10/10/2020
This is a difficult post to write seeing as I was supposed to be on a flight to the US to kickstart a year full of travel.
I last travelled in 2017. I had spent a glorious couple of months in Portugal, Spain, Canary Islands, Azores, Mallorca and Madeira.
And then I plotted something even bigger. I had read how Western universities offered a gap year and many students travelled and worked across different countries.
I decided to take a career gap year in 2020. I changed my entire working style and decided I would work freelance and pick up skills that would help me survive the year. I quit a stable job and plunged into the unsteady freelance writer lifestyle.
A failed venture, a social media gig with a production house, a travel company set up to help me navigate the bureaucratic hassles such as visas and a digital publication on beverages are some of the things that have kept me busy since late 2017.
While I did have panic attacks from time to time wondering if I would be able to undertake my journey, I was still confident of things working out when 2020 began.
And then the pandemic hit. My initial plan was to fly from India to the US to use up my visa and then spend time in Brazil - three of the worst-hit countries by Covid-19 as it turned out.
I don't generally plan things so far ahead but given the scale of this journey I thought it was warranted. I don't know what comes next but I do know this - broken dreams are even more sweeter to fulfill and I will never over-plan something to this extent ever.
Love and gratitude to everyone who has been a part of this journey. We might have paused but we're not done yet.
I will be back with an exciting initiative soon. Until then, stay safe, stay healthy.
