Travelling is an invaluable experience. It is an experience which made me richer and it worked wonders for my emotional and mental wellbeing.  For me, it’s a therapeutic break from my daily grind.

My parents loved travelling and every summer vacation we used to go to a new place. Those were the days when we made a lot of memories together as a family. I still remember those days when we used to get excited and help our mom with packing and planning. My love for travelling started a long time back and I thank my parents for taking me to different places around the country.


After marriage, I came to Bangalore which was a completely new city for me and it was exciting but there was also a feeling of nervousness. There was a fear of change as I kept thinking how I was going to cope up at a new place. Now after staying in Bangalore for more than 9 years, I love it more than any other city in the world. I learnt a new language, new culture and made many new friends here.

Initially, after staying in Bangalore for 6 months, we got a chance to move to the US.  It was my first overseas travelling experience. Not only that, I never travelled by air before that and here I was going to a new country altogether. There were mixed feelings and the whole experience of staying in a country which was alien to me changed me forever.

There were surely some initial hiccups but overall I loved everything about it. Slowly we felt at home and made some great friends there who were more like family to us. We never missed our family there as all the Indian community came together on every occasion and festival to celebrate it together like a family.

Both my daughters were born there and for me, that country is very special and will always remain so. We travelled to different parts of the US and all the places we saw will always hold a special place in my heart. The first time my elder one travelled with us when she was just 3 months old. She is 15 now and she has changed almost 10 schools and 8 houses in last 15 years. But I am sure this travelling experience has enriched her and taught her many new things about this world. I am glad we inculcated a love for travel in her like my parents did it for me.

A trip to pondicherry 2016

Travelling helped me to come out of my shell as I was an introvert person and helped me to meet some amazing people from different cultures and different backgrounds. It was all about coming out of my comfort zone. Today I am much more confident because of all the exposure I got because of all the travelling. It taught me that I am stronger than I think and also that one must take chances as a life unexplored is a boring life.

So, travelling made me richer by giving me new experiences, new friends, new confidence, new memories and a new reason to be happy.

Of course, being open-minded helped me and my husband. We embraced all the new cultures and diversity with open arms. We just went with the flow and saw beauty in everything around us instead of the negatives. The things which helped us were –

  • being open minded
  • flexible
  • Not over planning as too much planning kills the fun
  • Not afraid of the change
  • Believing in ourselves

This helped us not only to enjoy the new places we went to but also helped us to stay happy. I know that I grew with every experience I had. While I am writing this, we are also planning our travel to a new country.  The summer break is around the corner and we want our kids to travel with us and see new places before they leave the nest and fly away to new destinations.

So, we are a family of world travellers and we are ready for one more amazing experience, are you? Don’t wait for too long as this is an experience which will help you grow. You will surely thank yourself for it. Be a world traveller and #SayYesToTheWorld