What are your excuses for not travelling Solo? Here is how Solo Travel has changed for me for last few years

I got to know about Hampi in 2007 when I had started learning photography and I used to bug a lot of my mentors to click some creative shots with DSLR cameras/lenses. That was the time when I used to spend a lot of weekend time with Camera & traveling. Some of my Bengaluru friends had visited Hampi & shared their photographs. Heritage sites and Architecture used to be the favorite sites of Travellingcamera and they still are. This year I got a chance to get a glimpse of Hampi and it’s ruins. I would still say it glimpse as Hampi is a lot of offer and you can spend good amount of time around these ruins to learn about history and architecture at the same time. I strongly believe that it’s certainly a must visit place for Photographers & Explorers. There is so much diversified subjects to explore. Without any delay let me come to the main Agenda of this post and let’s talk about ways to reach Hampi.

These days I am in my village with my parents and the weekend is coming. During morning walk, I was thinking of going to Mandi town on Saturday and then thought that probably I should plan the visit to town when Vibha is also here. Then I questioned myself about why there can’t be another visit to Mandi with Vibha, when she is around and why am I waiting for that moment, even when I have time on this Saturday. This though made me think more and I realised that for a long time, I haven’t really travelled alone and most of the times, I dont even want to be in bigger groups to travel.


There used to be time when I used to brag that I don’t waste my weekends and go to nearby places whenver get chance. During those years, I never waited for someone to make a plan with me neither I convinced anyone to come along. I have had great time during those trips, so why it has changed now? 

Badami cave temples are mentioned whenever we talk about Indian heritage, art forms, old temples and some unimaginable work which is worth sharing with the world. Many people who want to explore the heritage of India and it's history certainly visit Badami cave temples which was very unique and well preserved so far. Apart from these cave temples, Badami and surrounding areas have a lot to offer. Here we are trying to share more about Badami Cave Temples and other important places to explore around Badami region of Karnataka in India.

I think there are different factors and reasons, which can be unique for all of us. My recent execuse if Pandemic :). I have become too lazy after these 2.5 years of pandemic. During the weekends I want to just relax and laze around. When there are some long weekends, they don’t align with Vibha’s schedule and over the time we realised that it gets harder to align our schedules. Why did I reach here? Am I trying to establish that there are external reasons which are stopping me to travel? :) . 

In total we spent around 3 hours to rescue the car and we were relaxed now. We grabbed some snacks as we didn't have lunch. After having some snacks and water, I decided to wash mats in the lake. It was decent break after all the efforts and at least car was not as dirty from inside :). So presence of people and ability to push the car helped the most. Otherwise it would have been almost impossible for both of us to rescue the car from that wetland with thick clay.

The other reality is that I am too concious about the weather now. I only prefer to go to places during the seasons/time, when weather is pleasant. And in Indian context that’s a big deterrent. But really? I don’t thik so. There are always plenty of places to go to in every season/month. 

Final destination of Golden Chariot train is Goa and then this luxury train goes back to Bengaluru to relax a bit, till the trip starts with new travellers. In my opinion, Goa was least interesting place in whole itinerary if I compare with other places we discovered with Golden Chariot. I think there is another things related to it - if you have visited Goa earlier you would hate the fact that you have only a day to spend there. So for first timers, it may be a good opportunity to get familiar with the place and the plan extended trip to Goa.

There are many other reasons which I don’t want to mention in public, but end of the day I need to manage all of them and travel, if I really want to do so.

After brilliant 3 days on Golden Chariot around Mysore, Kabini & Srirangapatana , we woke up at Hassan Railway station on 4th day morning. Plan was to visit Belur temple of Vishnu, Halebidu temple of Shiva and Shravanabelagola. So the day was planned to experience some of the historic places in Karnataka state of India. All these 3 are some of the main places to visit in Karnataka in south India. It was raining in the morning, so everyone was wondering how do we go out for exploring these places.

The other reason I give myself is that whenever I have holidays/weekends, I need to take care of household chores for ourselves and parents. But really? What’s the frequency? How many times I have to do that. 

Above photograph was clicked during one of the breaks we took on our journey to Kaza through Malling Nala, Siluk, Tabo, Tipta, Lapcha, Sumdo & Chango.

Anyways, this blogpost is probably a reminder to myself about using my free time well. Even if I want to relax, that’s ok and don’t compare the value of relaxing with the joy of travelling. Both are important and one can’t compensate for the other. So it’s about being aware of time you have and how you want to spend.

Shilaroo Hockey Stadium is located around some of the most beautiful Himalayan ranges in Himachal Pradesh state of India. This Hockey ground is a training centre for hockey players at high altitude and that makes it World's highest Hockey stadium.World's highest cricket ground is also in Himachal Pradesh state of India as well, but we will focus on Shilaroo & it's beautiful Hockey Stadium in this blogpost.

Now circling back to Solo travel. Over time, I don’t enjoy Solo travel and don’t want to associate any reason to it. I like to travel with like minded people and the one who always aligns well with my travel stye of Vibha and hope we get back to travel with better plans soon. Having said that I should be open for solo travel as well, because my travel can’t be dependent on others and if I have time & desire, I should step out and travel. 

Some places offer natural beauty, few offer heritage stories and there can be places which takes you through some amazing adventure, but how many places you know which can offer you trekking experience, divine feeling, spiritual environment, natural beauty & architectural marvels? Shravanbelagola is such place which is primarily a popular jain pilgrimage in South India but also a place which offers very special experience for folks visiting this part of Karnataka state of India.

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