Wanderlust and the mid path

As a family bitten by the travel bug, we have always needed a trip every now and then, to keep us going. Sometimes, all we need is a nature fix - lush green hills, pristine water bodies and total quiet with only the sounds of birds for company.Many other times,we feel like we want to see some part of this diverse country that is totally different from where we live, in terms of language, cuisine, sights, sounds and smells.

After all, every place has a very distinct atmosphere, don't you think? I love the clean roads and slow pace of Mysore, the red soil and lush green of any place in Kerala, the sizzling heat and home air in Tamil Nadu and the hazy, chilly air and colours of Bengaluru.

 In several trips, we do a combination of both kinds- like Dharamshala and Amritsar - a shot of greenery and a vibrant city. My husband has a modus operandi to planning these trips. Once we zero in on a city we want to see, he'd look up the nearest hill station or vice versa. He is the kind who usually wants a slice of everything. If they ever made a pizza with each of the slices being of different flavours, that would be his regular!

I, on the other hand, like to dive deep into everything, wallow in it for a good while and slowly retreat out of it. I want my holidays to have a slow pace. One full day just at the resort, savouring the fact that everything is being done for us and I can completely relax without a to do list in my mind. Another one or two days to look around a few places - water body, view point, temple, bazaar and a little local cuisine and I am totally satisfied. I do not require every minute of the day to be squeezed into an itinerary or see every one of the 'must see' spots.

When we had just gotten married, we both had travel as a common liking but how we wanted it done was poles apart. While I wanted to just take in and experience the all round flavour of any place we visited, the husband would look up a list of things to do and consider every moment spent indoors as a waste of time that could have otherwise been spent visiting somewhere.

Here is an anecdote that puts it all in a nutshell. At Munnar, we had just done an early morning scenic trek up a tea estate and come back spent and hungry. After a heavy and yummy breakfast, all I wanted to do was to go back and rest a bit, while gazing at the imposing mountain view from our cottage door with a cup of tea. While I was settling down with chai, he was buzzing over the phone talking to the people at the reception and a while later, came up to me and asked 'Are you not going to come for the jeep ride to top point'? All I could do was roll my eyes :) My take was, the view from this door is amazing and am happy right now to just take it in rather than rushing to the next place in the list.

Over the years, both of us toned down a bit from the two extremes. While I saw the merit in going out and doing stuff, he also began to appreciate the concept of leisure in a holiday and the idea of 'just being' somewhere. So having managed to almost reach the mid point even if not exactly, things have become lot more smoother now.

Back in those days, when we had not settled in for this win-win, I would always throw up my hands at some point and say that I was totally done for the day or he would sit and sulk because we weren't doing enough activities. This happens even now but very occasionally.  The perfect balance is and always will be elusive but what is life without a few outliers?! :)