The One with the Hitchhike!
Hitchhiking our way to the Trek!
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| SUNSET! |
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| HITCHHIKE! |
How many times has it happened that you were traveling somewhere and you hitchhiked to reach your destination. Well, this was my first experience, and it was purely unintentional. It was the occasion of "Holi" - The Festival of Colors and we planned on doing a trek since it was a long weekend. We didn't do much research about our way and surprises were waiting to welcome us.
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| DEHRADUN |
I started my journey from Lucknow and rest of the gang from Delhi and our meet up point was Dehradun. After catching up at Dehradun we got to know that no buses were running because of the Festival. Thankfully, shared taxi were and we reached Mussoorie. Now our next Destination was Pantwari - the starting point of the Trek. Total Distance - 56 km, Easy peezy right? Well, Read on!
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| MUSSOORIE BUS STAND! |
After reaching Mussoorie, we got to know that no buses or shared taxis were running that day. Those who agreed were asking for a fortune, hence we skipped it. Then we decided to walk it off the mighty 56 km distance. So we started walking towards our Destination, and after covering 2 km in 30 minutes, we decided to give Hitchhiking a try.
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| MISSION HITCHHIKE! |
After 10 minutes of waving at random vehicles, a bus stopped. A ray of hope dawned upon us and we got into the bus. It was a school trip going to Kempty fall. Within a minute we were welcomed with colors all over our faces. The DJ driver was busy playing hip desi songs and the kids were dancing like there was no tomorrow. Soon, we reached Kempty falls, clicked some selfies with the kids and that's how we covered the initial 12 km. That was the first Hitchhike of the day and I realized that this was the only way we could reach our Destination the same day.
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| THE HAPPY WALI SELFIE! |
So, we started walking again and while crossing a village, we were surrounded by nearby village people who wanted to color us and kids who wanted to throw water balloons at us. We surrendered immediately to escape the water balloons and requested them not to throw balloons and just color us instead. Thankfully, they agreed. The smile on their faces when they were coloring us was precious. That's when I learnt that they really enjoyed celebrating the festival in the hills.
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| WALKING IT OFF! |
Now it was time for Hitchhike No. 2. We were waving and a Sumo stopped. We stuffed ourselves in the rear end of the car. Damn, it was uncomfortable but the trek was more important. So we managed somehow talking to each other to forget about the pain. They dropped us after a stretch of 8 km. And that's how we started walking again. That's when I realized that Hitchhiking wasn't that easy as it seemed.
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| SHADOWS! |
The next Hitchhike was rather interesting and we enjoyed ourselves very much. Hitchhike no. 3 was a Couple in their forties riding an Innova going for another trek via road trip. The guy was a Travel blogger as well. I was inspired by the fact that they were trekking in their forties. It got me into thinking that all you need is willpower and fitness and then Age is just another number. We discussed how many treks we have done so far and how many more we have to do. This was the best Hitchhike experience of the day for me. Soon, we had to part our ways and started walking again.
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| EN-ROUTE! |
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| WALK AGAIN? |
Now, we reached the last leg - Nainbagh. We got a shared taxi who agreed to take us to Pantwari. After 3 hitchhikes for the day, we agreed to spend some money because no other option was there and it was getting dark. So, after bargaining and spending Rs 100, we reached our Destination - Pantwari.
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| END WITH A SUNSET! |
Can you guess the Trek which we did the next day? Keep guessing!
Next Travel Blog will be on the Trekking experience! Till then, Keep traveling and have FUN!
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