A dream trip…8 countries in 8 days screamed an advertisement of a popular tourist agency. Another countered saying they would do 10 countries in 8 days and all travel arrangements taken care of including hotel stays, travel and a wonderful chef who would accompany the group. Now that is a dream vacation for some.
And I was wondering, would that ever be my dream trip? But again, I probably have had several dream trips now, none of which involved 10 countries in 8 days! I doubt if I could travel that fast even in a dream. Not to say, it isn’t a great idea to cover/checkmark more in less, but would that be a vacation? I would need a vacation from a vacation after doing 10 countries in 8 days.
Coming back my idea for a dream vacation, I would do 1 country, or maybe 2 locations in 8 days. Absorb each place for what it is worth and take back memories that are not a blur of travel! Well, I recently did just that…at Paris where I spent an entire week at Paris alone! Of course, I got plenty of weird looks after I answered ‘Just Paris?’ twice over to their question ‘Just Paris’, ‘Nowhere else?’.
Now planning is the part that takes up a chunk of time which I dread. Given that we Indians have to go through quite a rigmarole to get a visa stamped, it is important to get all sorts of documents well in time. Thankfully, sites like Yatra have made this easy to slice and dice data and use all sorts of filters to arrive at the cheapest and the best options for International Flights and hotels. The fewer the places, the less the time spent in planning, booking, researching and merely travelling! I preferred staying in hostels, so I looked up hostel booking sites for this. All done in a jiffy and money saved through miles, redeemable points on Yatra and booking hostels over hotels!
It always is fun to steep yourself into the place even before you get there. So, I ended up reading plenty of Paris based books that made it all the more enjoyable when I found so much of the place familiar (at least the names!).
When you plan fewer places, it is easier to research as well. And you know quite a lot about a place rather than know nothing of many places. And you get to sit in the garden and have a picnic lunch infront of the Eiffel tower and admiring it instead of having to go right away after the photo-op! And you can devote a whole day to one museum and to shopping!
I had an absolute ball soaking (in the rain and the sun and the cold), in the Parisian atmosphere. The museums were absolutely amazing as were the gardens and merely commuting in the subway and walking around was a joy in itself! But again, the best part indeed was taking each day as it came, and not having to rush from one place to another. Again, I met people who were seeing 4 museums in one day and I certainly am glad I didn’t have to rush through and just checkbox all the ‘must-do’s’.
Do let me know what you would enjoy…seeing more and taking back several GBs of photos or seeing less and taking back a bucket of memories!
The Roaming Diaries 