How It All Began

trav·el /ˈtravəl/

Verb:  Make a journey, typically of some length or abroad.

Noun:  The action of traveling, typically abroad.

Travel is the movement of people or objects (such as airplanes, boats, trains and other conveyances) between relatively distant geographical locations.

Etymology

The term "travel" originates from the Old French word travail. The term also covers all the activities performed during a travel (movement). A person who travels is spelled "traveler" in the United States, and "traveller" in the United Kingdom.

How It All Began

I wonder how often I have googled about some place when I have heard about it for the first time. Too often I am sure. My PC is full of pictures from all around the world and I never get enough of that… and it is ever increasing. I love it whenever someone asks me about some place, love it even if I don’t have a clue. I make sure that the next day I am all informed about that place. That is how much I am passionate about learning about new places.

I still remember the moment during my school days when Amatya Mam, our Geography teacher, made a friend and me stand on our bench for not being able to correctly answer the capital of certain country. A year later I could answer whatever she shot at me, literally. And it had nothing to do with the punishment. When I was in Grade VI, along with couple of other friends we were stung with the hobby of coin collection. Day and night I used to turn it over and over again, making list about the ones I have as well the ones other had. I used to get amused whenever someone came up with the coin of an unfamiliar country… I was like “Is there a county of that name?”… Then I used to flip the Atlas… it became my favorite pastime.

During that very time the national TV used to broadcast Pakistani tele-serials. I loved them all. One of them was “Jaane Anjaane” which was shot in Mauritius. I was not sure how ‘Mau-ri-ss-us’ was spelled… so I flipped the atlas over and over again… I knew it was an island, but where? … the closest I came across was Moluccas in Indonesia. After sometime my friend Pravakar finally traced it down… off the north coast of Madagascar. Then onwards if anyone ever asked me about my dream destination, it was Mauritius… I was awestruck by its beauty!

The Early Days

During my childhood days I remember visiting different temples with my father during Dashain. I loved it and used to wait for that time when he used to take me to the sacred religious sites along with him. I never knew the name of Bijeshwori temple and simply called it the temple with too many tortoises. While my father was busy worshipping, I used to run after tortoise. The other places include Swoyambhunath Shova Bhagwati, Indrayeni, Bhatbhateni etc. 

I also have fond memory visiting Shivapuri Wildlife Reserve and outside valley I had been to Hetauda [Makwanpur], my maternal uncles’ place. It had and still has another charm. As it was far away, we used to visit there during our school’s winter holidays and sometimes not in years. Besides that I had been to Kalaiya[Bara] and Bharatpur[Chitwan] where my aunts lived. Visiting those places always felt good as we were showered with love and treated special.

During that same period I remember visiting Manakamana Temple [Gorkha], walking all the way long with my family. I still cherish those days, enjoying the walk along the hill covered with orange trees … after the Cable Car station was built in Kurintar, the route was deserted… the journey uphill which took almost half day is now completed in less than 15 minutes… it made visiting the temple easy for most devotees and the life harder for the people on the previous trail... change ain’t always good.

My Wish List

There are too many places I would like to visit… Nepal has been blessed with the beauty of nature and every time I see some beautiful place in a magazine/newspaper or elsewhere, the traveler in me awakes. Rara Lake, Khaptad National Park, Phoksundo Lake, Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve, Annapurna Circuit, Lumbini, Everest Base Camp, etc. have been in my wish list for so long.

Finally, the time came for the traveler in me to realize my dream… I wish to travel to every nook and corner of the country, knowing people, understanding their culture and witnessing the beauty that the nature has poured… time and again… and hope I can share those wonderful moments of traveling via this blog…