A year of New job,travelling 3 countries, getting Leh'ed, creating a travel website and more!

Tripoto
Photo of A year of New job,travelling 3 countries, getting Leh'ed, creating a travel website and more! 1/3 by Geetanjali

Let me start by saying, none of it was planned. However, small decisions added up which made me achieve far more than what I ever thought possible. Why? Cos, I have never travelled Internationally before..I had no idea or inclination of having my own website...and being a corporate junkie, I never thought doing Andaman, Leh, Sikkim and celebrating my birthday in Thailand will even be possible! ***leave balance***

So what made 2016 different from rest of the years was a little bit of luck, lot of courage and saying Yes before No! Read what I mean and hope it gets you inspired and moving:

1. Take a break while changing jobs (Jan 2016)- In my 8 years of worklife, I never thought of doing it. This time, I was so exhausted, that I decided to visit my cousin at Andaman during the 'break' between last job and the new job. I negotiated as if my life was dependent on it and even requested my to-be boss to extend my joining date. That meant calling him and honestly telling him that I intend to 'vacation' before plunging in the new job..Honesty is generally respected and I got what I asked for.

2. Travel with Strangers- As we grow older, we stop making new friends. We hang out with our colleagues (who we don't get to choose) who are our pals or couple of childhood friends. Me and my friend were planning to do Leh with a group, she however, couldn't go because of other commitments and I still went ahead and made a booking. It had 10 other complete strangers who I met when we took the bus to manali on the start of our trip. That 10 day Leh trip made me really connect with the like minded people who had made this similar crazy choice of travelling so far on their own and I ended up with some strong friendships. I traveled to Sikkim and Thailand with 2 of the friends from this trip! Friends by choice and not convenience!

Photo of A year of New job,travelling 3 countries, getting Leh'ed, creating a travel website and more! 2/3 by Geetanjali
Pelling, Sikkim

3. No is temporary..Hopeful people attract more luck- This may sound a bit cheesy and crappy, but hell..it works! My US tourist visa got rejected in-spite of the letter from my organisation, confirmed leaves etc and it left me angry and dejected. I was in a fuck-USA mood and start thinking alternatives, when 3 days letter, I was asked to go to Dublin to attend a week training! ***goosebumps*** and this all paid trip became my first international trip!

Photo of A year of New job,travelling 3 countries, getting Leh'ed, creating a travel website and more! 3/3 by Geetanjali
Dublin, Ireland

4. Think Out-of-the-Box..err...think like There-is-NO-box- When my company booked my tickets to Dublin, I saw a stopover at Dubai and decided to visit it. It required some persuasion, jostling for visa and leaves, but it turned out to be a lot easier compared to planning a separate trip to Dubai! And I used my weekends and Diwali holidays! Result- One country covered without any leaves! That's how I covered more of Ireland, did Darjeeling with these little add-ons! Save bucks and more importantly- Time!

5. Work on your whims- Whim, a noun 1.a sudden desire or change of mind, especially one that is unusual or unexplained."she bought it on a whim"

'Travelling makes us speechless and turns us into a storyteller', that's why we are on Tripoto, because we really want to share our experiences. This inspired me to create my own platform and I decided to just do it, and now I am an owner of a website. Will I gain anything out of it? Don't know! Am I satisfied by it? YES!

Looking at this, I know, 2017 will be a big year too, just keep working on your ambition! Can you share with me your biggest travel learning of 2016?

Also, check out my website http://www.travelninja.co.in/ and tell me what you think of it!