This IIM Udaipur Student Managed To Travel 23 Countries Within 105 Days Through A Travel Exchange Program In France
Travelling is something which everyone craves to do, but what stops them doing that is, career plans, lifestyle and most importantly ‘Money’. Travel lovers generally pack off for a couple of months after saving the money earned from the rest of the year. If someone is too much obsessed with travelling, then he or she might end up travelling for six months after working for the six months.
Now, what excites everyone is ‘Travel for free’. Yes! there are thousands of travel freaks who would love to explore this diverse world within their life, but money is the key factor that stops them from breaking away the routine.
Here’s this IIM Udaipur student ‘Prashant Bhansali’, he joined in an exchange program held in France.
Prashanth shared his epic experience of exploring 23 countries within 105 days:
“Every year, more than 400 students from India visit Europe for similar student exchange programmes but what became was unique in my case was that I sneaked out time from my schedule and planned out some travel trips.”
Quoting about the dark side, he said:
“I always wanted to experience a solo trip but never had the courage to try it in India. So, I decided to undertake one while I was still in Europe. I packed my bags, booked the first flight to Portugal and left (literally, that was what happened). For the first few days, every day was quite haunting for me. I craved for human conversations. It was killing me to roam around alone for days without saying or talking to anyone.”
He then added:
“In these 105 days, I have experienced backpacker solo trips to random road trips, slept at airport floor to random street roads, experienced from 35°C to -7°C, travelled 15-22 Km almost every day on foot, hiked mountains, crossed oceans, hopped on scooters, lived life in some of the remotest villages to some of the world’s most exotic islands, survived on bread and cheese and met unimaginable amount of crazy and smart people from all over the globe. Indeed, it was an experience which could only be lived and is really difficult to express. Great things happen when you have the least expectations.”
The pictures itself depict the wide range of places Prashanth has so far explored. Starting with the majestic Corsica, where parts of ‘Tamasha’ were shot, to stepping foot on King’s Landing from ‘Game of Thrones’ in Dubrovnik, Croatia, it started like a dream. He managed to check off quite a lot many countries that are on almost everyone’s bucket lists – Austria, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Sweden, The Netherlands, Hungary, Belgium etc.
Beauty comes after a struggle, and Prashant had his share of tough experiences which he faced with no stone left unturned. In Norway, he, along with 2 other fellow exchange students, were stuck without any place to stay for the night and ended up sleeping on the streets.
Detailing the 22-km challenging trek in Norway Prashanth says “the three musketeers (fellow exchange students from my school in France) defied our physical abilities, fought against the worst of weather conditions to reach the most mesmerising view of our life.”
He later added that it was a roller-coaster ride with interesting people, experiences and adventures, just like life is.
“I wanted to travel and explore the places in Europe like a local, so I mostly avoided hotels and hostels. I stayed with a lot of local people in most of the countries I visited. In Croatia, I was welcomed with an India curry and rice cooked by a Slovakian girl, a friend of two other Slovakian girls who hosted me for a night” he said.
Generalising the subject of travelling, one can simply understand the person who returns from a journey is not the one who left, various mental changes go on gradually, that are deep to understand. The adventures and the experiences gave him the strength to do his thing.
“It was there I realised that I couldn’t see myself working for someone else. The next few days were followed with discussions with my family; my mentor and my college seniors who helped me assess the pros and cons of the decision I was about to make for my life, and I finally decided to opt out of placements from my college and work on my dream startup.”