1. How did you step foot into Traveling & Blogging?
Although we were doing a lot of solo trips individually, in 2015 when we met for the first time at work and went on a ride to Agumbe a couple of months later, that night we realised that we both were not meant to be prisoners of the dreaded Cubicle. Travelmynation was conceptualised soon thereafter and we started travelling all over India and posting our pics.View this post on Instagram
What began as a weekend affair soon became popular, when people encouraged us to post more content. Soon, Travelmynation got media attention as well, and people started subscribing to our blog. Brands approached us to partner with them, and now we work with the top brands across the world. But what convinced us to become professional bloggers is the fact that the only thing that makes us both happy is being in the outdoors. Travelmynation was our way out of it!
2. You two are amongst the top couple travel bloggers in the country! What's your strategy to constantly produce original and engaging content?
We believe in being original and tend not to follow trends that typecast the content. Our focus is solely on capturing our experiences while travelling and getting all details right when we write our blogs. We don’t just want to produce good looking content, but content that helps fellow travellers. And this is what everybody looks for in our social media handles and blogs. If you visit our blog, you will see the Tips section that has a lot of practical travel hacks.View this post on Instagram
3. Your Instagram is touching 30k soon, how does that feel?
Firstly, we are grateful for all the support and love everybody showers on us. Secondly, all though there is a lot of focus on follower count and likes, we try not to get too hung up on these numbers. We get lots of messages from our audience asking us for advice, appreciating our work or sharing feedback. And for us, this engagement is what matters a lot!4. You two took a road trip to Nepal on a bike which seems pretty thrilling. What was the most memorable moment from the journey that you'd like to share?
Nepal has some of the most breath-taking sights we’ve ever come across - from gorgeous temples to the towering Himalayas. However, the most memorable part was when we rode to a place called Kusuma, which is known for a long suspension bridge located hundreds of feet above the Kali Gandaki river. Vidur has a fear of heights, yet we both managed to cover half the bridge. It was scary since the narrow bridge was swaying in the wind and there were bikes and people coming in from the opposite end frequently!View this post on Instagram
5. What's on your bucket list in 2020? What's a trend you want to follow this year?
Well, we have launched our own travel startup, Moto Overlanders which is a natural progression for Travelmynation. Our speciality is an off-beat motorcycle and car tours all over India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and other South-East Asian countries for Indian and foreign travellers. Our strategy team has chalked out a plan to make us unique and offer high-quality services to our clients. Couples, families, friends - everybody can experience our highly customizable tours.In 2020, we want to promote pet tourism all over India. We have two lovely pets and have found it difficult to find pet-friendly accommodations while travelling with them. So we want to talk about websites, hotels or homestays that help travellers take their pets with them. In terms of destinations, we will be visiting the wildlife reserves across India since we are both wildlife lovers. We also want to do a driving tour to North East India to showcase the beauty of the 7 sisters and promote their culture. Moto Overlanders will also focus heavily on the North-Eastern states for tours, and we already have some amazing itineraries planned!
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6. We see that mountains seem to be dominating over your travel life? Is it correct or do the love for beaches take over too?
We connect more with the mountains, and there’s something about them that’s so hard to resist. The people who live there seem to be cut off from our modern world and listening to their stories is an activity we look forward to! And that’s why visiting places like Arunachal, Sikkim, Nepal, Himachal is one of the most alluring travel experiences we’ve ever had! But beaches are one of Archana’s favourite holiday destinations, and she loves exploring Goa every year!7. What's it like travelling all around the year? What's the most you enjoy about it?
Ha-ha, this is a tough one. A look at our Instagram will show you that living the dream and travelling all year round seems to be the best thing to do. It is, but it has its own challenges. It’s very exhausting, and we find it difficult to stick to a healthy regime. Back to back trips eat into our family time, but we make it up by planning holidays with our parents and pets.View this post on Instagram
But even with the challenges, it’s a very rewarding experience. We are fortunate enough to see places that most people don’t. Connecting with locals, getting to know their stories and experiencing the wide spectrum of Indian food and culture is an enriching process. Lastly, while travelling, we both get to spend time with each other - laughing, fighting and getting to knowing each other better. And we have beautiful memories for life!
8. Your content has been extremely India-driven, what's your take on International Travel?
We’ve done more than 250,000 kms on the road in India, and there are so many places we haven’t even heard of! India is a beautiful country, and we really want everybody to see that there is much more to it than the Taj Mahal, mountain passes, forts and Butter Chicken Masala. That’s why the increased focus on domestic travel.View this post on Instagram
However, in the last couple of years, Travelmynation has done US, UAE, Indonesia, Nepal, and Bhutan, and we are definitely on the lookout for more international locations to visit and promote. Our bucket list includes places like Mongolia, Cambodia, New Zealand, Russia, Peru, Bolivia, Chile etc.
9. Three travel essentials that you have never missed on a trip?
Water bottles - We believe in sustainable travel, so we don’t buy packaged water.Garbage Bag - Wherever we go, we try to dispose of the garbage responsibly.
A notepad - We like to write down our experiences, stories and other highlights from our trips.
10. Lastly but not the least, which destination of yours from 2019 was the-
Most Fun - This had to be our trip in April 2019 to Assam. We took Vidur’s parents and our pets by train, from Bangalore to Guwahati for Rongali Bihu. Over 15 days, our families enjoyed spending time with kids; we all travelled across Meghalaya and relished traditional Assamese food!View this post on Instagram
Most Challenging - Definitely Nepal. It was a month-long trip on a motorcycle and riding on the bumpy, off-road stretches in rural Nepal was quite challenging. And to make it worse, our bike had a really bad suspension setup, so we ended up with a sore back at the end of the tour. But it was worth it because Nepal is such an underrated destination that has a vibrant culture, delicious food and hospitable people.
Most Inspiring - Last year, Vidur’s parents shifted base from Delhi to Bangalore. All of us drove down with our pets and along the way found it difficult to find pet-friendly hotels; especially in Pune. This has inspired us to build a repository of pet-friendly accommodations so that we can help out other pet parents.
