Traveling With A Theme

Till recently (and maybe even now) I am unsure if I like or dislike traveling. Regardless, it’s something I do a lot. Hitting up the top 10 tourist attractions from Trip Advisor at your destination can feel meaningless. It can also be confusing deciding which locations to hit up in a country. I have found traveling with a theme to be a good remedy to this.

After a great deal of mediation and self reflection and a small dose of Googling about a country, one can come up with a theme. “Homestead days and back roads America” and “Health in India” were two themes I used recently. These themes helped to guide destinations and spots to check out. Along the way if there was a compelling tourist destination, I stop.

Themes can take you to places you wouldn’t normally look into. “Health in India” resulted in me deciding towns to visit based on which ones had a Primary Health Center (PHC). I would visit these health centers and surrounding attractions at these towns (often not tourist attractions since no one goes here). I also reached out to researchers and folks working in the health tech field and met with several of them. This gives a nice immersion into local life and gives one an idea of effectiveness of government and activities of business. Other themes will take you elsewhere. Happy journey!