Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness

Believe it or not, I got my opportunity to board a plane, first time in my life, in 2008, that too an international one, to my work location, in The UK. Yes, till then (25 years!) didn’t knew what this experience of flying to a far away land meant! So, for obvious reasons UK was my 2nd country visited, and then France, again on work trips… which is when, this travel bug bit me! An idea of travelling places, solo, was brewing up! (Yes, contrary to the misbeliefs, I am an absolute introvert person, and 3-is-a-crowd for me).

With this thought, and having the luxury of staying in the UK, I started chalking out what next place can I choose, to experiment, if I can manage everything solo! And Ting!! Came the idea, of why not visiting my senior, in Netherlands, all alone, and test the idea of travelling solo. And boy, that was a mistake!! You ask why?? I enjoyed it soooo much, that since then, I hate travelling in groups!.. yes, it has its pros and cons, and I am ok, to own up the f-ups in my trip, than to forcefully be in some bad company! (Don't get me wrong, I have great friends, but when I am out there, I go crazy (read .. cranky! That's what they say), and that these buggers cant handle… and I don't blame them either

So, that was till no 4. Then, came back to base, moved around nearby, and visited my next 2; Mauritius and Bhutan. I was back in the UK from 2013 to 2016, in bits and pieces, and appreciating the proximity of Europe from there, did these few, in sequence, next… Belgium, Germany, Austria, Spain and Portugal and was back to base again! These trips gradually gave me a confidence, that solo traveling is absolutely doable and fun, at the same time! So, here I was at country no. 11; and two of my personal best moments so far were, seeing Cristiano Ronaldo play live in-front of me, in Manchester (oh btw, haven’t kicked a football in life, but a big fan; and I never miss visiting a stadium, in whichever country I visit… you name them, I have kinda visited them.. topping up, did a Benfica stadium tour in the day; and watching their rivals game, Sporting Lisbon, the cradle of CR7, at the same night) … and, visiting my idol, my guru, our Raju Reporter, Tintin's home.. the original Herge Museum, Louvain-la-Neuve, somewhere in Belgium.

Now, back in Kolkata, I had to plot my next moves, keeping the proximity in mind; so I decided in doing the South East Asian countries next, one after another, taking a few leaves here and there, clubbing with the weekends, taking the very very late Thursday night flights, and coming in directly to office, in many cases, very early Monday mornings. Contrary to yet another misbelief about me, yes, so far was managing work well too. 

Anyways countries 12 to 20 then, in sequence, (disclaimer, only one here was with my closest bud, who alone, let's say can handle my tantrums) Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh and Nepal. Nepal was January 2020, and THEN CAME COVID, disrupting everything on earth, forget about Travelling! 

Now was the time to survive the scary period, and I have been grateful yet again, that today I can breathe free, touch people, once more.. 

Back to my story, then.. cut to 2022… while I was just surviving, this itchiness of stuck-in-home, was killing me, back in my mind. Another chance to going to the UK was brewing up somewhere, in the later part of that year, yes, again on work assignments, however, I was trying desperately to finish off my neighbouring countries, before I change the base again, for sometime. My already sealed plan of visiting Sri Lanka went for a toss, due to the Covid outbreak in 2020, so I was choosing which one of the 2, to pick, while I was restarting, Sri Lanka, or the naughty neighbours?? Anyways, (and I will not give out this story, as I can write a book, itself on this).. Pakistan, believe it or not, was my 21st. These days getting a proper tourist visa there, is next to impossible, but I managed a different route to go in - more about it, in a different blog !!

Ok, am still in 2022, and now I have travelled to the UK again, however it’s the FIFA Football World Cup year, and this, I had been eyeing to attend since the Russia one!! Now, I am close to a super senior of mine (read as my bud’s dad) who has done 2 world cups already, if not wrong, that was enough for me to get my tickets secured, with his help this time, for Qatar!! So yes, Qatar, was my 22nd… and I had the best 6 days of my life! I am a die hard fan of Messi, couldn’t manage an Argentina ticket, but was more than happy, when he finally lifted the cup (P.S. Yes, I have been lucky to see Lionel Messi play live too, and believe it or not, in Kolkata)

Well, 2022 ended in the high, actually as high as possible; and now, stepping into 2023 - I didn't yet knew that the Best Travel Year Of My Life, was just awaiting 😁, I decided to make up on the lost time, so far.. so, I pushed myself a ‘bit more’, resulting in visiting 23 new countries, in 2023 alone! Yes, you have read it correct - I DID VISIT 23 NEW COUNTRIES IN A YEAR (Thanks to my boss(es) at my work place, where I somehow managed to have a Digital Nomad life ..  which actually helped, in balancing both sides)

So, no-brainers... keeping the proximity again in mind, I tried to cover Europe as much as possible, and did these, in sequence… Türkiye, Norway, Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Morocco, Serbia, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, San Marino, Romania, Bulgaria, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to take me to my 45th country !

Since my 40th b'day this year, I have started vlogging my marvellous mischiefs recently (its just a way of my documentation, keeping those 9 followers of mine in mind)… and wish to keep them direct-from-the-roads. No cinematic videos there, just stories from the road; raw, unscripted yet fresh... And, if you are part of those 9, and have read this till here, then THANK YOU for being a part of my journey 

Now, now … wait ! I haven't finished yet 😀

Being an IT guy, number games keep chasing us, right? So, why stop at 45 now? Let's reach 50 !! Come On 😀 Thus, I started thinking of what can be the next 5? Easy targets, but at least the 50th should be an interesting one. Meanwhile, I was in the UK for a really long time now, so thought of visiting my friends and family back home, for a short break, and thus planned United Arab Emirates, my 46th, on the way. Easy !

Coming back from the break (and by now, I have exhausted entries into the coveted Schengen Zone) picking up countries were becoming bit tough. And, then, yet another idea came into my mind, of tapping the Caucasian region - where I can get easy e-Visas. Hence did Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia as my 47th to 49th.. and chose Europe's least visited country, Moldova as my 50th.

I wont lie, a) the immigration hurdles were really tough this time, as I had chosen 2 countries from the above, who are ongoing political unrest, with road boarders closed amongst them (you find out, which 2 am I talking here) and b) I became really emotional, entering Moldova, my 50th! Still cant believe, I have done 25% of world! Yes, it's just a start, but it's really a big thing for me 😀   

Annnnnnnnnnnyways !!! Enough of blabbering. So "What's Next ?"

Having scratched 25% of Earth’s surface so far (50/197), I "wish" to travel the whole world, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe... and would love to help you, on the same!" Wish me luck, and hope I can be of any help, for any places that I have visited.. will love to push you towards travelling, too! With that note… and lifting this quote from the internet … “Dil se bolo; Travel Solo” 

P.S. By the time I managed to create my own website (finally!!), I have added 3 more to the above list, let's reach to a milestone of 75 countries, and then hopefully I blabber more here, for those 25... anyways, 2025 gave me the chance to visit Ireland (51), USA (52) and Canada (53)! Here I paused and completed all the Cities of UK (78/78) and wasted more money in visiting all 20 Premier League Clubs and 24 Championship Clubs for the 2024/25 season, calling it a wrap for UK - More details .... soon!