Aditi Mathur’s blog is quite a paradox. Married to an Army officer, she definitely brings in that perpective. And yet, at any point of time her writing is objective and endearing. This double take is a breath of fresh air in the form of her writing style, specially when one considers travel blogs. A reader’s delight, she has has already authored two books and shows no signs of stopping any time soon.
Want to know more about this spunky blogger? Read on about Aditi Mathur and her blog.
Q. What inspired you to blog about travel? What was your first blog post about?
A. I’ve been blogging since 2006! Traveling is like therapy to me, and I love writing so travel writing was inevitable, in a way. My first travel post was about Singapore. Way back in 2008, I traveled to Singapore as a part of a three girl group. It was a stunning trip and after ten days, I came back home as a different person. Travel teaches you so much, and my first international trip was no exception.
Q. How do you prefer to travel (mode of transportation)?
A. I prefer to either take my own vehicle or a flight.
Q. What are your favourite travel destinations (Indian & International)
A. In India, I absolutely love The Himalayas, and Himachal, Uttrakhand and Spiti are my favourites. Internationally, I love Israel. I’m fascinated with and would love to go to Spain, but that’s just a dream right now.
Q. Who/what is your ideal travel partner?
A. A good camera and an app that can take notes, record snippets and keep track of my days during the trip. As far as people go, my husband is my perfect travel companion. I also dig trips with my friends, as we are all girls who live to travel, more than anything else. Currently I love travelling with my four year old daughter, and she’s growing up to be quite the traveler herself.
Q. What do you look for in a destination?
A. I look for a little bit of everything in the destination- solitude, shopping opportunities, scenic locales, adventure, cultural exchange and new cuisine.
Q. What are the 5 things you always pack in your travel bag?
A. Power Bank (that’s fully charged). Extra photocopies of all my travel documents, for any just-in-case scenario. A notepad with a few local numbers for emergencies, just in case I lose and/or damage my phone (which I have come pretty close to, more than once). Mixed nut trail. Chapstick.
Q. What has been your most memorable journey so far? Why?
A. My trip to Israel has been very crucial in helping me see the world in a new light. The country was everything and yet nothing what I had expected. I read a lot about it before going there, did a lot of research. But nothing prepares you for the way Israel stuns you. Tiny but strong and geographically varied, it has the staggering history and heritage at one hand in Jerusalem, and has a buzzing Cosmopolitan energy at the other in Tel Aviv, and everything else in between. I loved how the Israel trip changed a lot of notions I had, and I’d like to believe that this perfect coming together of the old and the new has rubbed off on me as well.
Q. What is your dream destination?
A. Oh, too many. I want to visit and spend some time in Ireland. I want to explore Peru and complete the Inca trail. I want to do the Chadar Trek in Ladakh before it gets banned (and it will, I think). I want to live in Goa for a month. Not as a tourist, but as a local. Maybe volunteer at some place and live there. I want to go to Israel again. And then there’s Maldives, Australia and Spain. Oh, too many things to cover!
Q. Which blogs do you follow?
A. From India, I love Siddharth Joshi’s blog because its unpretentious and honest. Internationally, I like to read Emily Luxton.
You can read more about Aditi and her blog posts at Aditi’s Monologue.
