The joys of travelling solo

Travelling alone is not an easy task

An hour's drive from the Indian city of Chandigarh, just as you begin the Himalayan ascent into ?Himachal Pradesh, comes a fork with a hairpin bend. It's the new road built by the Indian highway authority that tunnels through hills, sails over valleys and cuts down travelling time to key Himachal cities by over an hour. And the old road, now unkempt, is used only by the locals ?on foot.

Deforestation for development had loosened the soil, and the road had been declared unfit for vehicles. Two cars had careened from the road into the valley a year ago, and since then no vehicles had been allowed access.

I halted at the intersection for a moment. Then, turning away from the traffic, I drove onto the old road. I have no idea why I did that. But I'm glad I did.

The road turned out to be impassable barely two kilometres ahead. Nature had begun taking over as soon as mankind turned its back. Trees found their way through roofs of roadside shacks and grass devoured the unpaved lay-bys. The forest had come back to life.

Your own tourist spot

I got out of the car and sat down on the dusty roadside. Looking down I could see fog building up at the foot of the valley, gradually rising. Up ahead, the sun was on its way down, rendering an orange glow to the clouds and the ?fog. The glow lingered for a while after the sunset.

A few hundred metres away, on another hill, a group of tourists stood at a designated sunset point, taking selfies against the setting sun. Being at a higher vantage point gave the tourists a few extra minutes of sunset glow.

I remained sitting while the crowd rushed back into their bus, perhaps off to the next tourist spot. I missed the pictures, they missed the sunset, just as they missed the hundreds of other spots like hundreds of other tourists.

Bound by schedule, they hop from stop to stop, are narrated the same story by a guide, eat at the same restaurants. Is there an infant in the family? Add two extra days to your schedule, because there's only so much you will be able to see in one day. An elderly person in the entourage? Amble along. Forget the staircases, and anything that may look remotely adventurous. Group tour? Test your patience in the lobby while you wait for the others to get ready.

And if everything does go according to plan, the tour driver will throw a spanner in the works.

"We were supposed to meet at the hotel lobby at 8 am for a bus trip to the museum. Surprisingly, all members of the group had assembled well in time. That was when the tour manager called to say that the driver wouldn't be available for another two hours," said Manjeet Singh, a marketing manager at Bee Online Communication, a Dubai-based company.

"I have travelled to New Zealand, Denmark and Europe. Tour operators will cram your schedule to fit in everything. But that's not how a vacation should be. I want to enjoy at leisure. I now take at least one solo vacation every year," he adds.

Personally speaking, travelling alone has a lot of advantages. Apart from the not-waiting-for-anyone relief, to I-am-too-tired-let's-go-tomorrow excuse, it allows you to veer off the usual track whenever you want.

A bit of time, stamina and courage

That's how I discovered the Corstorphine Hill in Edinburgh. It's possible to see ?the entire city standing on that hill, but most tour operators will advise you against going there. Why? It's away from the usual tourist areas and there is no public transport available. Plus, there are no shops around, so it's not good for business.

Guess what I found at the top? Single travellers, with no one to tell them the hill is too steep to climb. No one to tell them they need to go shopping so they had better hurry. No one to ask them to take a picture against the city backdrop. It was just the explorer and his or her destination.

Something similar happened in UK, at the Belle Isle House on Bell Isle in Lake Windermere. Rumours abound that the island, situated right in the middle of the lake, is haunted. Boats go around the island, but no one docks there. However, with some cash, and a bit of courage, you can rent a pedal boat, as I did, and go on your own. Was it haunted? Not really. But it was full of graffiti and messages of love from distraught lovers. Again, I did not find any tourists there with brochures in hand. They were explorers willing to spend half a day to unearth the mystery of the house. They were travellers with drawing boards, inflatable tents and an extra set of clothing, just in case. Try doing this on a family vacation, or worse, on a group tour.

This is not to say you shouldn't plan group vacations. Do so, by all means. But if you want to explore the explorer in you, it's best to go alone.
How to ace solo travel

Travelling alone is not an easy task. While help will always be at hand at most tourist destinations, don't bank on it. Go prepared:
1. Travel light: The lesser luggage you travel with, the better. A medium-sized travel backpack should be more than enough.
2. Carry cash: Since you are travelling alone, food and shopping bills are likely to be on the lower side. Keep cash handy. Cards may not work everywhere.
3. Spare phone: Carry an extra phone, charger, and adapter. If you run out of juice, you won't have friends/family to one borrow from. So keep that spare device handy.
4. Breakfast like a king: Get enough fuel in the engine to start with and you can go all day with just a bottle of water. Bon voyage!

anupam@khaleejtimes.com