Sitting in our office cubicles and browsing through Instagram, no one can escape the urge to pack their bags and leave for the next unknown destination. However, we only end up planning a vacation on the next long weekend to let the wanderlust prevail alongside our regular job. We undertake mini escapes to let this heart wander, often along the salty seashore or the misty mountains.
But have you ever thought, how amazing it would be to make your favourite hobby a way of life? In the quest to discover all the hidden nook and corners of the world, travelling invariably becomes a full time job.
Because no one experienced the happiness of adventures without stepping out of their comfort zones. And for the ones who have bid goodbye to the hassles of jet lag, have made friends with airport lounges and everyday hail a new ride be it a tuk-tuk or a dazzling Royal Enfield, living has become synonymous to wanderlust.
These people had no coming back when they were caught by the travel bug. From charting new paths to make travelling a way to pay their bills to hopping on adventures everyday in a bid to cross boundaries, these true wanderers are the ones who inspire us to travel.
But make no mistake, they aren’t any more extraordinary than you who finds himself constantly caught in a web of meeting deadlines and catching up for meetings. They were also once in your place. But they managed to climb out of the windows of those fancy glass buildings from where you usually daydream about travel.
Ajay Chatterjee was always a shutterbug since his college days. Whether it was sitting in a college cafeteria or on a vacation with friends, photography seemed to be his only saviour. However, life took him to the good old job of being a software engineer. And it was time he realized regular routine job working at an MNC will never be his cup of tea.
Starting with some small travels to brush up his photography skills, he gave himself a deadline of 6 months to plan a full time way to pursue his passion. With a decent amount of savings and planning to launch his photography blog, he took his camera for a full time ride that he plans to last for life.
Today, he is happy backpacking around the world and having a teeming photography blog where he continues to capture his wanderlust in some enthralling pictures. ‘If it was not for the risk I had taken one year into a full-time corporate job, I would not have been able to do what I always wanted. I am happier than ever and learning so much everyday that I would not have been able to while working how to code algorithms’, says Ajay.
Like that, Neha Kashyap was having a comfortable job in Delhi working as a clerk in bank. But in her dreams, she was always traversing in the landscapes of Ladakh, the beaches of Bali and the skyline of Manhattan. While scribbling her thoughts about wanderlust, Neha knew that being a clerk is not what can solve the problem of her itchy feet.
‘I told my parents that I want to pursue full time travel, they were quite surprised. Being a girl and that too in India going for solo backpacking across the world is something that got eyes from the society as well. But I love my parents for their support they offer every day in order to let me pursue my dream’, said Neha.
Now she works as a freelance travel blogger and has got many of her experiences published in famous travel magazines and newspapers. Breaking all the shackles of society, she is one of the examples how a real wanderer continues to give meaning to life with their rendezvous with the world and now inspiring millions with her words.
Speaking of exploring the world, Anirudh Sharma had a job that kept him on the toes with numerous client meetings. Being an investment banker, he often felt bound in his corporate job while being a free spirit from the heart.
His passion was always to go trekking to the mountains and basking in the sun by the beach while sipping the local delicacies in every new city where he stepped in. Like a bird set free from cage, he hung up his boots of being an investment banker and chose to gear up for the next adventures he was about to live in different places across the world.
Anirudh used his skills to launch a startup that today works in the domain of travel making travel itineraries, catering numerous travel experiences and giving a definition to wanderlust. ‘Its wrong to assume that our pask skills aren’t going to work when we start something new and unique. My business skills helped a great deal while making a pitch for my startup and today I am a happy man working for something that was always my dream’, says Anirudh.
While hearing about the stories of Ajay, Neha and Anirudh, our faith is restored in the perks of travelling. It can become a full-time job that can make your soul satiated while also bringing in a steady source of income. That’s how these people continue to make it work and encourage us to take a leap of faith in order to do what we are truly meant to do.
True wanderers always find a way to make those dreams happen that they have crafted over many hours doing a job they hated. In order to personify their desire to travel and satiate their brimming spirit to capture numerous memories across the world. While sampling food, learning new languages, doing pulse racing activities and undergoing enriching experiences, travellers go through a discovery of self and this life.
