The road not taken Talks to travellers who hate the usual tours; in the spirit of Robert Frost, they like to take the road less travelled

The road not taken

Talks to travellers who hate the usual tours; in the spirit of Robert Frost, they like to take the road less travelled

When Tushar Ramaswami splurged a decent chunk of his savings on a family holiday to Europe, he expected it to be a trip to remember. “We booked a 10-day package tour, but the schedule was so hectic that we did not get any time to do the things we would really have liked,” he rues. It is experiences like Ramaswami’s that have set off a new trend dubbed ‘untravel’. With an ocean of information readily available at the click of a button, people are increasingly opting for offbeat holidays, steering clear of package tours. “Of late, many of our customers have been coming to us with requests to plan only certain details of their vacation; they work out most of the schedule themselves,” says Bangalore-based travel agent Prakash Pillai. “For me, the whole thrill of travelling starts right from doing the groundwork,” says Pallavi Baruah, a working professional and avid traveller. “Recently, I went on a road trip from Delhi to Bhutan that I chalked out myself. It was an exhilarating experience, discovering something new at every stage of the journey.” The new crop of holidaymakers are looking for experiences beyond shopping and sightseeing, and even if they approach travel advisors, it is with a specific idea in mind. According to Nikhil Gupta, Director, Travel Bazaar, “Often people have a concept for a holiday, but they don’t know how to go about organising it, nor do they have much knowledge of the costing point. This is where we come into play.” Arjun Mangaram wanted an action-packed bachelor trip before his wedding in December. With his heart set on Amsterdam, he approached his travel agent to organise the trip, complete with a pub crawl. “While we could have easily booked the flight and hotel in Amsterdam ourselves, meticulously planning out the pub crawl would have proved a tall order. The agents did an excellent job of planning out the entire schedule to meet my requirements to the last T,” explains Mangaram. There are others though who are willing to spend the extra hour researching and organising their experience holidays themselves. Vishesh J, 24, recently got back from such a trip to New Zealand, full of adventure. “Although it was a family holiday I had no intention to listlessly while away my time. While my parents wanted a relaxed trip, I did all my homework online before we left Bangalore, and lined up a number of activities, including bungee-jumping, a WTV trek, parasailing and free-falling, for my time in Kiwi-land.” Vishesh contacted the agents who organise these events and did all the necessary preparations before leaving India. Travel experts give out a caveat though on personalised trips. “Many of these offbeat holidays need to be organised through small websites or operators, which may not be as safe as the established sites. Additionally, customers will incur about 3.5% transaction fee while making payments with credit cards online,” points out travel agent Anil Kumar. Some ‘experiences’ may also be hard to coordinate online. For instance, a whiskey tasting tour in the highlands of Scotland or a trek to Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa are excursions which don’t come at the click of a button. Agents here who have tie-ups with local operators abroad specialising in such theme-based outings can come in handy. Travel agents themselves now offer unique experiences for those who want go off the beaten track. One can take a tour inside of Opera House in Sydney, for instance, or walk right under the Eiffel Tower in Paris, or enter a pyramid in Egypt. “I was not even aware of such a thing. When I was planning a quiet getaway with my husband for our first wedding anniversary, my agent suggested we go to Paris. He organised a walk through the Eiffel Tower. By sundown we ended up at the top of the tower, and the city looked beautiful all lit up. It was a wonderful experience,” says Smita Joshi. g_supriya@dnaindia.net