An unplanned journey is among the most beautiful ones. It may sound stupid, but yes actually it is among the best trips you may have. Since the beginning, we have been told about planning and preparing. Be it anything, any incident or situation in our life, we have been told and taught to plan, prepare, and schedule everything and that’s what we do. We plan and then we execute. That is certainly is a wise decision. But there is a joy in doing things without planning too. There are so many people who love to travel unplanned. No doubt, if you travel unplanned, there are certain challenges, but there is always a way to overcome every challenge. Unplanned traveling means adventure and wonderful memories. What if, you are enjoying a sound sleep and you get a call at 2 AM?
“Hey there?”
“Hey Ron, what’s up man. All okay?”
“Yes man, let’s catch the early train and leave for Kasol…”
Now, there are two replies. Either you can say,
“Have you gone mad? Who calls at this hour and ask to visit Kasol? Man, you need preparation and planning?”
And by this answer, you can ruin the chances of great adventure and fun. Or you can reply,
“Sounds good man. Give me half hour and I will come to pick you.”
And with this, you can welcome an amazing moment, full of wonderful memories, fun, and entertainment.
How can you travel unplanned?
Traveling unplanned is challenging and not everyone is able to travel unplanned. But I know people who visit the bus stand and without knowing where the bus is going, they board in and travel to an unknown place. That’s brave! That’s exciting and adventurous. But how easy is it to travel unplanned? Well, it is not that easy to travel unplanned. You need to be careful of so many things when it comes to traveling to a place without knowing about it.
Most of the time, when we decide to travel to any place, the first thing that we do is to know about the place. We read about that place online, we go through some blogs, articles, we find out the best places to visit; we find out the cheap hotels to stay there; we find the best restaurant or food option and there are certainly lots of things we look for. We prepare a proper itinerary and then we leave. We book everything already, like bus/train/air ticket; hotels, etc. But if you do nothing of these things, how will your journey be?
If you are a regular traveler, then you can cope up with the problems that you possibly may get on the way. But for a newbie, it is really a challenge to travel without any planning. If you share this idea with the people who are in the habit of planning travel trips, they will call you stupid. But it’s a great idea and you can enjoy more than those who are planning their trips.
You should be ready to travel unplanned anytime
If you want to travel unplanned, then you should be ready to travel. It means you should have time to travel to anyplace anytime. It’s not just about a long weekend trip, it can be a smaller journey, where you go by the early morning and return back by the night. But most of the trips are longer than this. Your friend can call you anytime for traveling. Thus, you should always be ready to travel day anytime.
Don’t pack too many things if you are traveling without planning
Packing is an important step. If you pack too much, it will be hard to carry obviously. If you are a travel blogger, you probably end up packing your gadgets more than your clothes or anything else. When I did an unplanned trip to Dharamshala, I packed my camera, power bank, charger, one T-shirt, a towel, and a toiletry kit including a facewash, hand sanitizer, and a moisturizer. When I reached Dharamshala, I bought two pouches of Head & Shoulders shampoo, a small toothpaste, a brush, and a cargo trouser. So, travel light and enjoy the journey.
Be attentive all the time when you are on the trip
I slept while I took a bus to Pathankot from ISBT Kashmiri Gate and I reached Kaluchak and Katra was only 50KM away. Well, I got down there and took a bus back to Pathankot. This spoiled some hours but it was great fun and now I have wonderful memories. So, don’t let this happen to you. You already are on an unplanned trip; you should avoid anything more which is not even in unplanned planning. Be it a road trip or a flight, attention is always needed.
You should have enough money
Budget traveling and unplanned traveling usually go parallel. If you are traveling unplanned, there are chances that you may have to spend extra. For example, if you have planned your trip and you have already booked your bus ticket and hotel, then obviously you will get them at cheaper prices as compared to going for on the spot booking. Yes, it may not happen every time, but there are chances.
It’s better to travel solo if you want to travel unplanned
Solo traveling and unplanned traveling, both are different concepts but I think if you travel alone, you have all the liberty and you can travel unplanned. You don’t have to ask your friends for anything, you don’t have to request anyone for anything; you don’t have to bother about anything. It’s like you don’t feel like sleeping and its 3 AM in the morning, you can just pack your bag and leave. That’s it. It is that simple. All you have to do is to think about going somewhere and you just leave. However, traveling with friends actually great fun but when it comes to solo traveling, you can just leave like a nomad.
These are the top five ways of traveling unplanned. Unplanned journeys give great fun and are full of adventure. I went to Kathmandu back in 2013 and that was totally an unplanned journey. I decided to go there at 11:30 AM and by 1 PM; I was at Delhi junction railway station. And I only had around 900 rupees at that time. Though it was a group trip, my friends were already there but that was my first unplanned journey and that too so far. I had great memories and I always cherish. Though with friends, road trips are always fun.
