Why my walking tour is not on the ‘Top 10 things to do in Mumbai’.

Don’t get me wrong, of course I want my initiative to be searchable and have a great SEO ranking but the keywords are key.

10 years ago, my ideal holiday was all about picking a dream destination & ticking every single item off the ‘Things to do’ list. Today, I wish I knew better. Most of us who’ve been to Thailand probably have a picture like this one.

The Tiger Monastery at Kanchanaburi is 2 hours away from Bangkok. What a beautiful drive it is. I slept through half of it. We stood in a line for a quick photo op. We were told the tigers had just been fed & it was their time to nap so it was safe. I know something deep down didn’t feel right but I was more worried about the perfect picture for Facebook. I remember people lined up again because they didn’t like their pictures. It got 12 likes & 25 comments. That’s what it took to make me happy then. A few years later, I read about the temple closing down due to animal trafficking & dead bodies of cubs found in a freezer.

Better late than never but I began to revisit every travel itinerary I had ever imagined. I began looking for experiences which may not necessarily make for great pictures.
- I started looking beyond the ‘Must-do’s of every destination.
- I chose walking tours or hop on hop off tours over private tours to fancy touristy places. Who knew I’d host my own little walking tour years later!
- I began living with locals & chose B&B’s over 5 star hotels. I brought myself to giving out my dream home on B&B.
- I stopped buying souvenirs mindlessly just to remind people that I’ve been to a place.
- Travel, like life, is not about ticking boxes & being on time for every sunset. Stop where you are & look the sky, you’ll know the sun is setting somewhere.

I couldn’t watch beyond half an episode of Tiger King but the show reminded me of this experience & how it did change travel for me. I want to meet more like-minded people through my B&B and walking tours. All the guests I’ve hosted so far were because they looked beyond the ‘Top 10 things to do’ or ‘Top 10 places to go’. My walking tour will always be a cultural experience where people meet and exchange stories not a history walk. Quoting one of my guests, ‘It was like friends hanging out and exploring a place.’ Over the past 2 years, it has evolved thanks to everyone who walked with me, the questions they’ve asked and the experiences they’ve shared. Even though it has been the same route, no two walks have ever been the same.

Roam and Ramble with Ashwini is not a ‘thing to do’. It is an experience I create & live fully every single time. The walk is real.