Someone's watching our back...

Europe – 50 days – 5 countries. The biggest adventure of our lives was scheduled to begin in 6 days and we still didn’t have a visa. So did we have the heart to plan for the mammoth trip that might be ahead of us? Obviously not! A dream is still a dream until you can really see, taste, smell, hear and feel it. And a week before the trip, it was still an over-ambitious dream lodged in the back of our whimsical minds, one that we didn’t even want to think of. We were cocksure that it will never ever happen. Never ever. Then all of a sudden, the visa came, almost like a slap in the face, bringing us back to reality. A reality where a dream can be real. For real. In fact, we later even admitted to each other that we almost wished the visa never came, because we were scared. What now? Who what when where why? So many things to do and just five days before we land in Europe. But before we even found the answers, we were flying out. Unprepared and nervous. No itinerary, no hostel bookings, no plan. The only thing we were sure about was that this was going to be life changing. And that faith in our dream eventually gave us cynics from India something that was more valuable than anything else in the universe – faith in humanity.

Providence followed us backpackers as we travelIed from one country to another. It watched our backs as we sat on trains for hours. It let us know we made the right choice even as we slept on a cold, hard airport floor instead of venturing out in the middle of the night into a new city. It patted our backs when we crossed boundaries. Smiled as we ate one-odd hot meal after a hard day of bread, bread and more bread and lulled us to sleep after a long day of walking. And this providence came in many many avatars:

• .      Madhu, the wife of Christina’s ex-colleague. A techie who lives alone in Baar, a small town near Zurich. Never met her or spoke to her until a few days before our flight out of Hyderabad. Yet, after a long day at work, she went out of the way to travel to another city by train, wait outside the airport at night, take us, two strangers, to her house and give us refuge on our first ever day in Europe. Next morning she asked us to help ourselves to whatever’s in her fridge, explained to us the way to get to Germany, our first destination, left her house keys with us and rushed to work.  

•       Shalini, sister of Preeti, Christina’s old friend, and her husband Parag. Never met them either. They live in Nürnberg, the prettiest little old German city that was our first look at Europe. They hosted us, picked us up from the station, put us up in our own little room, cooked us one yummy Indian meal after another, helped us plan the itinerary for the next few days and made us feel like home even we were miles away. 

Our room at Shalini and Parag's in Nürnberg

•      Ranju and his mom. A friend of a friend. They live in Berlin. Complete strangers. Even as we were looking for hostels to stay in, they opened up the doors of their friends’ vacant house as they were on a vacation to India. Gave us the keys to the neat lil’ apartment, stocked it up with milk, butter, bread and jam and warm quilts. Ranju’s mom even cooked a yummy Mallu dinner for two random backpackers whom she’d never met before and treated us like family. 

Ranju leading the way in Berlin

•       Teresa Gonsalves, a beautiful, intelligent and warm Spanish girl who lives in Madrid. Within one week of knowing her at a programme, she invited us to her house, gave us a warm bed to sleep on and showed us around her beautiful, beautiful city. 

Happy Feet lives, laughs and loves with Teresa, Chnar and Rudy in Madrid 

•       Rudy and Chnar Ayala. The cutest couple in the world. Left their home in the US behind and set out on an epic, year-long globetrotting adventure. They are living our dream. A chance encounter in Spain had us travelling together in the gorgeous city of Barcelona. After sharing a lot of laughter, food and worldly conversations, we graduated from travelling buddies to friends for life. Wooohooo  ;) 

•       Shilpa Vaidya, friend from college. More Parisian than Indian, more real than anyone we know. Helped us do 10 days in Paris, one of the most expensive cities in the world, in a record-breaking 100 Euros each. She made us her roommates for 10 days, cooked amazing French and Italian food for us, listened to our mad wanderlust stories with utmost interest, watched Bollywood movies with us, made us laugh a lot and showed us the Paris of the Parisians, not of the tourists. She made us fall in love with the city that she fell in love with three years ago. 

Happy Feet finds a Parisian friend in Shilpa

•       Mohammed, Fatima and princess baby Raina Dastagir. My friends from Hyderabad who are one big, warm, happy bundle of joy and love. They live in Basel, Switzerland and have made us part of their lovely home. This couple made us fall in love with their adorable ways, their beautiful daughter, who is officially the cutest baby in the whole universe, the yummylicious food  they cook, their simple, Swiss life and their warmth.

Mexican night at the Dastagirs' in Basel

32 days up and we know the list will only get longer as we head to more destinations. We know that this adventure of ours would not be complete if not for each one of them. We know that every time we set foot on a new land, it will only reconfirm our faith in love, friendship and life. And I guess that’s what travelling is all about.

-- P