Tales of a Couple Travelling Together

The third couple in our ‘For the Love of Travel’ series is most probably taking a quick weekend trip somewhere in Karnataka right now. Frequent travellers Durba and Rudresh HN have amusing tales from their short and long holiday trips so far. Read their story and get inspired!

BSD: Tell us briefly abut you two…How did you meet, What do you do, et al

I am a journalist and my spouse, Rudresh is a software professional. We had no obvious reason to meet. But as destiny would have it, I moved to Bangalore for a job, made very good friends at workplace, and one of my friends had a pen pal (Rudresh) from Orkut. One day she met him in person and he started frequenting our house for weekends when we would all just sit and chill like all bachelors do. For my birthday that year, in 2011, I was alone at home in Bangalore. My roommates were not in the city, and my other friends were also somehow out of town. During that time, he was the one who kept me company for two says leading to my birthday. We watched movies, drank, ate, laughed laughed on all silky things. And on my birthday he took me out to a place which had a Bollywood theme. He had started to know me well (I am a complete Bollywood fan). And from that point on, I started looking at him from a different point of view. We used to be on WhatsApp, chatting all the time. I went for a one month trip to Ladakh, and of course there was no phone connectivity. And there was no reason for me to call him specially, after all we were “just friends”. When I got back network, I was flooded with messages from him saying ‘where are you’, ‘call me, I miss you’ et al. One thing led to the other and we confessed that we like each other a lot. A few more months down the line, we were in love!

BSD: Oh, that’s adorable…stay blessed! When it comes to travel, were you both equally in love with it or one passed on the travel bug to the other?

We actually hit it off on our love for travel. Both of us have always loved travelling. He wasn’t able to travel much because of personal reasons. But now when he is free of other responsibilities, he wants to travel more. And I love it. We wish we could travel all the time. The baggage of life will be so much lighter, no matter how heavy the baggage on your back is.

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BSD: That’s a profound thought…

Travelling is liberating for both of us. It’s a way of seeing the world, and exploring ourselves, both individually and also us in a relationship. It makes us feel closer to each other. We both have similar views about travel. Whenever we are going through a rough patch, we prefer going for a trip. That sorts it all!

“If you travel more, the baggage of life will be so much lighter, no matter how heavy the baggage on your back is…”

BSD: How many trips do you typically take in a year?

Depends on how much time we both get. Whenever we do, we take off. Typically, it would be 2 long trips a year, if I don’t count the short ones, which are plenty.

BSD: What are your travelling styles: luxury or budget, relaxation or adventure?

Budget! Luxury travel may be for special occasion, but that is not really travel for us. It’s more of just indulgence. When we travel we like to go backpacking. We like to just take it as it comes. No bookings, no plans, except for the place where we are going.

BSD: That’s the best way to travel, perhaps! Tell us about your most memorable trip together so far…

The most memorable trip was Kashmir, our honeymoon. That was the first long trip we did together, and I was glad that he is so easy to travel with. No hassles, no tantrums. We spent quality time just soaking in the beauty that was around.

Evening view at Dal Lake — *Dal Lake by the evening*

BSD: If we ask you to close your eyes and think of the most funny travel experience, what would it be?

Funny? Hmmm. I guess it would be Bheemeshwari. It was comedy of errors. We wanted to go by bike, the bike stopped mid way. We came back to Bangalore, thinking it’s cancelled. But the idea struck, and we picked up a friend’s car and went. We were so tired by the end of it that we ate everything there was in the buffet dinner. One day we were lying down in the hammock, and we both suddenly slipped out of it and fell, and also banged our head on each other, in the process. We had a great time just laughing together!

BSD: Fun! However, while travelling frequently together, tiffs and disagreements are bound to happen. Any trip that turned sour (We’re sure you look back and laugh about it now)…

Oh yes. For our trip to Hemkund Sahib and Valley of Flowers, we trekked for 13 treacherous kilometers, and reached Ghangaria, the base point. The next day we had the option of either going to Valley of Flowers or Hemkund Sahib. The news was that the day after that the weather might not be great. He wanted to go to Hemkund Sahib, and I to Valley of Flowers. We fought, didn’t talk to each other for the night, didn’t eat dinner… The next morning, a person informed that Valley of Flowers has no flowers this season. So we made our way to Hemkund.

BSD: Oops! So we are guessing that will be one destination that you want to go back to…

Yes, Valley of Flowers and Kashmir as well.

BSD: Destinations you both yearn to visit:

Japan, Ladakh, Istanbul, North East India

BSD: Are you both foodies? If yes, what are your best food memories together. And any bad memories?

I am a big foodie, but he is not. He is content with anything you give him. He doesn’t have dreams of food, like I do (hehe)! I wouldn’t call it a bad memory, but in Kashmir, I wanted to have Rista – a mutton meat ball preparation. I ordered it and it was too much for me to finish, and he refused to have it, and wouldn’t let me waste either. I took an hour to finish it, and by the end of it, I just didn’t have the energy to get up.

BSD: Three things you both can’t travel without

Camera, camera, camera!

BSD: Tips for the couple travelling together:

Keep an open mind, about what both of you want. Do a little bit of what both of you want. Disagreements are fine, but make sure you make up. Travelling with grumpy heads can be very taxing, and can leave a bad memory.

BSD: Why should people travel more and more:

…Because traveling is the only way one can come back to themselves, their inner selves!