Travel - Best Places of Interest

March 3, 2016 Interviews - travel bloggers

Interview with Melissa @A Broken Backpack

Friends here is an interview with my other travel blogger friend, Melissa from a broken backpack.

Me: For the people who don’t know about you, please could you introduce yourself and your blog?

Melissa: I’m Melissa and I blog at abrokenbackpack.com. I am a French Canadian who decided to go out there and move abroad. I have been on the road for more than 20 months. At the moment, I’m back in Canada to visit my family for the very first time. A Broken Backpack is a website about backpacking on a budget, long-term trips and moving abroad.

Melissa from a broken backpack — Melissa

Me: What was the motivation for starting this Blog?

Melissa: I was ready for a new challenge! I love writing and I have a big passion for the World. I decided to share my stories and my motivation with you.

Me: What are your favourite destinations? If you had to choose one among them what would that be?

Melissa: I really loved New Zealand and Western Canada! I have a big crush on mountains! If I had to choose where to settle, I’d probably choose Australia.

Me: What tips would you give others about hitchhiking?

Melissa: Being confident is probably one of the most important keys. The confidence will influence your smile, your trust and your experience. It’s all about trusting our feelings and to feel confident enough to leave the car if you need to.

Me: Since your blog is about backpacking, could you give us some backpacking tips?

Melissa: Pack light… and lighter… and even lighter! We normally pack too much stuff and it can be tough on the road. We need to learn to live with the minimum and keep what really matters.

Me: What do you have to say about traveling on a shoe-string budget?

Melissa: It’s possible! Obviously, some destinations are budget friendly and some others are unfriendly (laughs). It’s all about priorities, compromises and experiences. Travelling is about putting yourself out of your comfort zone. Surf on a couch, share a dorm, cook yourself, taste the street food and enjoy the free landscapes.

Me: Would you like to say something to women out there about travelling solo?

Melissa: I really do believe solo travel is the best thing I’ve ever done! I don’t like to compromise on my dreams and on my wish lists. Having friends and seeing them a couple of hours versus travelling with friends are two different things. When I travel solo, I spend time with myself, I meet easily new friends and I enjoy the challenge. I fell in love a year ago in Australia and now I’m sharing the road with another backpacker. Who knows what could happen?

Me: Any tools you can suggest that other bloggers could use in their first year?

Melissa: I’m now starting to coach new bloggers. I really love it. I really think that success comes with hard work (and good content). But, we also need to work smarter (Tribber, StumbleUpon, Canva, Buffer). Be social, connect with other bloggers and let your passion goes online.

Me: Do you have times when you wonder what to write next, ‘writer’s block’? How do you overcome it?

Melissa: Yes, I do. I wish I could say no! I always have a list of the topics I’d like to write about, but I always wait until I get the inspiration for it. I also choose my battles and where to focus. At the moment, I’m working on a different project at the same time, so I can focus less on my blog.

Me: Name three hardest things/setbacks that you experienced through your blog?

Melissa: Haters. A down website. Malware.

You need to learn how to let go, change the things you can and accept that you are not a robot… Well, I’m not!

Me: Any other comments, suggestions, that you would like to add/mention.

Melissa: Don’t compare yourself and don’t focus on numbers… Your time is too precious to waste it!

Me: Finally, do you have something to say about my blog ‘Best Places of Interest’?

Melissa: Your website covers a lot of different topics related to the nomadic lifestyle, which is great! Good work mate!

February 29, 2016 Interviews - travel bloggers

Interview with travel blogger Gamintraveler

Friends, I feel honoured to interview my travel blogger friends, Ruben and Rachel at Gamin Traveler.

Ruben Arribas is a Spanish traveler who has traveled more than 70+ countries around the world. He believes in travel without money. Recently, he finished a bicycle trip, 9500 km, from Madrid to North Cape. He and Rachel blog at Gamin Traveler. Here is an interview with them.

Me: When did you start blogging? What made you start a blog?

Rachel/Ruben: We started blogging 4 months ago. We decided to work together in something. I have been traveling a lot, so I can share my experiences and tips about traveling. Rachel works with social media and digital marketing online, so we can pair up and work together. So that´s it! The blog is a mix of our strengths.

Me: What are your favourite destinations?

Ruben: South America, I spent a few months traveling around the continent. And the experience was amazing. I met interesting people. I made many friends and visited amazing places. Speaking the same language is very helpful. You can communicate 100% with everybody.

Me: If you had to choose one of your favourite destinations, which would that be?

Ruben: Colombia is one of my favorite destinations. I spent two months there. Colombia has amazing beaches, mountains and cities. People are very friendly. I felt great visiting the country and I had amazing experiences.

Me: Name three hardest things/setbacks that you experienced through your blog?

I would say the most challenging thing is the time in handling the blog. We want the blog to grow super fast, and we want to accomplish so many things at the same time, but really you accomplish more when you focus and simplify, so you really have to prioritize, and pick which of your goals should have attention first.

It took us time and a lot of effort to put a lot of social media channels in a good engagement level. Again, we had to prioritize and start with one, and we are lucky to have a good start with Facebook, which was able to support a lot of social media outreach in the beginning. We now spread our efforts with a lot of channels, however, we each have our focus. Since we are a team of two, we do our best with what we can, and try not to be too crazy and perfectionist with the others that we cannot really handle 100%.

The tech side of things consume a lot of time and effort too. Rachel had to focus a lot of her time in design work in the beginning so we can launch the blog properly, and that takes her time away from the content. We also have to control our efforts with much more technical things like SEO and site optimization. All our content are optimized, but not to the level that we obsess about it, since SEO is a challenging field, and really very few in the world are real specialists. We follow the best guidelines and we focus our attention in engaging with the readers.

Me: How did you overcome obstacles?

Rachel/Ruben: The good thing about the blog is that we really like it. At least for me, I am so into travel, that when I write the guides, it’s about me recollecting all my experiences and that is always fun. The thing is passion is not enough to fuel a blog growth, especially if you want to turn it into a business. That is where Rachel and I’s work personalities enter. We are very different. Rachel is more of the creative type and kind of big sponge who can digest so many new things. She can handle all the tech side of the blog, and builds the personality. I handle the time, the discipline and the scheduling behind all the work, plus all the content.

Me: Any tools you can suggest that bloggers could use in their first year?

Rachel/Ruben: We laid out all the tools we used for our blog in our 2nd monthly report which you can find here. We suggest to stay lean, not just because of money, but also because obsessing with a lot of details and work will hamper you from really launching something. And things will definitely evolve and change at one point, so we suggest launching early and minimally. The report is detailed, but here are some tools we mentioned:

– Using WordPress, powered by Genesis and Siteground — Freaking excellent customer service and tech support. Really. They have been our saviour a lot of times. We have a small team, and Siteground has helped us do a lot of the site maintenance, which is to be honest, pretty rad of them.

– Using Mailchimp and Appsumo for lead generation
– Using Canva for design – Rachel does Magic with Canva (she wrote that. ha!)
– Buffer – To manage our social media accounts better

Lean operation. 😉

Me: Well, this is for Rachel, what is your experience like travelling solo as a woman?

Rachel: Traveling solo for a woman was not an issue for me, although I don’t really travel extensively the way Ruben does. If I go out-of-town alone, it’s really great because I meet a lot of new people and as a big social person, that pumps me up. I’m more into people than travel. Which means, I don’t usually care if a place is not majestically amazing, if I am with new people or people I want to spend time with, I will have the time of my life.

Things have changed now since having a son. (I have a cute, little toddler) I would say I am less daring in going to crazy travels and Ruben has been helping me manage those fears.

Me: Would you like to say something to women out there about travelling solo or hitchhiking?

Rachel: It’s amazing, and you have to try it, at least once. It will build up your character, and discover things about yourself. You will also love meeting new people (sometimes you meet amazing people on the streets who will help you like truck drivers), and sometimes it could be a little sad that they will not be your permanent friends, but there’s a magic knowing there are other amazing people in the world out there ready to help someone in need, and a stranger at that. I have experienced running to tell trucks I need a ride, and them helping me and even buying me food, so that was really a nice experience!

Me: What would you like to say about budget travel?

Ruben: Traveling on a budget is really a change in perspective. I had seen people in Africa with lesser things, and that changed how I look at travel and life, drastically. If you want luxurious things, I guess you can balance. Budget and slash things you don’t necessarily need so you can spend on the things you want later. If you are on a super tight budget which I have done, there’s a lot left for you to enjoy — company of new and amazing people (can’t stress this enough), the new territories you’re visiting, which is let’s be honest, beautiful already, and spending time appreciating your life and these new things.

Me: Finally, do you have something to say about my blog ‘Best Places of Interest’?

Rachel/ Ruben: We love the variety of your love, but especially like the areas where you talk about food and travel. We are so happy to meet you (e-meet, but still :)) and that it fuels our passion more, seeing more bloggers like you who are ready to talk about their passions and interests online and put up the work so other people can get inspired to follow their passions too. We hope to meet you Kash one day, and we hope you continue writing a lot! x

Me: I am keeping my fingers crossed, we shall meet someday, somewhere. 🙂

December 15, 2015 Travel, Within India

6 Places to Visit in Pune

Pune, referred as the cultural capital of Maharashtra, is situated around 560m above sea level on the western margin of Deccan Plateau. A hilly city, with its highest hill, Vetal Hill at around 800m above sea level. It is located at the confluence of Mula and Mutha rivers. It has many pilgrimage centres, heritage towns and leisure destinations. Pune being culturally active, there are programs of classical Indian or Western Music or dance and shows of Marathi Theatre at Bal Gandharva Auditorium.

Pune railway station (Image source -Wikipedia)

How to reach Pune?

Pune is well-connected by air, rail and road to major cities of India.

By Rail– Pune being a major junction is linked well with major cities of the country. If you are in Mumbai and you wish to board a train, then you have many options to choose. Deccan Queen, Deccan Express, Indrayani, Pragati and Shatabdi are regular trains that run between Pune and Mumbai every day.

By Bus/Cab– Government and private buses regularly ply between Mumbai and Pune. Buses can be taken from Pune junction bus stand or at Shivajinagar station/bus stand.Taxis/cabs can also be hired. Some other cities near Pune are Ahmednagar (115km), Aurangabad (215km), Nashik (210km), and Kolhapur (233km) which are accessible by road.

By Flight– Pune airport is located in Lohagaon area around 10kms. From the heart of the city. You can take a cab or a bus service to reach the city.

Tourist attractions in Pune

Empress Garden– located near Pune Race Course at Wanawadi, near Camp, Pune. History states that in the British era, it was known as ‘Garden of Dr.Don’ under the possession of Sir Charles Napier. Later, this botanical park was named ‘Empress Garden’ in the honour of Queen Victoria after she won the title of ‘Empress of India’. This garden became famous among British soldiers as they came for recreation purpose. In 1892, Empress Garden was bought by the Bombay Government. It was then handed over to Agri-Horticultural society of Western India.

Common Indian myna ((Acridotheres tristis) at Empress Garden in Pune
by Amritadikpati- Wikimedia Commons

In contemporary times, it has become a favourite amongst locals and tourists who throng this garden for peace and serenity. The garden is open from 9.30am-6.30pm.

Bund Garden in Pune — Bund garden in pune (Image source Babloo180- Wikimedia Commons)

The Bund Garden is among the most admired gardens of Pune. It is a strong symbol of Maharashtrian culture and lifestyle. The park is clean and has many flower beds and bushes. The tall coconut trees adjoining the centre of this place make the garden, attractive and stunning. The plants are exquisite and the bushes are well-trimmed.

Osho Ashram

If you are in Pune, do not miss out on a walk through the Ashram garden. It won’t require much time but worth an experience. The ashram is maintained very well, especially the garden. There is also a statue of Osho and artificial waterfalls to add a mystic touch to the place.

Osho Garden- Pune — (WT-shared) Sanyambahga at wts wikivoyage -Wikimedia)

A very peaceful place… long stretches of green… great to walk around… no one to bother… peace and tranquillity!

Aga Khan Palace-This palace has five halls and large verandahs. The architecture is Islamic with hints of Italian art in its arches. It was built by Sultan Mohammed Shah, Aga Khan II.

Aga Khan Palace, Pune — AgaKhan Palace in Pune. Kasturbha Gandhi, wife of Mahatma Gandhi, died here (Image source http://www.djoh.netv- wikimedia)

It served as a prison to leaders like Mahatma Gandhi during Quit India Movement in 1942 and is therefore also known as Gandhi National Museum. It serves as a memorial of Mahatma Gandhi’s wife.

National War museum The museum built-in 1997 serves as a memorial for Indian soldiers who were martyrs of the nation. It is situated in Pune Cantonment. The museum has on display arms, uniforms and personal mementos.

Shinde Chhatri, Pune — Shinde Chhatri (Marathi : शिंदे छत्री), located in Wanawadi, a well known place in Pune, India, is a memorial dedicated to the 18th century military leader Mahadji Shinde who served as the commander-in-chief of the Maratha army under the Peshwas from 1760 to 1780. It is one of the most significant landmarks in the city and is reminiscent of the Maratha rule. It is a hall that marks the spot of Mahadji Shinde’s cremation on 12 February 1794. The three storied memorial bestows a daunting look of past splendour, representing the rich heritage of that era beautifully. The regal entrance gate made out of iron shines till date. The exterior is captivating and has intricate and detailed carvings
(Image credit- Bikashrd-Wikimedia Commons)

Shinde Chhatri– The Chhatri or hall has carvings and painting along with a gallery in it. There are paintings and photos of Scindia family. It is a memorial for Maratha leader, Mahadji Shinde.

While in Pune, you could also travel to the heights and hues of Western Ghats to Khandala, Mahabaleshwar and Lonavala.

Paragliding from around the world

Paragliding is a simple form of human flight and also an adventure sport that people all over the world compete or participate in for high-flying fun. Much like an eagle, paragliders can soar in flights that last several hours and cover many hundreds of miles. The longest paragliding duration is 11 hours and covered more than 310 miles! Since paragliders are light, some adventurers choose to hike way up in the mountains; meaning paragliders have flown off of nearly every major peak in the United States and Europe, including Mt. Everest. By taking advantage of thermal lifts, paraglider pilots can stay aloft for 3 or more hours, climb to elevations of 15,000 feet, and go cross-country.

Woot! As Leonardo da Vinci said, “For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.”

Paragliders are easy to transport, easy to launch, and easy to land. And it offers humans a dream come true, the ability to fly and soar like an eagle. The glider is made of rip-stop nylon wing. The pilot sits in a harness which can be a comfortable as a lounge chair and actually uses the glider to fly like a bird like this photo of paragliding at Muriwai Beach, New Zealand. Photo #1 by Travis Wiens