It is late in the night. Only sound in our house is that of the news on TV playing at low volume. I am ticking off a mental checklist to see if I have packed everything for the solo backpacking trip to Thailand [Read: Motorbiking in Northern Thailand]. My sister is sitting in a corner with the TV remote in her hand. I know she is as excited as I am. She wants to know where I will stay and what I will do. She wants to know if I will talk to her on Skype every evening. Probably she will be awake till 3 AM when my brother will come to drop me at the airport. Probably my brother is also awake because he does not want to remain asleep while I miss my flight.

I have seen numerous travel writers share that they went against all odds to follow their passion. One of the biggest is standing up against the usual questions from their families like – “Are you crazy?”, “Our neighbors son has got a thick salary package recently. What are you doing?” They have stood up against suggestions like – “You should get married”.

Soaking feet in hot water spring Thailand

I am lucky in that sense. Now that it is two years since I have been traveling and writing stories, I see that my family never doubted or questioned me on what I was doing. There were times when they did not completely understand what I was up to. Heck! Even I did not know what I was up to. For my family, travel is a vacation which you take once in a year as a tourist. On the other hand, I was looking for much more from it.

I did get my share of suggestions. When I went on the backpacking trip to Thailand, someone suggested me to “get married and then go”. My traveler grey cells could not map a relationship between getting married and going on a backpacking trip. So, I laughed it off. That was the first and the last time.

For me, it was not a bright light that flashed one day and told me – “You should travel”. It began with a story that I wrote on my journey to The Netherlands [Read: Netherlands – Canals, Clogs, Cheese and Tulips]. I never knew when I gave in to this addiction of storytelling. I didn’t realize when I went too far, so far that the trails to return were lost for good. One thing lead to another and I started looking for ways to fund myself and travel more [Read: How I fund my travel].

There are times when I have been completely unavailable at home. I travel for weeks, or get lost in dreams in my room writing stories till dawn. I do not remember when I last went to the market to buy groceries for the house. These things seem trivial but are important. This traveler has never worried about such things while he is at home. At the same time, his family has made him someone who can manage all odds and survive in any situation when it is needed.

Trip to Ko Tao, Thailand that gave me the initial kick to keep on traveling

A learned man once told me – “When you are passionate about something, it shows in your eyes, on your face, in your actions and in your language. and others notice it. The key is to believe in what you do and share it with others”. I believe it was the ‘sharing’ that got people around me into my shoes and look from a different perspective even if that perspective was alien to them.

Share! People will understand

Travel with me on Twitter and Facebook

Related Articles

===

How I fund my travel
Mistakes I have made as a Travel Blogger

Gaurav Bhatnagar Travel Writer, Photographer, Public Speaker, Entrepreneur @ www.thefolktales.com