.
Beware of leeches.

For more pics visit my flickr page : https://www.flickr.com/photos/travelzandstories/sets/72157646359037979/

A Walk through Galle district

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Aditi Mittal

Galle district lies in the southern most part of Sri Lanka. The district is often visited to experience the Dutch architecture and blue-green rimless coastline. Have your espresso on a breezy evening in those colonial style cafes in the Dutch Fort. I found the Dutch Fort as one of the best places to shop souvenirs, try Mansions for gift packs of flavored tea. If nothing, just walk on those cobbled streets and enjoy the lazy life of Sri Lanka.

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

Unawatuna

Lazy beach town. Yes, that’s the word for this place. Lined by fine white sand and crystal blue water, you’d be tempted to take a dip in first sight (though I like Nilaveli beach in Trincomalee more). Stay at Dunes Unawatuna, a place run by a tourist friendly couple. Decored like a jungle, this place in itself is an attraction. Try one of those beach side eateries that offers best Sri Lankan seafood cuisines. Hang around in those evening cool pubs. Try Koh Surf Lounge. End it with a relaxing Ayurvedic massage. The rates of Ayurvedic massage are competitive and you can really try bargaining hard here. I paid just 1,700 SLR as compared to 2,500 SLR 🙂

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

Kosgoda Turtle Hatchery

Enroute to Bentota, visit this unique turtle conservation project. You’d be moved.

Turtle Eggs, Photo Credits: A. Mittal

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

We are twins, Photo Credits: A. Mittal

Albino Turtle, Photo Credits: A. Mittal

Hunder, Ladakh

Posted on May 17, 2014 by Aditi Mittal

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

As mesmerizing this picture is, so is the story behind it. I always take joy in telling my enthralling experience on the highest motorable road in the world – Khardung La Pass in Ladakh. The Khardung La Pass is located 40km away from Leh town, Every rider who loves challenges thrown by nature would find this road perfect for satisfying his adrenaline rush. The road is located at an elevation of 18, 380 ft. At any given month of the year, you can find the snow mountains encompassing Khardung La. It is really a nature’s miracle that people use this snow-covered road to reach Hunder, a village amidst the cold desert of Nubra Valley. Well, my trajectory was no different. Hunder is located 130 kms away from the Khardung La Pass and it is advisable to reach there early in day time since the weather can be really nasty at the Khardung La in the evenings. The other reason that should tempt you to go to Hunder is riding on a double humped camel.

ladakh-map Photo Credits: flycatcheradventures

We were also set to experience this sudden transition from snow-capped mountains to riding a camel in sand dunes. As my family and I were proceeding towards Khardung La, our driver-cum-guide informed that many years ago this road was a trade road between India and China. Ladakh is a very difficult terrain to drive plus you can’t use your private vehicle for excursions for security reasons, hence it is a mandate to hire a local taxi.

We were very much aware of Ladakh’s unpredictable rains, but what we didn’t know was, since it was at very high altitude, it can snow even in summers. In minutes, the whole road was covered with ice not even snow making it whole slippery and difficult to drive on. As we reached at the check post to begin our memorable ride, we noticed our taxi was slipping towards the abyss. We were aghast for a second. My mother clutched my hand, though for me the whole situation was no less than an adventure. Our driver, however, took control and reversed the car, but every time he tried driving forward, the vehicle would go slanting. Our driver then stopped the car, took out iron chains from the trunk and rolled it around all 4 wheels and tried steering it again. To our driver’s surprise it still didn’t work and this time one wheel of our car went outside the road. My mom screamed with it and started cursing me as usual for jeopardizing all of our lives at that moment.

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

Our driver suggested we start walking down the road while he’d fix the car issue and meet us in the way, to which we all agreed, at least it was better than falling into that gorge. We walked. It was still snowing and the road sill slippery. I was leading the troupe making footsteps for my family to walk. 1 hour passed, we were still walking in a snowstorm on the deserted road, without any shelter in sight. Though some military trucks passed by but didn’t stop because if they did, the vehicle would lose its friction on the road.

I believe that was the best walk of my life stuck in nature, with spectacular landscape all around me, I had a moment of epiphany. Suddenly, this urge of connecting with God ushered in and thought maybe this is the way God wants me to his best creations. It still remains the best experience of my life.

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

My brother kept looking for our driver, but there was no sign of him. It was thundering, foggy and the chills in the air were making all of us nauseating. I was shaking with cold with the fatigue of walking for so long but didn’t show it to my family. Finally, my mom saw a shack that looked like a military bunker. We started moving towards it. Soon we realized it wasn’t near as we thought we still had to walk a lot, a lot I mean. But we didn’t want to die frosting in that snow, so we paced up. It took us another hour to reach to that shade and found it was abandoned and had nothing inside. At that point of time, even roof looked like a blessing. Mostly, my parent would freak out in a situation like this, surprisingly they were quite calm and were enjoying this adventure in their elderly age. We spent at least 30 minutes there, catching back our breaths and stabilizing our swiveling heads. Outside, the snowstorm stopped and everything looked calm. As we decided to head on, saw our driver speeding towards us. That moment was precious for my mom at least. He started explaining his delay but we were just too happy to see him there. Well, we almost walked through the whole of the Khardung La road and were now descending.

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

I was marvelling in a sense that within 10 kms the whole scenery around me drastically changed from snow to sand, from white to brown, even the texture of the mountains changed. We were in Nubra Valley that homes the cold desert of Ladakh. Our driver took us to Hunder which was just 45 kms away from the Pakistan border. Hunder contrastively was greener with sand dunes and double-humped camel. I know a very odd combination, but it is totally worth it.

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

Ladakh is truly a wonder of nature. I am still waiting for the time when I can again visit Ladakh and this time going even more remote and feel blessed again in the lap of nature.

About Ladakh

Ladakh lies in the Jammu and Kashmir state of India. Still remote, place is now often visited by nature loving tourists. The capital of Ladakh is Leh town, a buzzing Buddhist town.

How to get there?

To reach Leh you can fly directly from New Delhi. Though drive to Leh is cumbersome, but is worth all the pains. New Delhi to Leh is about 1,300 km and can take about 4 days. It is an experience of life, you won’t regret it. You can either take Kashmir route or Manali route. Both are amazingly scenic. Leh to Nubra Valley can be reached by any hired taxi.

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

When to go there?

Summers are the best. While the Manali route gets cleared of snow only in June, Srinagar route gets open in the end of April. For more details on the routes, you can visit the government tourist site with Leh here.

Why Trincomalee worth a visit?

Posted on May 4, 2014 by Aditi Mittal

What do you expect from a country that was gripped in a civil war for over half a century?

Since independence (i.e.1948), Sri Lanka had faced sporadic conflicts between Sinhali and Tamil speaking population. In 1980s, the country witnessed serious insurgency by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a focused group that demanded a separate state for Tamil speaking population. It was only in 2009 when Sri Lankan army crusaded LTTE and had put an end to the long saga of retaliation. Like any war, it was reported that in order to achieve peace a lot of civilians lost their lives and means of living.

After reading so much about the uprising and debacle of Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, I was more than intrigued to visit the country to see by myself the current state of the country. However, all my assumptions were washed away as soon as I saw the tarred roads and lush green bounty all around me. Oh! Did I mention it was difficult to spot a garbage bin there? But still the nooks and corner of the streets were devoid of filth.

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

I was still not contend and wanted to see the ‘real Sri Lanka’ and with that I mean I wanted to visit a Tamil town that I thought would portray a clear picture of the country and will give me an opportunity to condemn the merciless killings of Tamil civilians during the combat between Sri Lankan army and Tamil Tigers. Due to time constraints I couldn’t make it to Jaffna, used to be the hub of LTTE operations, and so I chose Trincomalee (“Trinco”).

Located in the east of the island and falls to the south of Jaffna, Trinco is primarily a Tamil-speaking town. My first take on Trinco was that it didn’t look dilapidated as I thought. It was very much a buzzing town with an array of fishing harbors and breathtaking sunset. I did see naval forces around the Trincomalee dockyard, which I came to know, is because the town serves as the major naval base to Sri Lankan Navy.

Photo Credits: ExotichoildaysInternational [Edited by: A. Mittal]

Slightly hotter than rest of the island, Trinco provides a great location to backpackers due to its non-touristy beaches and inexpensive water sports.

Trincomalee Guide

What should bring you to Trinco?

Beaches. Nowhere in Sri Lanka will you find pristine beaches like Nilaveli and Uppuveli. Nilaveli being more calm draws more tourist than Uppuveli. Stay beach side for the best experience.

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

Where to stay

Since Trinco opened for tourists only after end of the war, the place offers only fewer options of decent accommodation around Nilaveli. Though quite pricey by Sri Lankan standards, I stayed at Sea Lotus Park Hotel that was located right on the Nilaveli beach. If you are looking for an offbeat stay try Backpacker’s Cave next to Sea Lotus Park Hotel which is literally just a bed and costs no more than 500 SLR. Other good resort in the town is Pigeon Island Beach Resort.

Backpacker’s Cave

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

Where to eat

People say being a vegetarian and backpacker is not very good combination, at least not economical. After quite a struggle, I found Annapoorani Vegetarian Restaurant on the dockyard road that serves a delicious vegetarian meal at very cheap prices. The place is run by Tamil females and offers local Sri Lankan/Tamilian food. It was difficult to communicate with them since they didn’t know a word of English. However, I was quite impressed with the efficiency of females managing the place. I ate there thrice and every time I saw a bevy of customers. It was by far the cheapest place I ate in my whole trip to Sri Lanka. There was no menu but display of 2-3 curries, stringhoppers, the famous kottu, roti, stuffed roti, Dosai etc. Try this, you won’t regret. Mind it, Sri Lankan food is very spicy.

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

What to do in Trinco

Whale watching

Since Mirissa down south is famous for whale watching, not many people know that Trinco in fact is also a good place to spot whales and at much cheaper price than Mirissa. I paid just 2,500 SLR as compared to 6,500 SLR that I would have paid in Mirissa. And I spotted 3 gigantic sperm whales.

The best time to take the tour is early morning, by 6 am. It can take about 3-4 hours depending on your chances to spot a whale.

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

Snorkel with sharks

If you are somebody who is not afraid of exploring sea life, then Pigeon Island National Park is just a place for you. Located just 15-20 mins away from Nilaveli beach, Pigeon Island National Park offers Coral Sea life and is a nest to blacktip reef shark. It is said to be a good place to swim with sharks and sea turtles.

Koneshwaram Temple

Being a Tamil town, Trinco homes the famous Hindu temple of Lord Shiva known as Koneshwaram temple. The temple is located uphill the Dutch fort – Fort Frederick. Behind the temple is the peak that overlooks the Gokarna Bay and Indian Ocean.

According to Mythology, when Lord Shiva was mourning the death of his wife and carried her body all the way. It is believed that a piece of her body fell on this place and it is so considered holy. I learnt that there are other temples like this in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka in context of this story.

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

DSCN0292

Photo Credits: A. Mittal

Walk by the bays

As the sun starts setting, the gushing cool breeze not only gives respite from the heat but also provides good opportunity for an evening walk by the bays. Trinco has 3 famous bays – Back Bay, Dutch Bay and the Inner Harbor. You can also go for evening coffee to the colonial style Dutch Bank Cafe on Inner Harbor Road.