Liebster – Travel Interview

Alex, over at The Art of Not Sitting Still, very kindly nominated me for the Liebster award. I chose to accept it by answering his travel-related questions in form of an interview. Here they are:

1) Favorite Airline? I love planes and everything about them so this is important!

I love planes and aviation too. A couple of my favorite airlines include Canada Air and British Airways.

2) Best travel novel you’ve ever read and why?

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It is such a great novel everyone should read.

It’s about an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found.

The story of the treasures Santiago finds along the way teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the omens strewn along life’s path, and, above all, following our dreams.

3) Best travel quote that you’ve HEARD! Not read. If you haven’t heard any good ones, come up with your own!

I have no idea. My auditory memory is pretty bad. The best I can answer this question is by sharing two travel quotes I like:

“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for” – John A. Shedd

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” – Robert Frost

4) Favorite meal from around the world?

Food and travel are two of my favorite things. I gotta go with real authentic Mexican tacos, Indian naan, Italian risotto, and Belgian chocolate.

5) Of all the places you’ve been, where would you most want to go back?

I recently wrote about my top 5 places I’ve been to. But right now, I would like to go back to Whistler, Canada and enjoy some skiing on the Whistler mountain, some ice cream (yes ice cream!) at the Whistler village, the hot tub at the hotel, a nap, and some dinner at Whistler village. A perfect day.

6) You’re sitting on a beach reading a novel with a drink in your hand. What is the drink?

Fresh coconut water from the coconut.

7) Worst travel experience?

The time when I missed my flight alone in Mumbai. But looking back it was actually more of an interesting adventure than a bad memory.

Read the story:

Divine Intervention During The Worst Missed Flight Experience (Part 1)
Divine Intervention During The Worst Missed Flight Experience (Part 2)

8) Best travel experience! Either a moment or a trip overall.

As described above, my Whistler trips have been some of my best trips, but I have also learned and experienced a ton in my rural India trips and had quite a bit of fun during my Europe backpacking trip.

9) Why do you travel?

I do not remember the day when I got the travel bug. I think I was born with it. It didn’t help that my parents weren’t afraid to take me far and to different places. At 6 years old I had already traveled across continents. For college, I simply did not see myself staying in my home country, even though I love it there, and it wasn’t enough to simply move to our neighboring country, the USA. So, after graduating High School, I moved by myself for the first time to the faraway land of London, England. I have been moving ever since, traveled to about 20 countries and lived in 6 different cities (in 4 different countries).

I enjoy learning and seeing about new cultures, I enjoy being in new places for the first time, I enjoy being at airports and being in a sea of people with completely different stories who are going far and near, I love trying local food, and enjoying the local arts. I also love the adventurous activities during travel like going inside caves, swimming in cenotes, and walking historic labyrinths. The possibilities of travel are endless.

10) If you could be anywhere else right now, where would you be?

At the Piazza San Marco in Venice, sans the crowds, enjoying the powerful spiritual energy from the Basilica and eating some gelato because Italy.

How about you? Where in the world would you want to be right now?