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“Actually, the best gift you could have given her was a lifetime of adventures.” – Lewis Carroll
Damn, how true these words are. Well, we all desire for a little adventure in life, and what can be better if we find a partner who’s always ready to set sail with us and embark on journeys to unknown lands!
While this might all sound like something in the dreams, it’s actually true for a lot of couples out there, who are setting #TravelCoupleGoals and tickling the wanderlust in each other, quite successfully.
As they say, “It doesn’t matter where you are going, it’s who you have beside you.”
As Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and your Instagram feed would be filled with endless photographs of people indulging in some cheesy moments with their partners, we thought to get in touch with some adventurous couples who love to travel and heard their stories.
So, sit back and make yourself comfortable, ‘coz these people are gonna redefine “Love & Adventures” for you – and who knows, maybe you’ll also nudge your partner for a trip on this Valentine’s Day, making it the best one to date!
Anu & Pavan’s Travel Shenanigans!
1) Did you guys meet while traveling? If so, tell us the story.
“We met in high school when we were all of 16 🙂 I had just moved to Bangalore and met Pavan in 11th grade. We dated through college, across continents, and got married 9 years later”, said Anu.
2) What’s the best thing about your partner while on the roads?
Anu – The best thing about Pavan on the road is that we ALWAYS get to eat amazing food.
He researches all the local food, where to eat it etc and we always have really great, local, food on all our trips – thanks to him.
Pavan – The best thing about Anu is how she finds amazing things and experiences for us as a family on all our trips. It always pushes us out of our comfort zone and makes our holiday much more meaningful.
3) How do you guys plan a trip mostly? Who gets to choose the place?
We plan a trip based on a couple of factors and come to a conclusion together.
a) How much time we have. Depending on the number of days we can take off, we figure how close or far we want to travel on that trip.
b) Budget. We take into mind how much we want to spend and then decide where we want to go accordingly.
c) What we are in the mood for. Are we in the mood for a beach getaway, an adventurous mountain holiday, a safari, a city trip, etc?
4) If it has to be one place where you guys can go anytime, where would that be?
Wow, this is a difficult one. I think anywhere in South-East Asia. We absolutely love that region. It’s close by, it’s gorgeous, it’s affordable, the food is always great and there is always so much to do and experience.
5) What’s the most annoying habit of your partner while traveling?
Anu – Well, it’s annoying and amazing at the same time. He will make sure we eat at ALL his shortlisted food places on our trip – even if it means eating 872652829 meals in one day!
Pavan – Her packing! It’s not really organized and I don’t think we can ever share a bag! 😛
6) What’s the ideal weekend for you guys?
The ideal weekend is one with a mix of relaxing at home, going out/ spending time with Kabir, and catching up with friends.
7) What is your favorite part of traveling?
Our favorite part of traveling is experiencing new cultures, experiences, and food.
We always enjoy a trip far more if we have done something different, experienced something new, pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone – because we truly believe that’s where the magic is.
And our new favorite thing is to experience a place through the eyes of Kabir, our 3-year-old boy. The magic and amazement a child feels is contagious and helps us see the world in that way as well.
8) What’s that one thing you always look forward to, while on a journey?
We always look forward to new food and new activities/adventures that we haven’t done before. Be in learning to ski in France, snorkeling with the whale shark in the Philippines, or kayaking with Kabir in Dhanushkodi.
Learning and experiencing new things together is what we look forward to the most.
9) What would you say is the biggest adventure you have had together so far?
The biggest adventure has been traveling with our 3-year-old 🙂 We have been traveling with him since he was 3 months old and each trip with him becomes an adventure!
10) Tell us about one of the funniest/ weirdest experiences you’ve had while traveling.
One of our funniest experiences was in Monte Carlo. We wanted to see the whole city (which is really quite small) by electric car. You can rent them out by the hour there.
So we hired one and were driving along slowly on these roads which are used for F1, alongside Lamborghinis and what not. And suddenly halfway through our battery dies.
And I (Anu) got off and literally pushed that cart downhill with Pavan steering it, trying to find only downhill roads so we could make it in time to return it. It was quite a sight and experience!
The Hungry Travellers, as they call themselves, are setting a goal by exploring with their little one.
Debolina & Gaurav’s Wanderings!
1) Did you guys meet while traveling? If so, tell us the story.
No, we did not meet while traveling but yeah, we have discovered a lot about ourselves, while traveling!
2) What’s the best thing about your partner while on the roads?
Gaurav – She is so well-organized with a travel itinerary that I feel relaxed and we have a great time! Also, she always manages to look absolutely stunning in all her holiday outfits.
Debolina – He is a complete entertainer! I just love every bit of my journeys with him 🙂
3) How do you guys plan a trip mostly? Who gets to choose the place?
“It is always Debolina, who gets to choose the place, considering both our individual interests.
For example, I like architecture, art, and performances and she likes something more adventurous – so trips are mostly planned around these activities.
Well, we both have a say when choosing a place, so we take turns.
Debolina is a sea-loving person while I am more of a mountain lover and prefer forests too,” says Gaurav.
“We always shortlist some places, and then choose the one which fits into the holidays (corporate!) and also, our budget,” says Debolina.
4) If it has to be one place where you guys can go anytime, where would that be?
Sri Lanka. It is one country that gave us such diverse experiences and to be honest, our journey there has been very enriching. We also love to visit Kolkata, which is our hometown.
5) What’s the most annoying habit of your partner while traveling?
Gaurav – Debolina likes to be photographed a bit too often!
Debolina – He always overpays the cabs and he doesn’t allow me to bargain for anything I want to buy.
6) What’s the ideal weekend for you guys?
We’d mostly relax at home & cook, watch a movie, or set out for small getaways on my motorbike. We also love to for walks around the beach, one of the perks of living in Pondicherry!
7) What is your favorite part of traveling?
It’s definitely about leaving behind our corporate world and enjoying every moment of the journey.
8) What’s that one thing you always look forward to, while on a journey?
Beautiful locations and good food – these are a must for us! We are also intrigued by the thoughts of exploring unknown places.
9) What would you say is the biggest adventure you have had together so far?
“Whale watching expedition in Mirissa, Sri Lanka. We completely loved it and have been drooling over it for more than a year now!” – Gaurav mentioned.
“We also had a great time zip lining in Jodhpur,” says Debolina.
10) Tell us about one of the funniest/ weirdest experiences you’ve had while traveling.
“Getting into an unreserved night train in Sri Lanka and bribing the Ticket Checker to get a private compartment only to discover a few minutes later that it is infested with cockroaches! During that same trip, we were hiking to the Pidurangala Rock in Sigiriya, and on the last leg of the hike, I heard a sound, and Gaurav said, ‘Oh shit!’
Then I discovered that Gaurav completely tore his pants! The poor guy had to wear that pant and was behaving as if nothing happened!” – Debolina recalled!
Check out their beautiful travel stories & more on Instagram! They’re currently living in Pondicherry and planning their upcoming adventures in Bhutan.
Ankita & Chetan’s Joyrides!
1) Did you guys meet while traveling? If so, tell us the story.
No, we actually met during our Post-graduation. We used to plan trips while we were in college, but started traveling full-fledged after moving to Bengaluru.
2) What’s the best thing about your partner while on the roads?
We haven’t experienced trekkers, neither are we hardcore adventurers. So whenever we go on treks, the way we motivate each other to finish it and the fact that we know how each other is feeling is the best thing. One person can pass on some energy to the other. We do that pretty well 🙂
3) How do you guys plan a trip mostly? Who gets to choose the place?
It is mutual. Ankita gets a lot more ideas on where we can go and then we shortlist. Planning drives are usually Chetan’s thing.
4) If it has to be one place where you guys can go anytime, where would that be?
Wayanad, for a small holiday. But if it is a drive, then any waterbody outside Bengaluru. We love to explore and visit the lakes that are lesser-known.
5) What’s the most annoying habit of your partner while traveling?
Ankita – About Chetan, it’s cross-checking everything twice, hotel rooms, bags, money, etc.
Chetan – About Ankita, it’s the fact that she hates packing so I’ve to pack her bags too!
6) What’s the ideal weekend for you guys?
One which involves a long drive and gets us fresh for the next week. If not, then home is where the heart is!
7) What is your favorite part of traveling?
There are lots of things! Starting from how it pushes us to do new things! We have this feeling of ‘we won’t get a chance to do this always’. Experiencing new things, seeing new places, falling in love with those places, people and food. It teaches a lot and gives us a lot of stories to cherish.
8) What’s that one thing you always look forward to, while on a journey?
Interesting people, stories, and a lot of peace. But traveling after a long time or a hectic week makes us feel very fresh and energetic. We aren’t full-time travelers. Traveling gives us a nice break and energy to face the regular work schedules on a Monday morning, for which we are excited 🙂
9) What would you say is the biggest adventure you have had together so far?
“Have to be the time when we scuba dived in Andamans. We had never done it before and we decided to pick our 2nd anniversary as the perfect occasion to do something new. It was just amazing. Ankita is extremely scared of water and can’t swim. But together we conquered it. It was so amazing!” – Chetan said.
10) Tell us about one of the funniest/ weirdest experiences you’ve had while traveling.
We were on a local bus in Goa and running against time. We had to reach the main bus stop from where the Volvo bus was going to pick us up. This all was happening late in the night and we had to be back in Bombay and go for work the next morning.
The local bus was going extremely slow and we all got irritated. I lost my control and shouted at the driver saying, ‘please hurry up we have to catch another bus and get to Bombay!’ All other passengers also jumped in and pushed the driver.
At one point the entire bus was keeping our morals high. A local priest was even praying for us. Somehow we didn’t miss our Volvo. Although we had to call the driver 5 times and ask him to wait for us. He was very annoyed and so were the other passengers.
But the fellow travelers in the local bus were so nice and helpful, the entire situation was very weird and funny now that we look back at it.
Wanna know more about Ankita & Chetan’s adventures? Well, you gotta check out Married To A Beardo then!
Riyanka & Rijuman’s Roamings!
1) Did you guys meet while traveling? If so, tell us the story.
“Oh well, yeah! We met during the Goecha La Trek, back in 2016. We were 11 people & it was my first high altitude trek; my speed was slower than the rest and RD accompanied me all throughout. The trek was for 10 days, and by the time we were heading back home, we kinda knew that there was something that we both could connect to…”, says Riyanka.
2) What’s the best thing about your partner while on the roads?
Rijuman – She’s always enthusiastic to try out new things – whether it’s about binging on local cuisine, hopping from one market to another, randomly catching up with strangers – like, you can think of anything & Riyanka’s up for it.
Riyanka – He’s like that silent charger who helps me keep going! Might sound overly cheesy, but Riju is the best thing himself 🙂
3) How do you guys plan a trip mostly? Who gets to choose the place?
So, we are both avid readers and there are a lot of places which we’ve read about and have always been keen on visiting those places. Also, Riyanka’s work gives her a lot of space to research on destinations and then, we together try to figure out if we can visit that place. Of course, time & budget are 2 main factors that we have to consider while planning, but in most cases, it’s a mutual decision.
4) If it has to be one place where you guys can go anytime, where would that be?
Anywhere in the mountains! (Our favorite places are around the Himalayas in Himachal, Uttarakhand or Sikkim) We can just pack our bags at any time and sit on a bus, only to find ourselves away from the network zone, the next morning.
5) What’s the most annoying habit of your partner while traveling?
Rijuman – Riyanka gets obsessed with sharing everything on Instagram!
Riyanka – RD gets really slow at times, especially if you are in a museum, you can leave him there for the whole day and he’ll still not be done with seeing it!
6) What’s the ideal weekend for you guys?
Since we are in a long-distance relationship for the last 4 years, we try to meet once every month, over the weekends and escape to the mountains! Otherwise, if we are in the city, we love to catch up with our friends over lunch/ dinner.
7) What is your favorite part of traveling?
The fact of being in motion, discovering new things as well as ourselves! We believe that every journey adds something to our lives and makes us better human beings. Well, no one can deny the fact that traveling teaches us some of the best lessons 🙂
8) What’s that one thing you always look forward to, while on a journey?
We’ll be honest in this case, we look forward to spending time with each other. But other than that, we love to soak in the local culture, experience the beauty that lies in the little things, savor the local cuisine, and indulge in knowing the land that we visit. Every place has a story to tell – and we try our best to listen to it, to feel it and to live it 🙂
9) What would you say is the biggest adventure you have had together so far?
Ah well, we have done paragliding & scuba diving, gone for high altitude treks and spend nights amidst deserts – if you would call them adventures! But to mention one, we would definitely say that it’s adopting our baby elephant, Kiasa. (We are foster parents to this 2-year-old bundle of cuteness, who lives in David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage.) Bringing her into our lives has been the biggest adventure till date!
10) Tell us about one of the funniest/ weirdest experiences you’ve had while traveling.
“It was when we were exploring Angkor Wat, and I was wearing a saree that day. One Chinese lady came up to us and giving her phone, she was saying something in her language, and all we could understand was ‘Photo Photo! RD thought she’s asking to click her photo, but then she started dragging me and wanted to pose for a click with me! It was hilarious because she thought I’m a Bollywood actress!”, says Riyanka.
Follow their footsteps on Instagram & also read about their amazing stories on Backpacking Romance. Currently, they’re planning to travel to Spiti while the valley is still covered in a veil of snow!
Anshul & Arpita’s Adventures!
1) Did you guys meet while traveling? If so, tell us the story.
Although we didn’t exactly meet during traveling, it was travel that got us together in the first place. In April 2016, Arpita was planning to travel to Egypt when she chanced upon a Facebook comment on a friend’s profile about some offbeat places in Egypt which Anshul had visited. Checking Anshul’s photo albums online, she was quite intrigued.
“What began as a simple personal message with some travel query, soon developed into hours of online and phone conversations until we finally met in Bangalore, around June 2016.”
2) What’s the best thing about your partner while on the roads?
Anshul – Arpita is quite effective in managing our travel funds and keeping a check on our spending which has helped to save us a lot of money in the long run. It took a bit of traveling together to understand each other’s preferences but that is a major reason in keeping our costs down.
Arpita – Anshul has immense knowledge about the history and culture of a place and spends hours researching offbeat spots and route planning. This helps him to enrich our experience of a place and be ready with any last-minute change of plans.
3) How do you guys plan a trip mostly? Who gets to choose the place?
Since we spend most of our free time together (we are married now after dating for 3 years!) we keep on telling each other about places that we would want to see. Also, we keep tagging/sharing blogs/articles on some interesting places that we find, with each other.
Choosing the place is more a result of how much time, what season/month we are traveling for and our way of travel there. For example, we planned New Zealand for our honeymoon as only for marriage reasons we can take long leaves from office as both of us are working full-time jobs. “Then again, one should always let the wife choose the place”, says Anshul.
4) If it has to be one place where you guys can go anytime, where would that be?
For Arpita, this would be Iran. For Anshul, it would be Indonesia.
5) What’s the most annoying habit of your partner while traveling?
Arpita has an irritating habit of keeping multiple alarms and then snoozing them, starting a vicious cycle of recursive alarms so much so that sometimes her alarms have their own alarms. Anshul wants to splurge money sometimes on stay and transport, which he is unable to as Arpita reiterates that they are budget travelers.
6) What’s the ideal weekend for you guys?
A quick weekend trip from Bangalore that we like doing is birding in Dandeli. Our favorite haunt is a budget-friendly facility that maintains several birding hides and watering holes frequented by lot of passerines and endemic avian fauna.
7) What is your favorite part of traveling?
Our favorite part of traveling would be interacting with local people, listening to their stories, staying in homestays and traveling by public transport just like locals would.
8) What’s that one thing you always look forward to, while on a journey?
Natural spots such as lakes, waterfalls, mountains, and canyons are what attract us the most.
9) What would you say is the biggest adventure you have had together so far?
That would be our overland journey across Iran – Uzbekistan – Tajikistan – Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. It took us three months of which we spent close to a month in Iran and the remaining two months in Stans. Even after spending so much time in this region which is steeped with so much Silk Route history and breathtaking mountain scenery, we would love to visit it again someday.
10) Tell us about one of the funniest/ weirdest experiences you’ve had while traveling.
Our encounters with visa consulates especially abroad would form a majority of funniest to weird to
downright racist experiences. We had quite a funny experience while getting an Uzbekistan visa in its consulate in Baku, Azerbaijan. As we mentioned before, we were traveling overland across Iran and the Stans and needed to get the visas on the road since taking them all in our home country would have been too early. The visa officer had a reputation of being a strict and terse person based on posts on forums. However, when we entered the consulate and told that we are Indians, everything changed. He had an instant smile on his face and suddenly spoke in perfect Hindi – ‘Agar aap Indian hai toh aap saari aur dhoti mein kyu nhi aaye?’(If you are Indians then why are you not wearing saari and dhoti clothes?)
We were taken aback as to how a person who has no Indian ties could be speaking Hindi so fluently. Upon further prodding, he told us that back in the 70s when Uzbekistan was part of the Soviet Union he had studied Hindi in St.Petersburg as Hindi movies and litreature was quite in the rage those days. He had wanted to visit India since then but that dream never got fulfilled. He then proceeded to sing several golden era Hindi songs, followed by a discussion on Bollywood. In the end, he even asked us to increase the length of our stay in Uzbekistan telling that his country deserves more time. Months later, when we visited Uzbekistan, we found him to be an ideal representation of his country as the Uzbeks are really fascinated by Indian culture, especially Bollywood and soap operas. Throughout the day, tons of locals would approach us to take selfies with us, break out on a Hindi song or ask questions about Shahrukh Khan.
To know more about their adventures, check out their blogs at Backpacker Crows. They’re currently based in Bangalore.
Meera & Akshay’s Journey!
1) Did you guys meet while traveling? If so, tell us the story.
“Yes, the common urge to travel is what brought us together even though we were located a distance apart. It was an unusually bright evening; I was sitting a few seats away from her in the shuttle van. We were returning from an inter-college technical symposium, that’s when I saw her first. I looked at her, she looked at me, a little spark in the eyes and I found something special in her. Love at first sight? Well, something like that. 😉 I essentially found one more reason to travel more. It took us a lot more traveling and talking before we could decide on ourselves. Actually, we spend most of the time together in either a bus or train in the first few years of the relationship,” Akshay recalls.
2) What’s the best thing about your partner while on the roads?
Akshay – The best thing about her is obviously her spirit for traveling that keeps us going no matter what. She is absolutely a travel monkey!
3) How do you guys plan a trip mostly? Who gets to choose the place?
“She chooses the place, she is best in that! Doing proper research and planning, that’s usually my job,” says Akshay.
4) If it has to be one place where you guys can go anytime, where would that be?
We haven’t yet been to the same travel destination more than once. But if we had to, then it would be Munnar, an amazing climate and a beautiful place that I always want to explore with her.
5) What’s the most annoying habit of your partner while traveling?
Akshay – We started our travel blog Memory Carver when I realized she takes amazing memorable pictures. But the SAD PART is once she takes her camera out to capture mother nature, it’s hours and hours of waiting for me!
6) What’s the ideal weekend for you guys?
An ideal weekend for us would be a one/two day trip to the outskirts of the city.
7) What is your favorite part of traveling?
What we love about traveling together is that we can make the most out of the time we spend together. Personally, it’s the journey that we mostly enjoy, ‘coz that’s when we talk.
8) What’s that one thing you always look forward to, while on a journey?
We always look for new things that we haven’t seen or done. Making new experiences is most important to us.
9) What would you say is the biggest adventure you have had together so far?
Apart from medium level trekking, we haven’t yet made it to an adventure travel destination. But we can remember the bike ride to Yana caves which turned out to be an adventurous ride.
10) Tell us about one of the funniest/ weirdest experiences you’ve had while traveling.
That was when we missed our bus to Gokarna even though we reached the boarding point on time. The travel agency showed zero responsibility, they didn’t even pick up our calls once they understood we were left behind. We tried to take an auto-rickshaw to the next stopping point, but it was late night and no one was ready to take a long trip. At last, we got one to catch up but the driver dropped us in a middle way and we took another one from there! We thought the trip got totally spoiled. But fortunately, after the long chase, finally we made it to the bus, stopped it and got in. 😊
To know more about their adventures, check out their blogs at Memory Carver.
