Hello there, firstly thank you for showing interest. I don't write to earn money, I have proper full time job touch wood. Just like when I wanna go on some trip I search for articles, pictures, experiences before making sure I wanna go there; I write so that others know it too.
This Mangalore trip was right after I came back from Sakleshpur trip. Sakleshpur trip was super chill with my sister and our mutual friend. I had taken 1 week of leave and Sakleshpur trip was only 2 days. I don't like wasting my leave I informed my family I'll go to Mangalore. I wanted some "ME TIME" and beach time. Parents and sister were totally against it for obvious reasons of Covid, Not Safe for girls etc etc.
I knew I'll take care of myself no matter what comes ahead of me. I cried coz they weren't letting me go, but somehow convinced and booked Bus which had all safety measures of Sanitization after every trip, online booking, Sleeper, Charging points, women travellers etc. Trip started from Bangalore to Mangalore at night around 10 PM.
I sat in bus, settled well enough, tears rolled down for the trust, care my family had on me in every step of my life. I don't like to see their worried faces. I had to take this trip as work stressed me out almost close to depression. I used to end up working👨💻 for all day and night with less food, no satisfaction.
I plugged in earphones, just travelled along with breeze. It was weekday, I reached Mangalore around 5:30 ish, it was almost empty where I got down. No one was there except Auto drivers and 1 guy. Yes, I was only women there, I was not scared coz it don't feel so.
As per my research, there was 1 place for solo travellers/budget travellers like me called Bedspace Capsule. I had read reviews, contacted owner of it, checked about necessary things we usually check in hotel, plus whether places are nearby. It was in main city of Mangalore. Back to where I was, I called Capsule thrice, no one picked the call, even though I'm not scared of dark or ppl around this irked me lil bit. I searched for that capsule and showed address to Auto Driver who had come to ask me where I wanna go. He said fare which was quite high I bargained lil bit, he said okay and took me where other drivers were standing with respective Auto Rickshaw. They saw the location and asked me whether I booked this already, I said I booked but payment is yet to be made. They said it's not safe area, it's kinda where those kind of ppl go, they advised not to go there. I said about reviews I read, good things about it. As they were locals, I felt they know it better than me, I dropped the plan to go there. I asked if there is any safe hotel nearby. They agreed to take me to nearby hotel.
Quick Tip: Before you check in any hotel you will stay, make sure to check the room they gonna give you. Whether it's clean, it's safe, washrooms, water, beds, amenities. This you can do if you haven't booked earlier or haven't made payment yet or has cancellation policies.
The hotel which Auto driver took me was new hotel. There were 2 other Muslim young men who were asking for room until they find bus to their city. I started asking about mine now, I said I need room for 3 days, he said some amt which I don't remember now, it was in budget. He asked for ID proof, I said I need to check room, they showed, it wasn't clean, beds especially were totally in bad state. I said I don't need and went outside and informed auto driver I don't need it and checked google for Oyo rooms.
I found 1 hotel with 800/day called Hotel Sai Grand. I went along with same auto driver. I checked room, it was all good thankfully. I agreed and made payment, checked into room finally after 6.30AM. I went to room and slept really well as it had been long time I dint sleep. I never sleep in buses FYI.
More stories of Safe/Scary Mangalore trip in next blog.