Name: Shruthi S

Name of the destination: All over the place

Where did you stay: Here is the route we followed: Delhi, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Mussoorie, Dehradun, Mcleod Ganj, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Udaipur, Mumbai, Gokharna and finally Varkala.

Explain why it was an out of the ordinary vacation (200 words):

BACKPACKING Two girls, 30 days, 14 destinations and one great trip

What were two girls thinking when they decided to backpack across India for a month? Honestly, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into! Yet it was more than what we could ever dream of! So where and how do you start planning to backpack in a country that is Asia’s second largest!

This journey was the best decision of our lives and we are grateful to our parents for allowing us to chase our biggest dream. We started our journey from Chennai on November 30 and returned on December 31. It was a whole different world out there. We often felt like strangers in our own country but more often felt so accepted in new places bringing down all borders. The only time we ever looked at our watch was to see what time was the train! The best thing about travel is the people you meet from all walks of life. We met people from across the globe — bikers, retired professionals, automobile designers, travel enthusiasts, dancers, yogis, so many different people, and so many different conversations.

You exchange stories with other fellow travellers on the destination you’ve visited. A 60-year-old hippie we met told us, “You tell me your past, and I’ll tell you your future”. From giggling for no reason at the calm banks of the Ganges at Rishikesh, to a lovely drive in the woods at Dehradun, to a delicious Langar at the golden temple, to sleeping under a starry night in the deserts of Jaisalmer, to lazing in the secluded beaches of Gokharna and Varkala — the biggest lesson we learnt was that simple pleasures in life require no credit cards! For everything else…phew back to work!