If you won two free plane tickets, where would you go?
I am not a big one for travelling. I love to be at home and look out the window at the greenery outside or skywatch from my balcony. I was always like that.
There was a time when I travelled a lot alone and came to hate it. However, there were times when I travelled with my family or relatives as well which brought joy and newness to the mundanity of life.
But my curiosity to know different places, I read about, is boundless. That is why I often watch travel vlogs on YouTube to see how people live in different, mostly remote, places, the natural beauty of different countries where perhaps I shall never be able to go in this lifetime – their terrains, customs, traditions, culture, cuisine, history, lifestyle, flora and fauna and everything else.
When OTT was not there I used to read a lot of travelogues. Travel stories are both adventurous as well as knowledge enhancers.
Nevertheless if I get to win two free tickets then?
The proposition is very lucrative. There are many places, within and outside India, which I would like to visit. Countries which are rich in history and culture – England, Scotland, Ireland, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, France, even Antartica and the Arctic Pole.
While it is fashionable to visit touristy cities, I have a deep desire to visit the two neighbouring countries – Pakistan and Bangladesh. Former because I feel culturally and historically we have much in common and the latter because my roots are there.
Having given myself a lot of choice across the globe, I guess it’s more practical to talk about visiting places within India. More than air tickets (hope they are!) I dream of a flying machine which can just transport me to the peaks.
Mountains attract me but the journey up the mountainous track is painful and nauseating. It would be great if I am just dropped on the Everest to just experience the silence of the snow capped summit where none exist. How is it to feel one’ s presence on the highest terrain where there is no habitation, people, noise of day to day living ? Just me and the vastness of a pollution free sky ? Will the highest altitude make me aware of my awareness? How does it feel to breathe where oxygen is thin ? Will I attain Nirvana with my arms outstretched and face lifted towards the sky ? Or say hullo to the elusive yeti? (Sure, that will be swoonworthy!)
Let’s keep a second option open. What about being dropped to the most vantage point to view the wondrous sunrise of Kanchenjunga? My aunt often talked about its beauty – how the peak changes colour as the sun rises slowly!
Well, speaking about peaks…..what about the Alps? It’s high altitude passes – the Great Saint Bernard Pass ? Where the canine breed Saint Bernard hail from? Helping the monks to find humans lost in blizzards ? How exciting! It can be my puny (if only!) body they sniff out under thick layers of snow !!! “Still breathing! Still breathing! “They bark out to their masters. With that mournful, doleful look they sympathize with my pathetic, quivering self after a fortnight’s nursing and caring by the kind-hearted, pure-souled monks, “See! We found you! Why did you have to loiter around when you don’t have any experience of mountain trekking? That too on these narrow, dangerous passes? Tsch! Tsch!”
Chalking out the plan what bothers me is who to take along on these unforgettable missions? Of course, the one with whom I am most comfortable and who can look after me if I suddenly lose consciousness, not by the picturesqueness of the spot, but out of sheer exhaustion of adventure and lack of oxygen to go with it.
You can call me a spoilsport, or this post a damp squib, anything but I just cannot let that brush off my mind. Somebody has to be there to call out to the sherpas or the Alpine monks with their canine helpers when I just cannot stop my over enthusiastic feet running down the undulating trails like Captain Haddock!
So…off to daydreaming by the window!!!
😂😂😂😂
PS: Since it’s all about winning which I have not been very good at in the, as Vikram Seth so aptly puts it, “lottery of life”, let’s keep it to chance or wishful thinking at the most????
Well, do you have something to say???? 😉
Pics from Google & Pinterest
I’m scared of heights so I would never join you. Having commuted in or to London all my working life I now live exactly where I would choose to travel
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Yes, I can understand and appreciate that.
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Good choices and a nice read. Given the number of reels in Instagram and elsewhere, I’m smitten by the idea of mountain trekking and wish to undertake one in the near future. But who would accompany me? Well, that’s the problem😀
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You have to look for a like minded person
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I’m aware thanks
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Winning two free plane tickets sounds like an invitation to escape the comfort of skywatching from your balcony for a mountain-top rendezvous with a yeti!
Imagine that you’re airlifted to Everest, marveling at the silent peaks, only to realize you forgot the oxygen.
Cue the Saint Bernards in the Alps, sniffing out your amateur mountaineering attempt, while you ponder the wisdom of such high-altitude ambitions.
Let’s just say, your idea of a flying machine might be more sensible!
Meanwhile, the sherpas and Alpine monks stand by, ready to rescue the overly enthusiastic Captain Haddock in you.
Daydreaming by the window never looked so safe and cozy! 😂✈️🏔️
Sorry for this lengthy stuff. Hope you are not bored🤣😂
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Enjoyed your comment. How you nailed it!!!.
I was seriously cogitating over the proposal of winning two free plane tickets to nowhere when suddenly the incredulity of the whole thing hit me.
😂 😂 😂
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Thanks, GC!
I was seriously pondering those free tickets to nowhere, then realized—how do you even plan for a trip where the destination is as vague as my boss’s compliments? 😂
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😂😂😂😂
They are paid to be vague
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This post is anything but a damp squib. I loved reading it. 🙂
Unfortunately for me, I feel nauseous while traveling up (or down) winding roads. Bummer for someone who loves traveling.
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Thank you, Shail. It’s great to have you on my post.
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lucky for me, my husband is very very outdoors. We love a good walk in the hills for hours, or when we go away for a weekend, there is nothing more refreshing than climbing a mountain or two, the challenge of every step, tough as it may be on the old calf muscles . . .mine more than his . . . .when you reach your destination, the view is well worth it, to simply stand, breathe and absorb, esp on a clear day when you can see for miles around, it is an achievement . . . .although i have to say my husband enjoys it more than but we are together and thats all that matters.
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That’s lovely companionship
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Winning free air tickets is the best lottery. We love to daydream often and that gives us a satisfaction. BYW Tintin is one of my favourite comics.
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Mine too 😂
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i remember watching the snow-covered Kanchan Junga from Darjeeling. It looked glorious and bewitching. Mountains enchant me.
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Lucky you!!
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interesting post. I come from Indonesia. i have never been to this country. there is no snow season in Indonesia. This tour seemed interesting for me, the first time I saw snow in the mountains
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Indonesia is a lovely country. Though I have not mentioned it, I would love to visit it. I guess it’s a seaside country. That is why no snow. In India you can enjoy all seasons given where you are. It can be high altitude like Leh, Ladakh, plains of the river Ganges, coastal region which stretches along the southern side and of course the seven sisters amidst the clouds. Do come and visit. Thanks for your presence on my post.
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