CHENNAI: Selecting destinations, finding cheaper flying options, budget accomodation and food, visa verification, local sightseeing... a travel checklist requires meticulous planning especially if you are on a shoestring budget. Writing from his experience in his new book, World Travel in low budget: Practical guide to plan international trips in low cost, well-known travel blogger Shrinidhi Hande takes us on a whistlestop virtual tour of his trips, planning and budget management.
Optimal experience
Originally written in his mother tongue Kannada, the English version was released on November 1, 2019. His work received instant appreciation and his non-Kannada friends raised a demand for an English version. “Anybody who wishes to travel from the age of 20 can benefit from this book. It’s a Do It Yourself guide. Readers are those who are keen to travel but constrained by budgets or anyone who can’t afford multi-lakh commercial tour packages, but can plan all aspects of an international trip,” says Shrinidhi, an IT professional who travels for passion. The author has travelled to 39 countries since 2006. On his blog enidhi.net, he documents his memorable moments, especially on travel, lifestyle and automobiles. Besides his active presence on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, he has more than 2,700 blog posts. “The focus is on international trips which are relatively more complex and everyone’s dream. It takes more effort to plan an international trip at a low cost compared to a domestic trip. India has thousands of attractions as well but that’s another huge topic on its own. I am tracking a few destinations in Africa and Asia, which I plan to visit when I get cheaper than normal tickets,” he says.
Learn, share, inspire
The book has a section on his unique trips that he hopes can prepare other travellers for their trips. “Japan was unique from a cultural and a trust point of view. There are lots of public vending machines with glass panels and no one breaks them to steal. The train ticket inspectors bow to the compartment while entering and exiting as a mark of respect, timings are maintained precisely to the second and so on. This is not available anywhere else in the world. Also, while exploring Copenhagen on a day when there was snow everywhere, it was hard to get a grip to even stand,” reminisces Shrinidhi. Not respecting the local laws, sentiments, culture and practices, he says are some of the commonly made mistakes by travellers. “Many fail to care for nature and their carbon footprint during travel. The focus is on the glamour or hyped-up part of a destination, forgetting history, and finer aspects. They also tend to get easily fooled by heavily photoshopped and filtered images.” The chapter on being a responsible traveller sheds light on all these angles.
Profession and passion
Travel has given him different perspectives, insights and confidence which wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. He believes in spending on experiences than things. Travel helps break the monotony in his life, enter an unfamiliar territory with lots of curiosity and return home a few days later with excitement, feeling rejuvenated.“In my travel days, I figured out that commercial tour packages are not for me. They are expensive and not optimised for time.I started exploring hostels, using public transportation, doing my research on places to visit — all these instilled confidence that I can explore a destination on my own. I do have lots of blog readers who take my advice on their trips and have thanked me later. Bloggers can share lots of insights of true stories that commercial websites never reveal. Being able to add real value and make a difference keeps me going,” explains Shrinidhi.
He attributes his success to his supportive spouse and family. “It’s possible to juggle profession and passion. Build up savings to sustain. Quitting your job and full-time travel is doable, if you can live on a shoestring budget, have a secondary income source and don’t have any major financial commitments like home loan, kids education. At some point in life, we need to prioritise what we love and what we need,” he said.