The Art of Slow Travel - An invitation to see the world and savour the journey at your own pace - Bhavana Gesota : 112

Are you brave enough to travel to a new country without a return ticket? Meet Bhavana, author of The Art of Slow Travel, as she takes us on an exciting journey of her belief that slow travel can bring about a deep and rich encounter with an unfamiliar culture. As a seasoned traveller herself, Bhavana helps us understand what it means to immerse oneself in another world fully and how the concept of slow travel can transform the way we perceive our surroundings. Her book, The Art of Slow Travel, is a culmination of her own experiences and aims to inspire and guide readers on a journey of discovery - both internal and external - to gain new insights and perspectives.

Bhavana Gesota is an Indian American former technology professional, world slow traveller, artist, writer, thinker, and meditator. She was born and raised in Pune, India, before moving to the USA for work after 25 years. Over the past 25 years, she has lived in 9 countries, worked in 7 for extended periods, and travelled to 22 more across 5 continents.

From her experiences of taking six-month sabbaticals to her encounters with minimalists on the road, she has collected valuable insights that will help you pack not just your suitcase but also your life into a travel-friendly format. She'll also shed light on the nuances of a slow travel lifestyle and how it differs from a nomadic lifestyle, giving you new perspectives to consider before jetting off on your next adventure.

She reflects on the beauty of slow travel and how it has enabled her to forge lasting connections with people from all walks of life. Her tales of adapting to foreign lands, navigating visa processes, and embracing digital nomadism will inspire you to break away from the conventional norms of travel.

Let's enjoy her story.

To connect with Bhavana:  https://www.bhavanagesota.com/

Transcript

Daniela SM: 0:08

Hi, I'm Daniela. Welcome to my podcast, because everyone has a story, the place to give ordinary people, stories, the chance to be shared and preserved. Our stories become the language of connections. Let's enjoy it, connect and relate, because everyone has a story. Welcome my guest, Bhavana Gesota. You know how I am so curious about nomadic people. Imagine when I came across the book the Heart of Slow Travel, I devoured it and it was fascinating, a perfect book. I contacted Bavna and here is her story in between the lines of her book.

Daniela SM: 0:53

Bhavana is an Indian American, former technology, professional world slow travel artist, writer, thinker and meditator. She was born and raised in Pune, india, before moving to the US for work after 25 years. Over the 25 years, she has lived in 9 countries, worked in 7 for extended periods and traveled to 22 more across 5 continents. But she doesn't care about the number of countries. She cares about the space of serendipity that happens while slow traveling Isn't that amazing. It sounds so fascinating. In this episode, she reflects on the beauty of slow travel and how it has enabled her to forge lasting connections with people from all walks of life. Her tales of adapting to foreign your lands, navigating visa processes and embracing digital nomadism will inspire you to break away from conventional norms of travel. So let's send you her story. Welcome Bhavana to the show. Thank you, daniela Bhavana. I am so honored that you're here, because when I came across your book, the Heart of Slow Travel, I was so excited because it was exactly what I was looking for A how to book with all details and a perfect summary.

Bhavana Gesota: 2:10

Thank you for inviting me, Daniela, and I am really happy that you found my book useful.

Daniela SM: 2:17

Yes, it is amazing. And so Bhavana, where are you located?

Bhavana Gesota: 2:21

I am in Bali, indonesia, at this time.

Daniela SM: 2:24

Yes, yes, and then when we talk the first pre-chat, you were in India.

Bhavana Gesota: 2:29

That's right yeah.

Daniela SM: 2:30

So how long are you going to be in Bali for?

Bhavana Gesota: 2:33

Well, I got here in May and I expect to stay here till October or November, something like that, approximately. Okay, fun. I don't fly with return tickets, as you might have read in the book, so I don't know yet, but that's the general idea. I do have a ballpark idea that I'm going to be here till at least the end of September, and then likely in October and November, as well, all right.

Daniela SM: 2:58

wonderful. This is not your first time in Bali. What has attracted you to continue going back?

Bhavana Gesota: 3:04

All right this is my third time to Bali. Actually, my trips to Bali have been incremental, so to say. The first time I was here was in 2012. And at that time I was, I had a project running in Kuala Lumpur, malaysia, so I didn't have a lot of time free time, but I flew here on a weekend. It was just a short weekend trip and it was one of those things that I felt, oh, I definitely want to come back here again. You know just sort of a feeling with the way things are, the atmosphere, the smallness and the way the local people have continued to preserve their daily traditions and their festivals and their culture. So then I came back again in 2018. I was a long guy, but I came back again in 2018. That was for about three months, I think, and now I'm back here again with the idea of being here for six months.

Bhavana Gesota: 3:56

Why do I like Bali? I love the Balinese people, their culture, their traditions and the way they have continued to preserve it. If you come to Bali, you'll see that pretty much every day is a ceremony for them. Life itself is a ceremony and people are constantly, constantly preparing for some ceremony or the other. There's not more than two days that pass by without something small or big event happening over here. I think all of that kind of reflects in their attitude towards life and in the way they live their life.

Daniela SM: 4:33

Sounds wonderful.

Bhavana Gesota: 4:34

Yeah, they also have a long tradition of arts, of dances, folk dances and arts like paintings and carvings. They're still keeping that very much alive.

Daniela SM: 4:46

That sounds like a beautiful place to go and visit. And Vafna, what prompted you to write the book the Slow Travel?

Bhavana Gesota: 4:53

If I have to go back to the beginnings, I always wanted to travel, even when I was a child. I was mainly driven by curiosity, because back in those days, when I was growing up in the 70s and the early 80s, there was no internet. Only thing we had was geography textbooks and national geographic magazines, other sorts of magazines that kind of gave a clue into the world outside India, which is where I was growing up, and I was always curious as to what lay beyond the borders of the country that I was growing up in. But at the same time I kind of always had the feeling that I'm going to end up traveling. I don't know why. It was just one of those instinctual feelings that I just knew that I was going to end up traveling. And that's actually what ended up happening, and not out of any kind of design or a lot of planning from my side, but it just so happened that I first began to travel for work, and those were really short trips, as it began with traveling for work within the United States for a week, for a few days, to different parts of the United States. Then that continued on to become international travel for two weeks or three weeks, you know, to countries like Costa Rica and Israel, places that I never even had dreamed of or ever thought of actually going.

Bhavana Gesota: 6:22

As I continued to meet more people through my work travels, the lust for traveling to places outside of work also began. But then, you know, at that time I was working, so I and I was working in the United States, and I think everybody knows that in the United States you don't get more than three weeks of holidays in a year. Many people get only two weeks, not even three weeks. You know, it was like a juggling, a balancing act, and I would always be thinking if I go during Thanksgiving, you know, I get two extra holidays, because Thanksgiving is not really my oh how do you say? Ritual or a festival, but we get holidays and there are weekends around it. So every day was counted and planned for and I was able to make trips, like for two weeks or 12 days, you know, and take really ridiculous red-eye flights where I would land back in San Francisco on a Monday morning, go home, drop my bags and go straight to work, because that way I would have more time. You know, maybe an extra day. There was no time to get back and relax or recover or anything like that, but that's how I was traveling and it just kind of slowly wetted my appetite for more.

Bhavana Gesota: 7:35

Eventually, when I took a long sabbatical from work, I decided that this kind of like going away for 10 days is just not enough. You know, it was just not enough for me. I wanted to stay longer in many places and I wanted to live like how the locals live. So when I first took my first extended sabbatical from work, that's exactly what I did. I went on long trips. I think I spent about two months in Greece and Turkey instead of one month.

Bhavana Gesota: 8:02

I started to recognize there's something really beautiful and extraordinary that happens when you go to a place without like a strict itinerary of visiting 10 places in two days and running from one place to another, which is how I used to before when I was working.

Bhavana Gesota: 8:20

And after doing that for a number of years, with on and off going back to my working life, I just felt that I wanted to share what I had experienced and gain from it.

Bhavana Gesota: 8:31

Also how to, because a lot of my friends kept asking me you know, how do you go about organizing all these things that you do?

Bhavana Gesota: 8:38

And the idea of going somewhere without a return ticket is sort of uncomfortable for many people, you know, because people want to be more planned than mine is not so planned. But that's what the beauty lies because you make space for serendipity, you make space for the trip to take you instead of you taking a trip. You allow the journey to kind of take you to places that you had never even thought of or expected, not just in the external way but also within yourself, and encounter in a different place, within a different framework, where you're still kind of living your normal life but away from your home, gives you an opportunity, gives us an opportunity to free up, to sort of explore many other depths and parts of ourselves. That's kind of why I felt like I really wanted to write a book on slow travel, to make it feel like it's more accessible to people who have always thought that they would like to but they never felt that they could, for various reasons.

Daniela SM: 9:41

That sounds beautiful.

Bhavana Gesota: 9:42

Your story really starts when you were younger than yeah maybe my recollection is, I guess, probably eight years or nine years old. The first fascination was with the geography textbooks. You know, we learned geography not just about India but about the Tundra region and the Arctic Pole and Alaska and the prairies and the steppes in India and our geography textbooks we had the world geography in there. And also I kind of remember, you know, when I was a kid we used to play this game at home which was one of my favorite games to play. We would open a world atlas. So it was me, my brother and sometimes my uncle and father would join in and you would randomly open a page in the world atlas and one of us would locate a place on that map and the other person had to find it. I remember being fascinated because you know we were browsing through the world atlas. There were maps of places like Mongolia and Siberia and different mountain ranges whose words were also a bit difficult to pronounce for us, but it was just fascinating for me.

Daniela SM: 10:45

Bhavana, do you think that it's part of your personality, then, to be so adaptable and flexible that you can just buy a one-way ticket?

Bhavana Gesota: 10:53

I think it's part of my personality. I think there are people who are like me from many different parts of the world. The idea is about freedom and not having to restrict yourself. But also from my own personal experience, whenever I've gone on like multi-month trips with a return ticket, I have invariably ended up changing it two times or three times and ended up being the penalties that go with having to change your flight. So in the end I decided it's just not worth it. I might as well not buy a return ticket until I'm sure.

Daniela SM: 11:31

And is it okay for some countries that you can enter a country without a return ticket?

Bhavana Gesota: 11:36

Yeah, for some countries it's okay and for some countries it's not. If you are going to do something like that, you must check in advance and find out if the country that you're going to will allow you to get in without a return ticket or not. So also it depends on like visas, like if you require a visa ahead of time, even before boarding the flight. If you need to apply for a visa to an embassy or a consulate, then the likelihood that you're going to require to show return ticket is very high.

Bhavana Gesota: 12:08

Many countries which give visa on arrival to citizens of certain countries don't really need to. So here's an example Thailand does not require an outbound ticket to actually get in, but that's because me, being a US citizen, I get a visa right there when I enter Thailand. I don't need to apply for it ahead of time. But some countries may need to apply for a visa ahead of time at their local embassy, so they have the likelihood of having a return ticket is high. But, on the other hand, indonesia requires that you have a return ticket or an outbound ticket, like you don't have to come back to your same to the destination from where you are flying out, but so long as you have an outbound ticket that shows that, okay, you are, you do plan to leave Indonesia, so they need you to show that at the airport when you land in Indonesia.

Daniela SM: 13:04

But you didn't though.

Bhavana Gesota: 13:06

No, I do. But what I do is I buy a refundable ticket for a date ahead of time, which are more expensive. Refundable tickets are definitely more expensive, but they're refundable. So that's the key word there refundable. You can get in and then, once you are in, you can cancel the ticket. You get the full refund back, then buy a regular price ticket for when you're ready to actually leave. So it's kind of like a hack and essentially what they're trying to do is they want to make sure that you don't end up staying there illegally forever and ever and ever.

Daniela SM: 13:40

Okay.

Bhavana Gesota: 13:41

That's their main concern. So long as you don't have any such wild intentions, I think it's okay, because you know, I know I have an intention to leave. I don't have the intention of continuing to stay here illegally. I feel okay with, like, canceling the refundable ticket and buying a regular price ticket when I'm actually ready to leave.

Daniela SM: 13:59

Yeah. And so going back to you and your travels, obviously it was a slow process because, yes, you always wanted to travel. You got a job that permitted you to go somewhere and work from there, yeah, and then I missed that part where you started to work and you could go to places, but then you decided to take vacation or you were working all the time I took an unpaid sabbatical from work the very first time.

Bhavana Gesota: 14:28

I didn't actually resign, I didn't actually quit. It was an unpaid sabbatical for I think it was six months, if I remember correctly, and the idea was that after six months I would go back to my job. But actually after six months I did not want to go back to my job. I did resign at the end of six months. But, yes, no, I was not working at that time, during that, during those six months.

Daniela SM: 14:51

So lucky you that you had a job that will give you a sabbatical and also you have a. You know, your knowledge and your expertise are easy to be a digital nomad. Right, you had those advantages.

Bhavana Gesota: 15:02

When I started traveling, that was like in the late nineties and early 2000s, and at that time the concept of digital nomadism was actually not there. In fact, working remotely itself was considered a total no-no, not even for a day in a week. I remember in the company that I used to work for in the Silicon Valley of California, there was no way I could any of us could work even a single day remotely from home. I mean remotely meaning I'm not even talking about another country or even another state not even from our home. So back in those days, working while you're traveling was an absolute, not even a possibility, not even a remote possibility. It was very, very rare. And so, yes, I was lucky that I had a job where I could take a sabbatical, as you said. I mean, it wasn't easy, because again taking a sabbatical for six months, unpaid sabbatical from your career for six months, was again a big no-no.

Bhavana Gesota: 16:06

At that time, nobody. There were very, very few people who might be doing that At the time, or at least I didn't know anybody in my circles who did that. I think that has changed now, especially after COVID, but it was already changing even before COVID. But COVID kind of accelerated. It is that a lot of people are okay with working remotely now, a lot of employers are okay with working remotely. So this is now actually or even I would say that the opportunities for traveling slow are even more have opened up even more, because the big question or the big obstacle that many people have is what about the finances?

Daniela SM: 16:47

Yes, of course.

Bhavana Gesota: 16:49

Many people might be able to do it, which what they were not able to do before, is working remotely. And again, there are some professions where you just cannot work remotely. Everybody's situation is so individual, daniela. It's a balancing act. I didn't know that this is what I was going to do right 20 years ago. I didn't know that this is how my life was going to unfold. But at every stage we have to take stock of what is our present situation, what I want to do versus what I can do. There's always this balancing act between want and can and the money, the finances, and try to make the best of that situation. We just try to make what we can.

Bhavana Gesota: 17:33

Way back, when I first started traveling, I only had three weeks of holidays in a year and I had to spend at least 10 days of that time in India to see my family. So I was left with very little. So I worked with what I could. I counted every single day, every weekend, every public holiday like Christmas or Thanksgiving, and tried to make the max of what I could. As life moved along, I had more opportunities and so I made the best of what I could. So that's basically what I think we all have to do if there is a desire to do something.

Daniela SM: 18:07

And how was that decision to say I'm gonna take a six-month leave of absence sabbatical? Were you scared? Were you worried the B family were saying, oh my god, what a crazy thought. Or how was that?

Bhavana Gesota: 18:18

What I recall is that I was not afraid at all. I just knew that this is what I wanted to do. I didn't stop and think what if I just did not stop to deliberate on what if this happened? So what if that happened? So what if, when I return, I don't have a job? I just decided that this is what I wanted to do and I did it. But people around me they were more sort of like you know, worried than I was, because I got a lot of warnings from my friends around me saying oh you know, this is career suicide. When you come back, you may not have a job, they might fire you, you will not be able to find another job. Nobody hires a person who has a six-month gap on their resume. And I thought, no, no, I'm not even going to think about it.

Bhavana Gesota: 19:04

You know, I will cross the bridge when I come to it and for some reason, I don't know why, but I was not worried about that at all.

Daniela SM: 19:13

But you seem to be like this sad person that knows where, the direction that you're going, and you're always calm and you know what you need to do.

Bhavana Gesota: 19:22

No, no no, no, not always, but I don't have the personality to plan the next 10 years of my life. I just cannot plan that after two years, this is what I should have achieved, or after five years, this is what I should have achieved, or after eight years, this is what I should have achieved. And because I don't have that, I guess that frees me up to be more relaxed about the decisions I make.

Daniela SM: 19:47

And also you are kind of not following society patterns.

Bhavana Gesota: 19:52

Yeah, definitely not.

Daniela SM: 19:53

Are you having issues with your family members or your friends because you're not doing what the institutions said that you're supposed to?

Bhavana Gesota: 20:01

No, not really. People are free to obviously provide their advice and their opinions and their concerns and they're all valid At the end of the day. I look inside myself and look inside myself and I don't feel that worried in the sense that I feel that whatever the situations that might come up like, let's say, going back when I first took an unpaid sabbatical and people around me were worried if I was fired from my job, would I be able to get another job? Would any employer hire me? I looked inside myself and I said that why would anybody not hire me? I mean, I have the skills, I have the experience.

Bhavana Gesota: 20:39

A potential employer is going to think, oh, she had a career gap of six months and if that's the reason that they don't want to hire me, then I don't want to work with that employer. I felt quite certain that there'll be somebody out there, some employer out there, who will recognize the value of taking a six-month break and going traveling and actually consider that as a different sort of an experience and hire me. So I was pretty certain at that time that I wouldn't actually be out on the streets or anything like that.

Daniela SM: 21:10

Yes, you got this amazing personality of being sane and confident Amazing. I think. People are constantly in the search of having your style, so that's amazing.

Bhavana Gesota: 21:22

Thank you.

Daniela SM: 21:23

So what happened then? You did six months and then you went back. Obviously you didn't want the job.

Bhavana Gesota: 21:28

No, no, I didn't want my old job, so I resigned, and I also did not want to go back to work right away, so I did not. I actually did not go back to work for one and a half years, so a total gap of two years, wow. And I went traveling again. I went to Guatemala after a few months and I spent some longer times in India, since I was no longer constrained with the three weeks of holidays in a year. I think my biggest trouble with working with my job was the three week of constraint. That was really troubling me a lot. I think it's such a shitty work.

Bhavana Gesota: 22:03

Low work-life balance of people in the United States app. I was still lucky with three weeks. Some people get just two weeks and I just can't imagine. So I was also more drawn towards the European style of working, because I felt like they had a higher work-life balance and, to the course of my work, I had met a lot of European colleagues and I would always be comparing yes, you guys get six weeks of holidays in a year and here we are stuck with three. That was really the problem I had with working in the United States, so I didn't actually go back to work. I did not want to go back to work. So I had a total gap of two years and then I was running out of funds to sustain myself. So I decided I need to get back to work now and I did actively search for a job and it took me about three months to find a job and I did, so I went back to work.

Daniela SM: 22:51

Back to work for three weeks holidays.

Bhavana Gesota: 22:53

Yes, there was no choice because I was in the United States. There's nothing you can do about that, wow.

Daniela SM: 22:57

And how was that feeling? Feel again being trapped in this system of three weeks.

Bhavana Gesota: 23:04

A little bit, yes, but the job that I had, it was a consulting job. Even though I was working for a company, I was a consultant for their product. So I ended up traveling for consulting reasons to different clients Pretty much nonstop after that. So, yeah, I was traveling but I was working. So I was traveling for work and I had to travel to places that I didn't really fancy going to but I had to go there because my clients were there but I ended up traveling. So I didn't really miss that part of not being able to go anywhere and being constrained with just three weeks of holiday Because I was already traveling but a lot. So at that point in time, those three weeks of holidays I had, I would. I wanted to actually come back home and not go anywhere Because I was already on the road pretty much every week.

Daniela SM: 23:55

I see Okay, and so what is one of the things that you like the least being on a plane at the airport? What is the one thing that is not as fun from traveling, slow traveling?

Bhavana Gesota: 24:06

Packing, packing is not fun for me at all. It's my dream. It's my dream to travel with just one small suitcase, that I can actually put it on the plane with me and go. But I'm just, I'm just not able to do that. It's a challenge that I can continuously work with and I'm amazed, I'm really amazed, at people who travel with just the minimalists over here. I have an example in my book about this guy I met in Mexico, in San Cristobal de las Casas, and he was actively practicing minimalism. So he was actually traveling with just a day pack, not even a backpack, just a day pack. So he probably had like one pair of floats, one laptop, sandals that he was wearing no extra sandals or anything like that and some of the small things, but it was just a day pack, nothing else. That is really amazing.

Bhavana Gesota: 24:59

For me, packing is the biggest challenge, not airports. I usually end up overpacking more than what the airlines allow by at least a couple of kilos, and then there's always this manuring that happens for me and the airport If there's. Sometimes the airline is more relaxed and they let you pass with an extra kilo or two kilos, but then otherwise you know how to remove stuff and put it in my carry on, because they don't really weigh the carry on so seriously. So in fact they also advise you at right there, if you can take out some things and put it in your carry on, that will reduce the weight. And some constantly manuring this at airports, because some airports have gotten some trash bins at airports have gotten a lot of my stuff, because I've had to also throw things away. Especially, you know, I remember Frankfurt Airport. That's my, that's my, the, you know my, my airport of terror, because I eventually have ended up throwing stuff at the Frankfurt Airport. Oh no, yeah. So packing, packing is my disaster. I'm not good at being minimal.

Daniela SM: 26:04

Yes, for me it's stressful. I can travel with few things. I have a thing about it's not going to fit, it's not going to fit and then I get really stressed about that. So my husband always helps me to. I said this is what I want to take, and he's always small is not match and then if you make it, fit to it. That's all but so what happened in Frankfurt?

Bhavana Gesota: 26:21

I had exceeded the airlines baggage limitations by a considerate amount and that was like way back. I think it was in 2006 or something like that, and I was not paying attention to the weight limitations because I had zoned somehow that all international flights allow. What is it?

Bhavana Gesota: 26:42

I can't remember 23 kilos to be 23 kilos per bag Right, so I had assumed that, and at that time I was flying to South Africa at. I was at the airport and I was shocked to find out that 23 kilos per bag are not allowed if you're flying to South Africa. It was my mistake. I should have checked that ahead of time. I didn't. It was my big assumption that international flights mean 23 kilos. This was in 2006.

Bhavana Gesota: 27:07

But, so it was not a couple of kilos that you can just adjust somehow, it was a considerable amount and I had to throw a lot at Frankfurt Airport. I threw a lot at the Frankfurt Airport and but there were some books that I did not want to throw Ended up doing was I ended up boxing it, couriering it from Frankfurt Airport to a friend of mine in Germany.

Daniela SM: 27:27

Wow, that's amazing. And I guess the traveling at the beginning maybe you were having more clothes than now, and so what has happened is that with your travel, you have become your style of minimalistic. You just maybe won't be that guy that you met in Mexico, but you are much better than you were 20 years ago. Yes, exactly I am.

Bhavana Gesota: 27:51

I've learned so much from my own mistakes. I've learned from being careless about checking certain things. So now I'm more prepared. Now I'm still overweight, but only by a kilo or two, usually not like how it used to be. It's still overweight. But you're right, I'm minimalistic in my own way. Definitely I don't think I'm going to be like the guy I met in. That's a long way ahead of me.

Daniela SM: 28:17

Yes, I was listening to YouTube video from this lady who they say they sold everything and they're having a minimalistic life. You know. The story also is that they moved from one apartment to a house they has downgrade many times, so they have done the exercise already a few times. Well, for example, us, we've been in the same place same house for 27 years. So we have accumulated more than you know, and every day I said, oh my God, we should have less.

Daniela SM: 28:42

Once you start yeah, I understand yeah slowly get it, but there's some people that can and think it's a style I don't feel like. Minimalistic is one way. I think it's minimalistic your way.

Bhavana Gesota: 28:52

That's absolutely true Minimalistic, your way or style. I think I've given some examples in the book. There were these true extreme examples. One of these one was of this guy who was completely minimalistic with traveling with just a day pack that I met in Mexico, against another girl I met in Peru and she came with two suitcases but one suitcase was full of shampoos and cosmetics and tubes and tubes and tubes. All her cosmetic requirements of soaps and shampoos and conditioners and what have you, for a whole six months were packed in one whole suitcase. When she was leaving she had not used all of them and she was wanting to sell those off because she wanted the space. She wanted to empty that suitcase so she could put things that she had bought in Peru and take them back with her. So that's another example.

Bhavana Gesota: 29:47

When you're packing you don't think so At least we need to pack one whole suitcase full of shampoos and conditioners and cosmetics if you're going away for six months, toothpaste and whatever. That's the range we can be from there to there or somewhere in between. We learn as we go. In the book I have a I think I have a chapter on packing and I'll try to give some tips on packing and things to consider and so on and so forth. But it's really something that we just learn as we go along and do it a couple of times or three times.

Daniela SM: 30:27

I have learned with my travels which is not as much as you, for sure, but that I always bring a bit more than I actually need. However, I am quite minimalistic in the sense that I don't bring too much, especially if we go to a warm vacation. If we go for a winter vacation, that there's more items that one must bring and it becomes bulkier, right.

Bhavana Gesota: 30:49

And it's one thing when we are going on a sort of a holiday for a week or 10 days, because we are usually restricting ourselves to a specific region, so we are most likely not in 10 days going to be going to regions with multiple different climates. But when you're on a slow travel journey which is usually, you know, we are out for four months or six months or eight months then there is a higher possibility that you could end up spending some time on the beach and some in the mountains, where it could be very cold or it could be snowing. So on this kind of trip you end up sort of having to pack for different types of weather, and warm clothes is what really, you know, takes up the bulk of space in the bags and also add to the weight.

Daniela SM: 31:35

Yes, exactly, and shoes too right.

Bhavana Gesota: 31:37

Yeah, you want to. If you want to go hiking, then you have hiking boots and then you have sandals. You know that you can wear, on an occasion, something nice. So now we are two women talking. You know, I'm sure if it was a man I just need one pair of slippers and one boots and that's it, or. But here we are, we think we need this, and maybe that too, and that too, and then it starts adding up.

Daniela SM: 31:58

Well, my husband. He's the kind of person who will pack for if we need it. I go with a small suitcase and he's the one who has the big suitcase. At times I've been using something that he brought yeah you bring this and he packed. And what do you do about exercising, are you? You're always sitting, you always force yourself to hike, so how do you do exercise?

Bhavana Gesota: 32:18

Well, different things. I mean. I do practice yoga, not every day, but that's been a more consistent form of, so to say, exercise for me. I walk a lot Once you're outside the United States. Basically, you don't have a car in the United States. You're forced to have a car because that's the only way to go from point A to point B In most other parts of the world. I don't need a car, I have not needed a car, so I end up walking a lot, other than taking public transportation. But even if you're taking public transportation in other parts of the world, you have to walk till the train station or the bus stop or what have you. I end up walking a lot. I do go on hikes, though that's not every day or every month or something like that, though those are more, you know, once in a few months or something like that, but for a daily basis, I walk a lot.

Daniela SM: 33:06

You walk a lot to go from point A to point B, or you just walk.

Bhavana Gesota: 33:10

Yes, yes, yes. So here's the thing I try to integrate my exercise in normal life instead of, you know, setting out one hour aside just for walking. You know if I'm going to the grocery shop, the farmers market or wherever that I need to go, I walk if it's walkable. So generally walking about 4 to 5 kilometers in a day is normal. And if there's an opportunity to rent a bicycle then I do end up getting a bicycle. So between bicycling and walking, those become more of my daily regular things to do. And then there is yoga.

Daniela SM: 33:49

I do treks once in a while. I know what you mean. I also feel like we're always sitting all the time and we're driving, we're sitting, we're sitting in our office we're sitting at home when we eat, we're sitting at home when we're watching TV we're always sitting. It's important to walk. I'm glad that you get that.

Bhavana Gesota: 34:05

Yeah, now here, for example in Bali, you need to have a scooter to get around, because it doesn't really have the kind of public transportation systems like in Europe or even in India. So I do have a scooter, but, for example, if I want to buy vegetables and fruits, then there is a shop which is about half a kilometer away from my place and instead of taking a scooter I just walk. I walk there, I walk to the laundry place, I walk to some of the cafes around here and Bhavna.

Daniela SM: 34:35

So now you've been traveling for many, many years. So what is your process now to pick up country? You're going back to the places that you really like, or are you still innovating and adding a new one, a new country that you?

Bhavana Gesota: 34:48

haven't been. Now I basically, as a choice, I would only choose to go to a place that I have been to before and where I know people, where I kind of know the lay of the land, I know how to go about organizing things, because it's faster, easier, quicker. So no, I'm not really adding any new countries to my list. You know because that's another thing that people ask as soon as you say that, oh, you're a traveler. So how many countries have you gone to? At first, we began to travel internationally for work in 1997. So it's been quite a many years, and so I'm expected to give a really big number, like 60, 70 or something like that. And actually I don't have, because many times I've gone back to the same place again. It's not about numbers, it's not a number game at all. We should go where our heart calls us.

Daniela SM: 35:40

People that I spoke to. They said also that they get tired of traveling so much because they lose that sense of community. Is that something that you feel that has happened to you as well?

Bhavana Gesota: 35:51

Yes and no. So here's the thing. The question is, why would I come back to Bali again? Or why would I go back to Peru again? Peru is another country that I've been back to a number of times and I've actually stayed there for six, eight months at a time, a lot more than I have in Bali. But what makes me go back there again and what makes me come back to India again versus, let's say, why have I not gone back to Kuala Lumpur, for example? Because I was there for a few months as well.

Bhavana Gesota: 36:21

And one of the things is having the sense of community and having a community and how easy it is to actually blend back into the community or form a community.

Bhavana Gesota: 36:32

If I'm going back to a certain place, it's certainly one of the big reasons is community Is because I feel a sense of community over there. I feel the sense that I have like-minded people or that I will meet like-minded people in these places, because I have had that experience in the past. So I have the lust to explore as much nature as I can see the mountains and the lakes and the waterfalls and the jungles and the forest. That is definitely a draw that would also definitely take me back to that place again. But more than that, it's the community, because as human beings, we are wired. As social beings, we need to feel connected with people around us in some way or the other. That actually is the biggest reason why I would go back to a certain place again Is the people and the community, the sense of community, which also gives you a sense of belonging and a sense of home.

Daniela SM: 37:30

Sometimes I struggle thinking that I want to be in a community with people that are like-minded. However, I feel, too, that you could be just closing your opportunities when you are just with your group of people.

Bhavana Gesota: 37:43

I think a balance is good. If you have the buffer, or let's say the cushion of people that you can connect with, then you can make space to connect with people who are not like-minded as a way to broaden your horizons. But if you're consistently around people who are on a very different wavelength than you, then it's exhausting.

Daniela SM: 38:06

Yes, that's true. So you have written this book. You keep working, you keep traveling, and I know you don't like to plan, but is there another book that you're thinking of writing or what other plans you have for the next few years?

Bhavana Gesota: 38:22

First of all, I'm not doing any kind of job right now, so I'm actually not working. I quit in 2016. So, yeah, I do have another book in process I don't know when that's going to come out but I do have another book in process, not about travel, but something else. I do think about going back to work, but I'm very clear that I don't want to go back to the corporate world and I certainly don't want to go back to the type of consulting that I was doing before. That's very clear. So, at the moment, I have a couple of other things that I feel really interested in, and I think I have the skills and the qualifications for that. I might actually start looking for full-time work or part-time work, actually.

Daniela SM: 39:03

You haven't worked since 2016, so how do you keep updated? Do you have a routine?

Bhavana Gesota: 39:09

Oh yeah, I do. I definitely keep myself updated. I do take breaks from it also for periods of time where I don't want to read any news or connect with the world, but I do keep myself updated. For me, taking this break was because I wanted to spend a significant amount of time with creative projects, so giving life back to creativity in my life. So the first two years after since 2016, I spent I was more consistent with picking up my paintbrush and painting and I took classes. You know I signed up for the summer school at the School of Fine Arts in Kusco. I took a summer program in London because I had a project in London, so it was easy.

Bhavana Gesota: 39:54

For me, this time has been more about learning, rediscovering and reinventing myself, to find out what kind of work and what is it that will really give me fulfillment and meaning meaning to my life Because I know that the tech world is kind of over for me, or at least in the form that I used to work in is over for me. Nothing against technology and I think if I could find something, that in which it's still technology but it's used in a way that is more meaningful for me, then I would have I don't mind working with technology at all, so a lot of this time has been reinventing, spending a lot of time with my mom in India, which is also something that I lacked in my 20 years of being away, which I'm really grateful for that.

Daniela SM: 40:39

Sounds wonderful. Do you feel that you have found your purpose? I?

Bhavana Gesota: 40:43

think so, yes, but how that translates into concrete terms and how that, whether that translates into a job or whether that translates into a different form of working, I don't know that yet. We always have how to make choices in life. We never get everything. You get something, you lose something. That's just how it goes with any decision in life. You make the choice of going slow traveling, packing up your house, and going slow traveling for a year or two years. What have you? You lose something in the process. Definitely, you lose the comfort of your home, of having all your things around you, of your consistent circle of friends. You give up that because you think you're going to find something different and more, and something that you are going to appreciate more by going on a slow travel trip. And that's why we do it right. That's why we make these choices, because we think that this is going to be good for me, it's going to add something of value to my life.

Bhavana Gesota: 41:44

When I went on my first unpaid sabbatical a long time ago six months and I packed up my two bedroom apartment in California the first month, I was totally fine. You know, because I was away, I was gone. That's what I wanted to do after the first one. You know what I missed the most out of everything? I missed my bed, because I was sleeping in different places and the beds were definitely not as comfortable. As I missed my paradise. I was like, oh my God, my bed. So yeah, we're always going to miss something from our previous life.

Daniela SM: 42:13

I'm reading a book of Anomalik Traveler and she also mentions that she misses her bed. And I remember, Dave and I we went on a 10 day trip and we slept in nine different beds and I thought that was too much. Yes, I love my bed.

Bhavana Gesota: 42:31

I wouldn't do that anymore If I'm traveling and if I have to sleep in a different bed, which basically means a different hotel room every night for the next 10 days or two weeks. Absolutely no, that would be a disaster for me.

Daniela SM: 42:43

Yes, we get more particular as we age.

Bhavana Gesota: 42:46

Yeah, when I was 25,. Yes, a new place each day. Yes, that's what I want now.

Daniela SM: 42:51

no, I definitely understand that. Bhavana, t hank you so much for sharing your story and for being in beautiful valley and still spending some time with me. I really enjoy your story. You're most welcome, Daniella.

Bhavana Gesota: 43:05

It was a pleasure. I'm happy you enjoyed my book. I hope that people who listen to this podcast get something from it, and thanks so much for inviting me.

Daniela SM: 43:17

Yes, and I hope to meet you in person one day soon in Peru or Bali or anywhere else, keep me posted.

Bhavana Gesota: 43:24

You never know. That's one of the beauties of slow traveling. I meet people from other, from places that I have met them before, and suddenly it's beautiful.

Daniela SM: 43:32

Yes, that's true. Yeah, thanks you, Daniela. Thank you, thank you. I hope you enjoyed it. Today's episode I am Daniela and you were listening to, because everyone has a story. Please take five seconds right now and think of somebody in your life that may enjoy what you just heard, or someone that has a story to be shared and preserved. When you think of that person, shoot them a text with the link of this podcast. This would allow the ordinary magic to go further. Join me next time for another story conversation. Thank you for listening. Hasta Pronto.