My Ideal holiday

Travel and holiday mean different things to different people. As they say different stokes for different folks. My wife and I also have our own views about the trips we plan. I can only talk about my perspective. As everyone knows it is a woman’s prerogative to change her mind and as such my wife’s view normally changes with time. Mine on the other hand is relatively fixed. Although I must say that it has taken several years to evolve to this relatively fixed position. Quite clearly men are from Mars and women from Venus. Before going ahead I must share my deep desire for a one year sabbatical.

The pure intention for the sabbatical being to travel the world. I keep promising myself that next year will be that year and every year I have to give it a miss. Life and its pressures take over and kill my sabbatical.

Travel for us is almost a religion. We travel at every possible opportunity. It is almost an addiction. If there is a choice between something material and travel we almost always choose travel. From the time we started dating, my wife always said that if she had a choice between jewellery and travel she would definitely go for the travel. So for us travel is always the only choice. The main thing for me when I travel is that I want to stay in a place as opposed to visit a place. I like to experience life as the locals live it. My focus is not on a checklist of places to visit in the area, but on experiencing the local life… the local grocery stores and markets, the local eateries and watering holes, the nearest library, walking tracks, etc. To engage with the local community and I love the idea when local store owners and vendors start recognising me. I feel a strong connect then. This intense desire to experience local living means that an ideal length of a holiday for me would be at least a month and if possible even two months.

Honestly life does not give you such opportunities due to work pressures. Four to five weeks we do manage once a year.

Of course, Homestays are wonderful for such trips. So every trip I plan is normally around this thought. Sadly to date I have not managed my ideal holiday, but Dream I must.