A-Z for travellers : Make your trip memorable

Hi,

I, Shridhar Purandare ,am back with few guidelines/safeties/precautions/do's-dont's for travelers. That includes all types of traveling like trekking,touring,hiking and many more types of travel.

Here I will include different categories and then do s and don't s of respective categories.

Every person has different goal while going for outing.Some of them can be:

1. Joy/Happiness/Pleasure/Freshness/Passion
2. Adrenalin rush/Adventure sport
3. Go some other place to waste or spend time
4. Explore new places
5. For some it is like work
6. Social Engineering (making contacts)

Comment me out with some new reasons you know.... :)

Whenever you travel you have to go through following steps:

1. Deciding on location
2. Deciding on time/day/days to travel
3. Get those leaves sanctioned by your boss ( for servicemen ;) I know its very difficult)
4. If approved then plan the travel path/route/destination else start from above steps again :(
a. Study/See(pictures on net)/read(blogs,books,maps) of the location you are going to visit ( Optional but recommended)
b. Booking of Car/plane/railway/hotels/e.t.c
c. Packing of luggage
d. Informing family about what your plan is ( optional)
5. Traveling
6. Sharing

Now I will point out Safeties/precautions/do's-dont's for all of above categories.

1. Deciding on location:

a. Go on Internet travel websites/blogs like

Here are few links for your help :
Best Travel sites in India
Best travel sites in world
Best travel Blogs (I wish my blog could enter it one day)

b. Ask friends/tour operators/relatives

Do not hesitate to do it. Ask them for photos/memories/hotels and many more things.
Ask about experiences and tips.

Tour operators can be found by clicking here

c. Check travel magazines/articles/new papers

Just make sure that its right season to visit that place.
Travel magazine can be found by clicking here

You will make sure that its in your budget ;)

2. Deciding on time/day/days to travel

It depends on the place you visit. Facilities available at the place for residence, beauty of the place, nature of the place and your time constraints too.

Travel can extend from few hours to many days. For servicemen leave approval is main issue.

One more thing :

Only day of travel does not matter. What places you cover in those days matters.

So most important tip for travellers : Study the place well before visit

3. Get those leaves sanctioned by your boss

(Imp:All the things mentioned here are not from my mind/brain. My friends has contribution to this point. I have no responsibility of any cases,events and actions that may occur when these steps are followed)

1. If your trip is long like 10-15 days and you doubt that your boss will allow then get sick for those many days. Find doctor who can give you such certificate. And just vanish !!!!!

2. If boss is cool and allows easily then there is no problem.

3. If your family do not allow you to go on some dangerous trek or expedition then lie hard or tell them once you complete that travel.

4. If your unwanted friend want to join you !@@### then create some prerequisites so that he will get himself out of your plan/ tell him other persons do not want him/ its too much for him to handle/ e.t.c.

5. If he gets through above situations then make him wanted friend !!!!!

6. Applying leaves month before travel increases probability of allowing them.

7. If nothing works count 1-10 in your mind and calm down. :P

4. plan the travel path/route/destination

Big tours/treks/expeditions only become pleasurable if you plan well and well before.
Either you can do it by yourself or ask tour operators to do on your behalf. Off course they will charge for that.

Do plan for following things:

1. Luggage you want to carry (Minimum the luggage maximum the comfort)
2. Hotel/Flight/Railway/Private bookings.
3. Detailed study of place if it is remote/abroad else plan the route of your travel.
4. Make sure you know everything that you need to know much before you visit the place.
5. Search engines give almost all the information you need.
6. Its always better to inform your loved people about your plan.
7. Flight/hotel rates can be much cheaper if you book at least a month in advance.
8. Do maintain good contacts with tour operators,hotel owners and friends who travel a lot... They can save your time and money in planning.

5. Traveling

1. If you have followed all previous steps seriously then you will have minimal difficulties while travelling.
2. Do respect local people and they will treat you well.
3. Try local food .. You will always find some very good dishes.
4. Dress comfortable and feel comfortable while travelling.
5. Do not break any law especially on foreign soil.
6. Do take lots of pictures and few souvenirs as memory of your trip.
7. Don't waste your time in shopping until and unless the product is really not gettable or place is Dubai/Singapore.
8. Always start early in the morning if possible. That will leave ample time for other activities.
9. Eat light whenever you travel.
10. Drink boiled/mineral water where ever possible.

Click here for more tips on travelling.
Or you can google a bit.

6. Sharing

Sharing doubles joy and knowledge. So share photos,experiences and tips with everybody.

1. You can upload photos on websites.
2. You can write travel blogs.
3. You can use social networking sites for sharing.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here few websites worth to visit....

1. http://www.lonelyplanet.com/
2. www.travelpod.com
3. www.scouting.org
4. www.bugbog.com/travel_safety
5. www.onebag.com/
6. www.gapyear.com
7. wikitravel.org/en/India
8. www.incredibleindia.org


Here I will conclude my blog. I would like to receive tips/suggestions/photos of your trips from you guys. I would personally appreciate it.

Hope to see you with my next blog.

You can reach me by

Calling : +91 0 9423872319
Chatting: shridhar.purandare (gtalk) , shridhar48(yahoo)
Emailing: shridhar.purandare@gmail.com

What trekking taught me..

hi ...



I am Shridhar Purandare one of the million trekkers.I live in pune.Pune's outskirts are having many of the best trekking spots in India.So I proud and thank God for placing in Pune.You may wonder what special I am writing here.Nothing special I am gonna write whatever I have learn from trekking in past year.



From last year I started trekking and by experiences I got from many treks help me to do better in my life.And this made me think about how I learned those things.So now I am gonna share it with you.



My first trek was of Nanheghat rapelling.It was a night trek.I was fully prepared as it was rainy season.Jeans,raincoat,mobile,torch etc etc.I was felling like profesional.When we stated or trek at 2am I was already in deep trouble.As raincote and jean was making me tiresome after every few steps. I was getting first lesson. Do carry what is needed.When we started to walk further it was steap inclinations full of rocky path.Now with all cloths on I was parted from my frnds.Now I was with torch and 1 litre of water.It was all dark.I was frustrated with weight of my cloths.I was tired and thrusty.Water was finishing.It was time for next lesson. Do not get frustrated in critical conditions. Never lose your thought process. Then I removed raincote and jean , filled them into my sack. Now I was feeling pritty fresh and lighter.In this process I lost my torch.Then I tried to find it out in light of my mobile.And luckily I got it.Finally with frnds gone way ahead I started walking .With some water in and light feeling I covered all distance and reached the spot just 15mins after my frnds.



Now it was time for rapelling ( going down in valley with help of rope).I was doing it first time and that too in my first trek.Same was the conditions with many of my frnds. We all decided not to do it. As hanging 1000ft above the vally is not a joke.With wind flowing 40kmph its herculine task. Then I thought driving in pune is as dengerous as rapelling :). When its either to do or not to do I prefer first as it may your last chance to do it in your whole life .So we all decide to do it.



Man that was one of finest experiences I had uptil that time( now i can say that :)) .When you see nature mother from her inside she is beautiful.From that time on I decide to do a lot of trekking regularlly as it makes me relaxed ,fresh for day to day life. It makes me pass some quality time with frnds,nature mother and with me .



So that was my first experience trekking in Sahyadri.Hope you find it worth enjoying by yourself.Expecting your such experiences and comments.



Regards

Shrihdar