How I afford my journeys???
Looking at my frequent journeys, people often misjudge me for two things:
1) I have
a "Huuuuge" bank balance to travel around and
2) I am a
person who is least concerned about my job as I take a lot of long leaves.
But the fact is that, I am just a common person like you. I don't have any bank balance (except for an LIC insurance policy, which I took recently) and also, I get only 10 casual leaves in a year (till now my leaves have never gone to the “Loss of pay” status, wherein you will have to part with your hard earned money for the leaves you take exceeding the casual leave or sick leave quota!). On top of all these, I am the one supporting my family. So you can guess the kind of responsibilities that I have.
In spite of all these, I find time and money to travel! You might wonder how I do it. Fear not! I would like to share with you how I budget my trips and manage my leaves. It can be helpful for those who share the itch to travel - just like me! :-)
1. Choosing
the destination
Yes, I do have a “Big” list of places which I wish to visit. But I have not prioritised it. I select the places depending on the distance and the number of leaves that I have. For example, if it is a 12-16 hour journey, I would choose to go in a weekend thereby saving my precious leaves.
Yes, I do have a “Big” list of places which I wish to visit. But I have not prioritised it. I select the places depending on the distance and the number of leaves that I have. For example, if it is a 12-16 hour journey, I would choose to go in a weekend thereby saving my precious leaves.
2. Mode
of traveling
This basically
depends on the place where I choose to visit. Generally most of the places in
India are accessible by trains. So once I reach my destination, I mostly opt
for public transportation to roam around. It’s very cheap! With that said, I would
also opt for private cabs when the locations are remote (you know, those “faaar
off places” which doesn’t have buses or any other kind of public transportation
facilities). I would say that, this point plays a major role in making my trips
in par with my budget. I would also opt for a share auto and pay 15-20 rupees rather
than a private cab which would charge you 300-500 rupees for the same trip (See
the difference!). Another advantage of this travelling mode is that, you can
travel and interact with the local people - which would be another rich experience
:-)
3. Accommodation
Most of us
don’t know the fact that IRCTC has an online booking facility for Railway
Retiring rooms. Yes, in India, there are 57 stations that has this facility! And
I make use of it. It's just 300 rupees for 24 hours! Yes, I know that all the places
(other than the 57 stations) may not have Retiring rooms, especially if you are
going to a hill station like Chikamangalore. So for places like these, you can
use the service of stayzilla.com.
They will assist you with your affordable stay. (I am not bragging or anything,
but it’s a fact that my room rents have never crossed 450 rupees!)
4. Booking
of tickets
Whether it
is a hotel or a train, I book tickets months’ ahead. The main advantage of
this is that, I can plan and manage my expenses properly. Yes! If my travel
budget is say 5000 rupees, and if I book the tickets a month in advance, I
would say that more than half of my expenses are covered here. Then I just need
to find money for my trips and food, which I raise with my two months’ salary.
5. Food
Wherever I go, I have an appetite for local and street foods. To find the food (that doesn’t cause tummy ache of course!), first I enquire with the hotel or my drivers as to what are the special foods that can be availed from any local restaurant. Remember that we can buy the five star foods from our home town too! So why do the same at our travel destinations? Yeah! Take a change!
Wherever I go, I have an appetite for local and street foods. To find the food (that doesn’t cause tummy ache of course!), first I enquire with the hotel or my drivers as to what are the special foods that can be availed from any local restaurant. Remember that we can buy the five star foods from our home town too! So why do the same at our travel destinations? Yeah! Take a change!
6. Leave
from work
As I
mentioned earlier, I don’t have much leaves in a calendar year. But I still
travel! Every now and then I check the calendar to see which holiday would be
falling close to the weekends. As I already have a travel destination in my
mind, I would google up the mode of transportation too. Based on the situation,
I decide my journey. If the holiday is close to the weekends, I would take
leave for a day or two from my 10 days casual leave quota (coupling these days
with weekends makes it long!). Yes, with God’s grace, I have never used up my sick
leaves till now. (I forgot to mention, we also get 6 sick leaves too!). For me,
the number of leaves are as precious as money. So I spent it veeery carefully
:-)
These are
the main points that I follow for my budgeted trips. Along with these there are
some things that are quite specific to me. I neither do much shopping (which
normally girls do!) nor am I a new-tech-gadget lover. I save those money and
also I cannot afford it! (There are people who save money to buy a phone worth
30,000 rupees and complaint that they don't have enough money to go for
tripping!). I have a ‘faithful’ mobile which gives me 24 hours battery back-up
and I can take good clarity pictures with its 8mp resolution. Speaking of which,
I recently bought a canon 1200d so that I can use it in my travels. Yeah, when
you have an IT job, banks are glad to offer you with credit cards. I am sure
with that you can buy a DSLR in EMI (equal monthly instalments) just like I
did!
This is how I make my trips happen! And I hope this helps you understand that my travels happen neither because of my huge bank balance nor I am born Richie Rich!
Finally,
the most important point that stands waaaay above all these is that you should
have a passion to travel! Without that, no matter how big your bank balance is or
how much unused leave quota you have, your travel plans will still be plans.
It’s wanderlust that matters!!! :-)
These are
just the common things that I do to make my dream - my travels - come true. Moreover
it’s just like as someone said, “I don’t travel for luxuries!”
Apart from money, time, work leaves, what drives the people to travel more often is the passion. People who don't have that, cite these as reasons.
ReplyDeleteYes! offcourse! :)
ReplyDeletenicely explained, simple and inspiring!!! You should try sharing your travel experiences..
ReplyDeleteYeah! surely will do that :)
DeleteVery well explained, would apply these terms on my travel life too.
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Super mam... great women ...! Travel more...go ahead...best wishes
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