Go, Explore The World!

Wing Commander Pravinkumar Padalkar
Sep 25, 2022
3 min read

Tourism is the best avenue to experience life. You get to see amazingly beautiful places. You get to meet different kinds of people. The most important outcome of travel is that you get to know yourself as well. That’s what travel does to you. Every journey teaches you something new. Every time you step out of your house, you never return back as the same person. Travel is the best teacher. Travel is the only leisure that entertains you, rejuvenates you, and at the same time enriches your life.

Hence, exploring the world must be one of the life goals for everyone. Being a wanderer, on the occasion of world tourism day, I take this opportunity to help you to achieve this goal.

I do love to travel. I make it a point to unearth and explore at least one international destination every year along with my wife. I plan these tours on my own. Deciding on the countries to visit, the must-see places, the itinerary, the accommodation, the transfers, and everything related to travel. I do not like to travel with any travel agency. That takes out almost all the fun. Planning tours on my own provides me great opportunity to read a lot about these destinations. Specifically, I am enamoured by history, culture, heritage, and mythology. While preparing and planning for these tours, I realized that the planning process is also as enjoyable as the journey itself.

Last week, along with other places, I visited two historically significant sites.

The first one was Dachau, about 15 Kms from Munich, Germany. This is the place where the first concentration camp was established by Hitler in 1933. This camp was operational during World War II from 1933 to 1945. More than 45,000prisoners died in this camp due to various reasons. This has been the most brutal footprint left over by history to date. The memorial site displays the sign “NEVER AGAIN” leaving you horrified and speechless.

The other one is the birthplace of one of the greatest composers in the history of western music, “The great Mozart”. Salzburg in Austria is famous for its art, culture, and architecture. This beautiful small town, which is a world heritage site, is situated on the foothills of the Alps. A must-visit place in Austria.

And how can I forget about the Oktoberfest held in Munich? One has to see this to believe. The sheer madness of the crowd enjoying to the hilt as if there is no tomorrow.

Where to go? The Top Ten

In this small world, there are 195 countries to explore. However, out of these, not many are worth visiting. When selecting a country to visit, my focus is always on culture, history, nature, and heritage. So, these are my top ten destinations one must visit in a lifetime:-

1. Greece

2. Japan

3. Italy

4. Switzerland

5. Scandinavian countries (Norway/Iceland/Sweden for Aurora Borealis also called as Northern Lights)

6. UK

7. South Africa / Kenya (for Masai Mara)

8. Egypt

9. Mexico

10. Turkey

You may draw your own list and start exploring the world.

What do I need to travel abroad?

I have been to many international destinations. These visits have made me much wiser and have profoundly contributed to the way I live my life today. I strongly believe that there are only two essential prerequisites for traveling abroad. These are good health and lots of wealth.

To enjoy the world tour, you will have to keep yourself absolutely fit and healthy. At any international destination, in a day, you have to walk at least 10 to 20 Km. The weather will be quite harsh. The food will not be as per your taste. Hence, you need to keep yourself absolutely healthy. I am sure you must be doing regular exercises and a morning brisk walk of at least five km every day. If not, please put on your shoes and start today. Travel or no travel, please remember that health is wealth.

If you haven’t yet travelled abroad much, you may wonder how much it will cost? Don’t worry about this cost. It is not a big money. On average, including your spouse, you will need only Rs. 5 Lakh per tour per year. That is just peanuts.

The world tour of ten must-visit countries will cost you only Rs. 50 Lakhs.

I hope you have already planned for this goal and set aside this investment. Even if you haven’t, not to worry. By this time you are well aware that you can always start a new SIP and achieve this goal.