Sunday, May 31, 2015

Are We Ever Really Alone


 
One of the to do on my bucket list before turning 40 was to travel alone. Alone not because i dont like spending time with my family but because i really have never ever travelled alone. Really i mean it. I have had a pretty comfortable sheltered and protected life pre and post marriage. However, this yearning to travel alone was taking over my thoughts and became deep rooted. Fortunately the hubs supported my desire and let me go "jaa jee le apni zindagi" style and so did my amazing son who promised to behave himself and not miss me too much.

I zeroed in on a destination and knew i wanted to travel with wow an only women travellers group since i have known of sumitra since my PR and her travel writing days. I decided to go to Leh; Pangong lake being my prime motivation. So off i went to the land of high passes and altitudes.

Alone? But really was i ever alone. No. I found a bunch of awesome strong women friends all with the solo aim of grabbing their downtime and quota of fun. The minute we touched down we located each other the pink brigade 22 in total, all set to live together as one big family for the next 5 days. And yes there were mny cases that demonstrated an amazing bond of sisterhood. Sisters of the heart. Due to high altitudes and less time to acclimitise we all did develop some headaches, tum tum issues etc but they were merely minor distractions. We shared love,meds and even desi nuskhas. We bonded extremely well and though we werent with the families and friends they were with us in our hearts, while bargaining for gifts and mementos, while getting monogrammed tees and sometimes when the phone signals came on we spoke to them.

Its then that i realised we never are truly alone its just that at times we need a bit more than elbow space, a space to claim of our own. An adventure that liberates us and yet keeps our feet steadily on the terra firma.

Cheers to all my wonderful girl friends and of course i am a convert and will take up many more trips with WOW. It was a wowsome experience very well orchastrated by the team and Zeba our WOW buddy.

I will travel alone again but i know i wont ever be lonely.