Hi there,

I don’t want to fill this section of my site with just some bragging information like how many countries I have traveled to or what elite status I have. I would rather share with you my “journey” so far and what gets me excited about food and travel.

Although I was born in an upper middle-class family in India, I didn’t go on any international vacation while growing up. I believe this was due to the fact that both my parents were not fluent in English Language and they wouldn’t trust 2 teenagers to plan a trip by themselves. I got my first passport in 2008 and that was primarily to be able to give SATs. SATs went well and I got accepted into Georgia Tech for my undergraduate program.  Soon, it was time for me to leave India for the first time ever. I clearly remember when I landed at Frankfurt airport after a long flight, it struck to me that I was now “abroad”. Another long flight and there it was, my second home for the next few years, US of A.

As a poor college student, I didn’t travel much throughout my college except to San Francisco for a couple of breaks (I had a cousin in the area whom I was visiting) and one trip to Washington DC (GT OIE had planned a trip for international students over Spring break and costed $200 including travel, lodging, meals and sightseeing – a great deal that I didn’t want to miss out on.). I managed to find my first internship with Bose Corporation near Boston area so I got to spend 5 months there. And the final year of college came with job search stress that lead to some travels to Seattle and New York City (Companies would pay for the interview travel covering flights, hotels and meals and then I would stay back the weekend to explore the city and stay with friends).

It wasn’t until I attended the Oxford Summer Program after my freshmen year that the travel bug had bitten me. I knew I didn’t have good chances of getting any relevant internship my first summer so I decided to take classes instead. Apparently, doing a study abroad program through GT was cheaper for international students than spending a semester at the college campus in Atlanta. This and the fact it was Oxford – I had applied to colleges in the US and the UK and even though I was very happy with Georgia Tech but a part of me always wondered how things would be if I ended up in the UK. So, this program seems like a good idea to me. Oxford program is a 11-weeks long program where you take 4 classes throughout the summer – 2 of them with 1 week in Atlanta and 4 weeks while traveling in Continental Europe and 2 of them in Oxford campus for 6 weeks. It was through this program that I got to visit Western Europe and made some friends for life. I also discovered the joys of solo travel and my love for travel in general during this summer. Once I graduated from GT and started working full-time, I decided to travel every long weekend I got to the places I had not been before. That’s how I got to see most of the US, Canada and Europe. I also decided to do international family vacations every couple of years so I could show my parents around and as a way for me to thank them for everything they have done for me. We have been to UAE, Hong Kong, Macau, UK and US as a family so far.

During the long weekend travels and at Oxford, I discovered my travel style. I realized that I was the micro-planner among my friends who was always ready with a list of things to see and what to eat. I would spend enough time researching and reading about the places I will be visiting and come up with an itinerary that would make the most of the trip. I would look up for deals and discounts and book accommodations for the whole group. While traveling with friends, I figured out people travel for all sorts of reasons and do all sort of things when they are out and about – to me it was all about immersing myself in the other city. I will cover “travel style” in another post but it is important to travel with folks who have similar style like you or else the whole trip can turn out to be a disaster. I did make a trip or two which were not so perfect but then I had no choice except to travel with friends as a way of meeting them since everyone moved to different cities after college  and to keep the cost low (Airbnb had not entered the market yet and hostels were pretty much not existent in the US).

It was my third trip to New York City that made me fall in love with solo travel. I wanted to visit New York for the New Year’s Eve celebrations and none of my friends wanted to join me. By this time, I had visited all the places I wanted to visit in the US so I was just keen on visiting my favorite city any time I got a chance. I booked the flights and used Airbnb for the first time and there I was in New York City just in time for the Ball Drop. I really enjoyed the 4-days trip all by myself. I could start my day whenever I want, eat wherever and whenever I want and see/do whatever I want. No obligation to do things that someone else wanted to do. No drama involved. I loved this way of travel. This lead to me doing solo trips to Canada and Europe multiple times. In fact, this is my preferred way of traveling anywhere currently. I felt like I was able to immerse myself better in other cultures as I often ended up talking to locals while eating my food, visiting the sights, and navigating myself in a foreign land. I think it also helped me become a bit mature as well since I was fully self-dependent and very comfortable navigating a new place. I started enjoying my own company.

Why this blog, you may ask? Well, there are many reasons. First of all, I wanted to document all my travels and itinerary for my own sake since I don’t recall all the minor details of the trip after a few years have passed by. A lot of friends would often ask me to share my itinerary with them so they can make the same trip happen, and this would be a perfect way to share. Secondly, I was often surprised that people thought how expensive my trips were. When I gave them the actual numbers, they thought I was kidding. So, to change the perception and also to share with folks how I manage to travel for cheap, this blog will be a good idea. Lastly, I have been trying to take photography seriously. I got a basic professional camera and can take good shots but have no knowledge of editing them. Through this blog, I would be forced to do that and hopefully can become better at it with every post. Also, just to set the expectations clear, I will do my best to have at least one new post up every week.

I hope you are able to get great value out of my website and plan some exciting travel for yourself based on the information here. Nothing would make me happier if you could share your travel hacks and stories with me.

Happy reading

Sarthak Jaiswal