The background

I was looking for an apt introduction for sharing my experience during the one week getaway in Rajasthan and Uttarakhand but was just not getting the initiaitive. Just then I chanced upon seeing this month’s IEEE Spectrum and Outlook Traveller in my office desk. Spectrum had a cover story - Dream Jobs ’09. It was about people who were paid to have – FUN. Excellent, I thought. Travel could just be the kind of job that I may want to have and of course get paid. Just as my enthusiasm was dying down as I got back to the office chores, I ran through the pages of Outlook Traveller to see the main stories. A regular column on “contributors this month” caught my attention again. This section always makes me jealous of the people who get to travel, splurge on the best spas in the world, taste various varieties of wine on invitation and still get handsomely paid for that. When this day dream was again shattered by a call by a friend to join for the lunch, I made up my mind to write on my travel experience even though none would care what I would be writing about.

My purpose of a week long getaway to some place was to be on my own and do some things that I had longed to do like rafting in Ganges or Brahmaputra, jeep safari in a national park, goto a desert, bungee jumping, paragliding, horse riding etc. Finding out where I can do some of these things most economically and efficiently was a big challenge. After much deliberation I decided on a Rajasthan/Uttarakhand trip which would cover a part of my wish list - horse riding, going a desert, rafting, jeep safari. The Zip flying organized by Flying Fox in Neemrana Fort, Alwar came very close to be what a paragliding may offer. So I packed a busy schedule covering/doing all these places in 6 days. Now when I write about it I feel like participating in a season of Amazing Race. I was sure that being alone and a jam packed schedule, the travel is sure going to be adventurous by itself. Destination does matter to give framework to the travel but the heart of the matter and real fun would be the journey itself, people you meet, ideas you share and more importantly how you trust strangers merely on the basis of an email, phone call or a casual chat. In my trip I had it all. See rest of the posts in this blog for details.

For all the photographs taken during the trip, visit
Day 1 - Udaipur
Day 2,3 - Jaisalmer
Day 4,5,6 - Neemrana Fort, Rishikesh, Corbett national Park