No end in site to this global pandemic and international travel restrictions. India is doing its bit by manufacturing UK approved Astra Zeneca vaccine, named Covishield and sending it to our neighbouring and other friendly countries including Bhutan, Brazil, South Africa and many more. The whole world is looking towards India and even UN has said that we are the support the world needs at this time,

Thanks UN for your decent words. Hope we can see some more support from these institutions going forward like a UNSC permanent seat ?! Anyway, International travel is fraught with difficulties currently even though many of the countries are opening up.

There are still questions like where will we take the vaccine (and get health support if we have an adverse reaction) and what if we get COVID after taking the vaccine? Ideally, I would simply wait for my turn for vaccination in my home country in safe places with adequate healthcare access. And after vaccination kind of see the situation for a while before travelling international.

I have been travelling internationally almost every year since 2014 (when I went for my first solo cycle tour). Since then, I have gone on many more solo cycle tours and other intrepid international adventures. Great learning and exploratory experiences those were. 2020 ended the streak. 2021 is showing only a little promise. I can only look forward to 2022 now.

Lack-of-International-Travel Blues 🙁

I spent the COVID lockdown year quite productively, pursuing many interests like composting, ayurveda, polishing my Spirituality Blog and more. But lately I have been feeling a little stumped without proper solo excursions and specifically, international tripping. So, I have been thinking of doing more of the following in the coming days to substitute the international experience,

Create exotic food : we get a lot of exotic/gourmet ingredients on BigBasket or other online delivery places. And some local shops too. Just splurge a little – and make some totally random dish. Scroll through exotic / gourmet options and choose the most odd ones for the real experience. For example, I ordered some sourdough and a new type of cheese – Bufala cheese on a whim. And truly, when I sat there having that Rassogulla like Cheese balls, I really felt I was back in Europe and trying out their fancy cheese dishes. Germany’s breakfast dish – Potato & Cheese with olive oil on side – come to mind.

I prefer going for something random – because I usually don’t have many veg food options, and I end up eating a lot of random veg dishes outside of India. So now also, I tried a different assortment of stuff like a Korean Ramen instant noodle pack, Buffala cheese, different breads etc… You could also try to make your favourite dish at home, like a Khaosuey of Burma or Khao Soi of Thailand 😉 But please don’t start missing the place more 😀

Deeper stories : travel and especially international travel become really interesting due to conversations we have with different people on the road. For example, discussing religion with Chinese people or talking to a gold prospector in Australia or a German woman who became a Thervada Buddhist monk in Myanmar, or getting chided by Europeans for cycling late in the night (because even Europe is not safe!) 😀

Get to know deeper stories with people around you, bypass mundane inanities with specific, deep conversations of matters that truly interest you. This can happen locally or via Zoom with people around the world. And without realising it, my new Youtube channel – InSpirituality plays this role. It is so interesting for me to have these conversations,

Though, I must say the video editing and managing the YT channel part is a bit of work… but you needn’t publish them anyway. The conversations themselves can be amazing fun. I look forward to have an even more eclectic assortment of people on it!

There are many more meaningful activities that can be done, sorting out old trip photos, writing stories that were missed out by us travel bloggers, scouting out future travel plans, learning skills that help on the next trip like wildlife photography, saving money for a trip next year (big one!)…. many more. Obviously, the easy one is,

Visit exotic locations within India (it will help our economy also)

India , our beloved, has some brilliant locations which will make you forget you are in India. Tibetan settlements like Bylakuppe near Mysore, susegad places like interiors of Goa or Konkan Maharashtra, Himalayan monasteries…. domestic travel has started and one can (with precautions) do a fairly safe travel and explore some fairly different and unknown aspects of India. In some of the remote locations of Buddhist states like Sikkim, Ladakh you would feel outside-India vibes. Even North East, or other lesser explored corners of the country may help you get a truly different taste.

And there are always the nature escapes where we can lose ourselves in nature and not bother with which country we are in – trekking in Gandikota, pristine Himalayan forests (they have bears!), Western ghats and Nilgiris.

Another interesting choice of destinations which I usually recommend are some of the ashram spaces which are bustling with a different culture and people from around the world. Auroville or Dharamshala come to mind.

India has so much diversity – now could be the best time to leverage it to get a different taste.

Either way, I am feeling a little void in the heart…. with this restriction on travel. I wonder how I will come out of it. Because once it becomes totally OK to travel, freely as before… I wonder how I will feel. Being restricted from the activity of our love and choice for prolonged periods can have deeper psychological impact. While I have spent the lockdown time productively to the best of my abilities… but I can’t fathom the full impact yet. What about you?