Andy Barve

I'm all smiles when I travel. Even if it's for a few days. :)

For the last few years, travel felt more like an escape. Escape from a mundane life, stressful work, stressful everything. I travelled to recharge and then come back to the same life.

This time, it was different. Currently I have no full-time job so this time I just wanted to travel. There was no grand reason, no burnout, no need to run away from anything. A random phone call, a spontaneous plan, and suddenly I was booking tickets and packing.

And I realised how much of a manmade construct the concept of time is.

I wore a watch but rarely checked it. The sunrise and the sunset were the perfect timekeepers. I woke up for no particular single reason, definitely not for work. My needs were simpler. I had nowhere I had to be. Just exploring, meeting strangers from different countries, with completely different lives, sharing stories over a coffee or a meal. And somehow, the conversations feel completely natural, even if they last only an hour sometimes.

Travel reminds you that you don't necessarily belong to the place you've lived in for years. You can belong anywhere. There are differences, of course, but there are so many things that connect us. It changes something in you. It humbles you. It makes you adapt—to new weather, new places, new people, new ways of living. It expands your idea of what life can look like.

And perhaps the best part is coming home to a feeling of newness and the excitement of starting anew.

Honestly, I wish we could all travel a little more and not just through our phones. 🌍

#traveldiaries #ilovenewexperiences #exploretravel