10 Reasons Why Our Parents Were More Adventurous As Travellers Than We Are

Tripoto
Photo of 10 Reasons Why Our Parents Were More Adventurous As Travellers Than We Are 1/11 by Prateek Dham
(Still from the motion picture 'Pierrot Le Fou) Credits: FilmGrab

Today, they may not be too excited about your plans to travel every now and then, but chances are your parents were crazier on the road than you can ever be. The phrase "young, wild, and free" must have truly rung true around three decades ago when the hippie culture was taking the world by storm. Bell bottoms were the coolest things ever, and Rock 'n Roll was the only genre of music listened to all over. That was precisely the era when our parents were in the prime of their youths and hence are assumed to have travelled in their own capacities. But travelling then was definitely not as we know it today; it was a lot tougher. Now the advent of technology and digitisation has made the world better connected and hence a lot smaller.

This makes me realise that our parents were a lot cooler than we pretend to be, since going on a journey was not as easy as it seems today. It took a lot of guts and convincing their own parents to let them go free for a while. Hence, our parents deserve all the respect in the world for having traversed as much as they did then.

Here are 10 reasons why our parents were more adventurous as travellers than we are:

1. They didn’t have Tripoto to guide them

Photo of 10 Reasons Why Our Parents Were More Adventurous As Travellers Than We Are 2/11 by Prateek Dham
Credits: Tripoto

It's a pity that Tripoto is only just over 3 years old. Had its inception happened during the times of my parents, I would've probably been born 5 to 10 years later, because they would have been too busy discovering the world to have babies. Tripoto's website/mobile app helps you share your stories and plan your future trips after reading real encounters by fellow travellers across the globe. You can share your adventure right now if you wish.

2. Tickets were a lot more expensive then

Photo of 10 Reasons Why Our Parents Were More Adventurous As Travellers Than We Are 3/11 by Prateek Dham
Credits: Emmrichard

Due to the flurry of airline operators in the country, ticket prices are at an all-time low right now. In fact, you can book the cheapest flights possible in just a couple of clicks to any destination you want. But, earlier, it wasn't so.

3. Travelling was not a fad back then

Not everyone was putting up pictures, updating their status and checking-in on Facebook as soon as they stepped out of their homes. Not everyone was a "traveller" and "bitten by wanderlust" on their Instagram profile descriptions either. Back then, they travelled for connection, awareness and endurance, and not for check-ins and photos.

4. Far less accessibility

Photo of 10 Reasons Why Our Parents Were More Adventurous As Travellers Than We Are 5/11 by Prateek Dham
Credits: Tadson Bussey

Although India was one of the fastest developing nations in the world, the tourism sector was still lacking a punch. And hence, there were major connectivity issues. Very few roads were built and a lot less railway stations existed. Hence, if somebody really wanted to tread the road less taken, it was really very difficult.

5. Not a lot of hotels

You can book the best hotel in Goa based on your budget sitting wrapped up in your blanket right now, but back then it was not such a cakewalk. You would usually try to find a contact who knows of a good hotel, or just ask the taxi driver to take you to a decent option.

6. No concept of homestays at all

Photo of 10 Reasons Why Our Parents Were More Adventurous As Travellers Than We Are 7/11 by Prateek Dham
Credits: On My Bigfoot

Homestays are a fantastic alternative to hotels. They are generally cheaper, more beautiful, and well, "homely". This concept of homestays was non-existent back then. In fact, my father tells me that natives of remote villages weren't as welcoming to "outsiders" back then as they are now.

7. More forests, hence more wild animals

Guided forest safaris weren't really a thing back in the day. If someone really wanted to explore the forests and national parks of the country, they had to be prepared for dangerous encounters with wild animals. Also, the resident wildlife population in our forests was a lot more than it is today. Venturing into the wild like it was in the olden days, isn't something most of us millennials would go for nowadays.

8. Robberies

You might've seen robberies in movies, but our parents lived through them. Buses and trains were definitely not as safe as they are today. Dacoits and robbers were expected to run amok especially if the buses/trains/private vehicles passed through forests.

9. Prolonged travelling was considered taboo

Photo of 10 Reasons Why Our Parents Were More Adventurous As Travellers Than We Are 10/11 by Prateek Dham
Credits: The motion picture 'Bend it Like Beckham'

Most people of our generation understand and love the concept of travelling for a longer than usual period, but back then it was a taboo. If you took leaves from office for anything besides a marriage or a family function, you were considered a "hippie", and "that was not less than an abuse in those times," my father tells me. Even one's parents showed zero support if one wanted to travel just for the sake of travelling. It is still prevalent to some extent today, but it was a much bigger monster back then.

10. No mobiles

Today we keep our mobile phones closer to us than we do our own spouses, but as hard as it is to imagine, there were no mobile phones back then. And in India, the telecom connectivity was not of the highest quality either; so if somebody did go travelling, his kin usually wouldn't even know if he was alive until he came back safe and sound. This lack of technology was felt even more strongly when someone went to an unusual place, away from the usual Shimlas and Manalis, where there weren't usually any telephones at all.

My friends, respect your parents, for they travelled in far adverse times than we are. Talk to them and share their experiences here.