7 Traits of a Super Travel Blogger

Of course you are a travel-junkie.  But there are those of us who travel a lot but when asked about a trip they say, “It was nice.” Nice does not even come close to my encounter with a python in a jungle in Maharashtra! So here’s my take on 5 things that make a traveller a super travel blogger.

1. Actualise your Wishlists

A lot of us have wish lists. But have you set a schedule?  I will travel to Ecuador, France, Argentina, Australia, Cyprus, Switzerland and Canada in the year 2014 and I am working towards actualising my travels to these destinations.

2. Observe, be Curious

When you do travel – observe. On a trip to Pondicherry, I walked around markets full of export surplus garments. On further inquiry I discovered that Tirupur, India’s biggest garment manufacturing hub was just a stone’s throw away.  Tourists normally browse by without a thought, but a keen observer can make the connections. So when you travel on work the next time for a meeting in Tokyo for example, notice how there are no trash cans there, find out why.

3. Take Notes

Yes, the human brain is capable of remembering everything we come across each day of our lives. But for most of us mere mortals on occasions when we come across something fascinating, without being recorded it fades away from our memory. I make sure to take notes of interesting names, phrases and striking numbers while on my travels. I also save small souvenirs, may be a flower fallen down just as I pass in a garden in London or a ticket stub of the Louvre on a backpacking trip through France.  This habit keeps my memories strong and helps to add a unique flavour to my travel stories.

4. Though while applying the same to travel photography keep your camera aside for a moment. Sometimes you have to save the image of that gorgeous frozen turquoise water in Ladakh or that royal Jaisalmer sunset in your mind’s eye to feel the magic.

5.  Transcribe in Time

You made your notes diligently during your travels but they are now lying at the end of your pile of books and it’s already been a few weeks since you got back? This sometimes happens to the best of travel writers and bloggers.  Reasons for this range can be many; from having itchy feet to travel to your next destination instead of sitting at a desk and typing it all out, pure laziness or lack of time due to a busy schedule. I avoid this delay by jotting down my memories the moment I get some free time on my trip. As soon I get access to a computer I transcribe them. This way my travel story is ready even before I have arrived back home.

6.  Think Eclectic

It is nice to be part of a network of like minded friends and colleagues. But it is even better to meet people with varied interests, professions, interests and occupations. Imagine sitting in Mumbai at a spiritual convention and being connected to friends sending you updates about a photography exhibition in Delhi and a surf festival in Goa! You can expand your knowledge by just knowing a carpenter in Sweden and an organic farmer in Peru and you never know where the two can connect and lead you to a travel story.

7. Share
Don't be stingy. Share your ideas, thoughts, travel tips, experiences stories with everyone you come across. A fellow blogger needs tips on some coding issues, share your hacks. A friend's aunt needs a trip planned, understand what her requirements are and try your best in scheduling a gorgeous trip for her. Moreover you never know, you will come across something new yourself in the process.

There, that's my two pence on the traits of a super travel blogger. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this.

5 Ways to Become a Travel Blogger

Did you read my posts and go, “Hey, I 'd like to be a travel blogger too!” Now that thought dear reader is your sign. I cannot begin to describe what happy pleasures, memories, responses I have relived through my blog. All it takes is a blank book or screen and a pen or a keyboard in my hands. Here are 5 things I think will help you kick-start your own blog.

1. Start, what are you waiting for!

Be it a photo blog or a written account of your travels across the globe, start. You may think you’ve not travelled enough, or photographed enough during your trips. Think again. Bring out those old albums and hard drives and browse through your memories gone by. You will get realise how awesome you were and how much more you can do.

2. Plan, make a to do list

Yes, you must be a list maker! Be it with college friends on a road trip, that annoying family holiday or on your frequent work trips, make a list of all the destinations you have travelled to. You will be surprised with the ideas you come up with. Catalogue them and jot down your route, memories, especial encounters and tips that other travellers can use.

3. Reach Out

No everyone is a tech geek. If you are fairly active on the digital medium, you can set up a blog through blogger, it is the simplest blogging platform I have come across. The tech savvy guys might already be familiar with the magic of wordpress and plugins. For photo blogging tumblr is one of the best platforms.  Try your hands at understanding the platform you choose, spend some time understanding your readers - do they prefer reading stories, interviews, a short ‘5 things to do’ list? Design your travel content accordingly.

4. Share

Create your content and share it with your social network.  Spread the word about your new blog on to various offline and online platforms so that your friends, family and professional network can give you feedback, share it with their friends and get you more visibility.

5. Be consistent

Once a reader has discovered you and liked your travel blog, they want to hear from you at regular intervals. So schedule the matter you have planned in such a way that it keeps your readers engaged without spamming their inbox.

That’s a crisp Phase 1 brief to an awesome journey through travel blogging. Do share with me what you’d like to add to these tips.

Sunny Secrets: Rediscovering India's Coastal Destinations

There is the guide book tourist checklist and then there is the trail of discovery off the radar. Diipti Jhangiani takes you through both routes rediscovering destinations along coastal India. 

Pondicherry

With its blue surfs, little cafes and French architecture, Pondi as it is fondly known is a city located along the eastern coast of India.

Tourist Checklist  

Walk along the Promenade and stop at Le Cafe for light munchies and a beautiful view of the surfs. Take the heritage walk, visit Aurobindo Ashram on the route. Top up on energy at Rendezvous restaurant to sample mouth watering local sea food. After having your fill, workout those calories with good old retail therapy at the souvenir stores at Mission Street.   

Off the Radar

Auroville, a township for alternative living, lies a few kilometres away from the city. Book a meditation session at Matri Mandir, a dome shaped meditation room at Auroville for a surreal experience.

For the adventure junkie, grab onto a surf board from Kallialay Surf School at Serenity Beach and master riding those waves.

Goa

Goa’s over hyped beaches have an identity of their own, but this state located along the western coast of India has a lot more to offer.

Tourist Checklist

Explore the by lanes of the capital city Panjim walking along Portuguese churches and homes. Build up an appetite by trekking up Fort Aguada and then head to Mango Tree for a late breakfast. Follow this up with trinket shopping at Anjuna and then cool off gazing at the night sky, grooving to music at Curlies.       

Off the Radar

Set off on a road trip starting with Tiracol Fort Heritage hotel for a breathtaking view of Querim beach at the northern most tip of Goa. Drive down to a spice plantation sampling vanilla pods and sumptuous lunch, followed by a dip in Dudhsagar falls, Goa’s largest waterfall toward the west. Follow the trail south heading towards Palolim beach for a picture postcard end to your Goan holiday.

Bekal - Playing tag with the Waves

Stepping onto the beach, my feet sink into lush golden sand. Not just sand, it is something more, something soft and delicate, yet robust and sturdy. On closer inspection, I see translucent amber coloured granules, cool and soft to touch, blending in with the sand like gems; making it a rich, heady mixture, heaven for my feet.

Welcome to Kappil beach, at Bekal on the Malabar coast of Kerala.

Playing tag with the waves at Kappil beach

Translucent amber coloured granules and shells  

Relax, refresh, indulge – that’s what I wanted at my next travel destination. The idea was to laze around while exploring a little and indulging a lot! Indulge in coconuts, South Indian cuisine, be a water baby all day long, Bekal was my perfect get away.

About Bekal

Browsing through the Malabar Coast of south India, you will see a tiny little destination called Bekal at the northern tip of Kerala. It is lush with coconut tree plantations and fishing villages, When you are in Bekal you are literally snug in an embrace between the backwaters, the western Ghats in the east and the Arabian sea in the west.  

Getting There

Mumbai - Bajpe Airport Mangalore, followed by a drive about 60 kms to Bekal (the route I took)

Mumbai - Karipur International Airport, Kozhikode, about 200 km from Kasaragod town onwards to.

Kappil beach forms the perfect border to the few luxury properties in the area.
I for one stayed at Vivanta by Taj, a property by India Hotels. "Why does the Elephant God at the entrance look so fierce?" I asked in a bewildered voice, my first in many questions to our host Aditi for the evening. With a charming smile she explained, "The statue you see is not an Indian version of the Elephant God. Design elements in the property have been inspired by Balinese culture, you will see symbols of which throughout the property." 

I can tell you the statue is probably the only intimidating presence at Taj Bekal, the rest of it spells pure indulgence, I was in heaven.

A golf cart ride around the property helped me set my agenda for the next few days: short walk to the beach, followed by an indulgent appam and coconut veggie stew at the restaurant, snooze, repeat. My ears heard the guide talking about kayaking along the backwaters, a fully equipped gym, some target practice along the way, etc. but my mind chose to ignore any reference to activity. When he used the word - spa, I woke up and made a beeline for it. 

That done, we were escorted to our rooms, wait call them luxury havens! With a plunge pool just as you step out of your room, a majestic swing to lounge on with a book, without a care in the world. Ahh!

Being the water baby I am, it is safe to say I spent many an evening simply indulging here. 

Cuisine
Food, yes that came next. Did I mention I am crazy about South Indian cuisine? Especially appam, rasam, gun powder, banana chips, I can go on! So you can imagine my glee when we were invited to a special feast the next day. Kerala's harvest festival Onam is celebrated with Sadya, literally meaning a banquet in Malayalam. It is traditionally a vegetarian meal served on a banana leaf. About 24 to 28 dishes are served on the leaf in a single course and eaten with hands without using any cutlery. 

   I have to share with you the detailed symbolism and significance of eating with your hands, shared with us by the team at Taj. The Vedas say, "Eating food with your hands feeds not only the body but also the mind and spirit. Our hands and feed are said to be the conduits of the five elements. Each finger is an extension of one of the five elements. The thumb is Agni (fire) the fore finger is vayu (air), the middle finger is akash (ether), the ring finger is prithvi (earth) and the little finger is jal (water). While you eat with your hands, they all come together thereby stimulating all the five senses. This improves your digestion and making you more attuned to the textures and smells of the food being eaten."

I still remember every flavour of that meal. All I wanted to do post this feast was curl up with my book on that oh so awesome swing and rock my self to sleep. It wasn't a dream, I did exactly that.

Of course I explored around, what kind of a traveller would it make be had I not! So I trailed my footsteps back to the beach this time exploring the sand bars that connect to the backwaters and estuary.

Backwaters merging into the Arabian sea on the other side

To my left was a calm river winding its way through coconut groves and to my left lay the excited Arabian sea. Needless to say the pictures don't speak for the magic I experienced.

Top Picks:

Foot massage at Jiva Spa

Coconut cream Panna cotta at the restaurant Latitude

Around the Area:

If you are in the mood to explore, visit Bekal fort and head out for a trek amidst coconut plantations near by. I was not impressed by temples I visited a few kilometers away, one of which had a 'Hindus Only' notice at the entrance. 

Also I noticed some communial tension around the area in Kasargod town. Our last night turned quite adventurous as a leader from the opposing political party had been murdered. We received a call at 2 am with the news and were told about roads being sealed off for a curfew.We were to head to Mangalore at 10.30 the next morning but took a call to check out immediately. It was quite a hush hush, rush rush affair with the Taj team escorting us to their Mangalore property. I was looking forward to the sun rise the next morning at that magical beach, but for the time being will have to do with my memory of the southern sun set. 

Last rays of sunlight, Kappil beach

Sun set at Kappil beach

   

Chadar in the Press

For the entire story: Click Here
For an audio recording of this story: Click Here 

Frequent Flier Via Germany

Do you travel to a destination often with work? If yes, do you make time out from meetings and conferences to explore? Here’s a story about Germany, shared with me by Priyo Patra, an entrepreneur and avid traveller who manages to make time for the sights and sounds he is travelling to on his work trips.

Around the World

Having travelled to 200 towns and cities within 30 countries, Priyo tells me about his first independent international trip to Germany. "In 2005 I was interning at the German Parliament. After the internship, I met up with friends and went on a month long Eurail, one of the best memories of my life." He recently revisited those memories on a road trip across the country having clocked 10,000 kms along a route that took him from Munich, Stuttgart, Bonn, Cologn, Leipzig, Berlin, Dresden, Nuremberg and back to Munich.

Priyo’s work in the air cargo industry has taken him to the blackforest country quite often and it is practically second home to him. “I had an issue conversing with locals in English on my first trip. Germans by nature are not very patient, especially with a few Indians not knowing the difference between tap water and still. This is why it was a very different place to travel to. I saw barely two or three Indians in the four months that I spent there.” 

Road Trip Through Germany 

Over the years though, the country’s perception of India has changed thanks to travellers like Priyo, “You are not like the Indians we know from earlier years,” is a line he gets quite often after befriending locals. “Germans have adapted, when they meet well spoken, well informed Indians they become more friendly and tolerant. The face of the Indian traveller is changing.”

Business Travel

When asked about the pleasures and pains of business travel he says, “When you travel with work you don’t get time to see the place around. I try to extend my trip by a day, and I go on one of the city tours, which is a quick and easy way to explore the city’s sights and sounds. But you cannot soak in the culture, after a while it all looks the same. It is the people I meet that make all the difference. I have made some of my best pals travelling there over the years."

When you travel with work, you know more about it than the average tourist. You don't just want to do touristy things. Another interesting way to explore is through a concept called 'Open Hours,' which is where a person working in a company in Germany invites his friends to work and shows them around. "I was invited to an air conditioning factory where all the guests where shown around the facility, we got to see the insider bits about the industry as well as enjoy a party after! I wonder why we don’t have this in India," he says. 

Top Picks

Berlin: Artists, singers, history, modern history.

Munich: Okoberfest, place where Hitler started his career, Hoffbrau's Pub, HB Beer 

Stuttgart: haven for car enthusiasts, micro breweries, Euro trash music, old disco music. Mills converted to party destinations.

Pilot in making

Travel Mantra

“If in the middle of the night I want to go to Goa, I just go. Today, with the kind of technology and information we have access to, it is only your mind that is stopping you from going where you want to go.”

As if his work travels were not enough, Priyo is just a few levels away from securing a private pilot license. Priyo has his bag full with travel plans to last him a while. With Australia, New Zealand and Japan still on his bucket list, I am sure he will use the license to good measure! 

Countries Priyo has travelled to

(Images courtesy Priyo Patra)