On how & why you could travel to be married.

I read an article recently titled ‘’Get married to travel’’. The article, penned by a woman, spoke about how she could travel more freely as a married person than when she was single as she had lot less explaining to do to people around her who questioned her choices and freedom. While she has a point and I don’t quite agree that travel can be the sole reason for people to get married, but yes getting married has helped me travel more.

I didn’t get married to travel, but I found a guy who gives me the understanding & space to do the things I love – travel being right there on top of the list. When I first chanced upon his matrimonial profile, just as I got excited when he wrote, ‘’I love travelling…’’, he went on seal the deal with ‘’I love Goa and I go there many times a year to sack out….’’. I , on the other hand, love to explore old cultures and civilisations, stay in a country as much as it takes to see 70% of the places and never visit a place twice if I can help it. Clearly his idea of travel was very different from mine!!  So it was surprising when he made effort to travel as much I do.

Our travels together started as we were the weekend couple based in 2 different cities and pretty soon we got so bored of doing the Delhi – Mumbai commute every weekend. So when I proposed the idea to meet in a third city one of the weekends every month so that I could continue my explorations and we could spend time together, my husband excitedly agreed. Yeah, Win-win!! In the last one year, I have ended up travelling more than I have ever in any good year. We made a full year travel plan agreeing on the places we both wanted to see. I do the planning, research on places to go and make the itinerary. My husband, being the foodie, loves to research on the food we will eat and the best places to eat them. (He gets a ghar ka khana craving once in a while and he insists on finding an Indian restaurant when abroad. But we also have had the awesomest Dal Chawal in unlikeliest of places like Granada). We have travelled to Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, Seville, Valencia, Daman, Alibaug, Amritsar, Elephanta, Bhopal, Sanchi, Bhimbetka, Agra, Maheshwar, Mandu, Cunoor, Tadoba, Istanbul, Kaas, Masinagudi, Bijapur, Badami, Hampi, Goa etc etc. This is apart from our solo breaks which raise eyebrows and questions – sab theek hai beta?? It is hard to explain to people – Thank you, but travelling alone is not because of rifts between me and my husband but because we understand each other so much better!

In the meanwhile, the Goa-struck husband has decided that he loves travelling, has picked up a keen eye for photography and genuinely loves it! We fight over hotels and budgets (I am the cost conscious for the record), trot around with our identical camera and backpacks, egg each other for better shots, bond over new experiences, discover new foods and places to eat, learn from meeting new people, create memories for a lifetime and have loads of fun along the way. Undoubtedly, it helped us discover ourselves & understand each other better despite the long distance marriage.

So my advice, don’t get married to travel, but travel to be married.

Oh yes, my husband still goes to Goa, sometimes alone.