Pooja Singh is a Travel Vlogger and solo travel enthusiast. She is also a digital content creator and has over 170K followers on Instagram. She is currently in Manali and on a forever vacations. She is also the co-founder of RidingSolo and a hostel ATS. Follow her for some epic adventures and travel stories that will make you travel Vicariously and leave you wanting more from life.
Here is Pooja Singh in a conversation with GOGO Magazine.
1) How did your journey as a Travel Blogger begin?
As a kid, I travelled a lot with my family as my father was in the Indian Army. Travelling was integral to my parents, once you begin, you get closer to knowing yourself and when that happens, there’s no coming back – you want to do it more and more. I went on my first solo trip to Goa in May 2018. And then I got bitten by the travel bug. I devised a plan to make sure I would travel whenever I could. I travelled to almost 12 states after that in that one year. I travelled for almost 2.5 years while working full time. There was a point where I even travelled as much as 4 – 5 times a month while working full-time. As we get limited holidays in a year, I used to utilise all my weekends. But finally after working for 4 years incorporates in Mumbai, I finally decided to follow my dreams of travelling full time.
2) Who has been your inspiration?
My parents. They trusted me and allowed me to travel fearlessly. Having such a pair of cool parents, who could not win the world?
3) When did you finally realise to go on a forever vacation?
Having considered this question myself several times, I realised last year (in May 2020) during lockdown that I wanted to quit my job and travel the world once travelling starts again after lockdown. I believe in the ‘You only live once’ mantra. Even though at this moment it might seem that you have got endless time left, but you don’t. The older we get the faster time will fly until a day will come when you regret everything you did not do.
4) What do you prefer? Travelling alone or with a group?
Most of the times I prefer traveling solo as I am free to choose a destination, make changes midway, adjust at places or simply loiter around. There is no restriction to travel anywhere. I also interact with locals and try their way of living as much as I could.
5) What is that one most beautiful thing about being a full time traveler?
I’ve been travelling myself full-time for the last five months. When your main occupation is “traveller”, there’s no Wednesday hump, no Monday blues and certainly no lack of motivation to jump out of bed in the morning. Every day is an adventure. I like to travel slowly, spend at least a month in one place, which gives me enough time to explore it as well as I can easily work. But also, if you are a full-time traveller, it’s important to be clear about your priorities and how much time you need to do things.
6) Suggest three best destinations in India for travelling solo.
I find Goa, Himachal & North east best for solo travelers.
7) Tell us something about your Travel Company.
RidingSolo is an adrenaline-driven adventure company. Riding Solo was founded in 2015 by BS Rajpurohit and incorporated as a private ltd company In 2017. I officially joined the company as a co-founder after three years in 2020. It is registered with IMF, Uttarakhand Govt And Himachal Gov in the Adventure Tourism category. We are into Trekking, bike expeditions and leisure trips. Recently we have opened up a hostel chain in the name of All-Terrain Stay (ATS). Currently, ATS is operational in Manali & Rishikesh. We are also planning to get into expeditions in the near future.
8) How did you end up in Manali?
The idea of moving to the mountains knocked me out a couple of years ago when I was working with a Corporate company in Mumbai. Travelling two hours in the Mumbai local, battling the city traffic to reach the office was what life looked like for me four years back. Living in the hills is a fantastic experience if you accept all its obstacles. Some days I wake up to village life and realise how amazing it is. Right now, I am putting all my energy into setting up a hostel in the name of All-Terrain Stay (ATS) in Old Manali. And fortunately, we have started it this month itself.
9) Suggest three tips for the young travel blogger.
Most important thing is slow traveling. This is what I learned myself in the last one year. You’ll learn more, enjoy it more, and have a much more memorable experience. I would also advise young travelers to go with the flow. And lastly, start with budget traveling.
10) How was life in quarantine?
Lockdown has been difficult for everyone, but even tougher for travellers like us. The travel and tourism industry across the globe is affected and has left millions without a job. But as you can see from my travel stories, right now I am settled in Manali trying my best to live my life modestly, I keep myself busy most days in hostel work, content writing and continue to work on my other projects.
FOLLOW HER FOR SOME EPIC ADVENTURES AND TRAVEL STORIES
INSTAGRAM : @iampoojasingh_
YOUTUBE : Travel & Fitness with POOJA
TRAVEL COMPANY: Riding Solo
HOSTEL : @allterrainstay
Checkout more such content at: https://gogomagazine.in/category/lifestyle/
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