Breathedreamgo » Travel

Hotel alternative in India: The homestay option

Mariellen — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:41:23 +0000

Hotels are fine, but homestay is an ideal way to experience travel in India

Hotels are fun, and even cheap hotels have their charms. But sometimes, you have to dig deeper. Indian hospitality is justifiably famous — captured by the slogan, Atithi Devo Bhava, which means The Guest is God. To fully experience this philosophy in action, and to really get to know the culture when you travel in India, you have to stay with an Indian family. But what do you do if you don’t know anyone?

Well, you could try booking through a company like Mahindra Homestays. They are India’s most well-known homestay company. I asked Japa Ghosh, head of marketing at Mahindra Homestays, to fill us in about the homestay option for travellers to India. Here’s what you need to know to find, book and enjoy a homestay, including etiquette tips.

I have found from personal experience that staying with an Indian family while travelling in India was a very culturally rich experience. No longer was I “just a tourist;” I was a member of the family. I hope you give yourself this experience next time you are in India, especially after reading this and getting to know the ropes.

BDG: What is a homestay and how does it work? How is it different than staying in a hotel?

MH: When you stay in a homestay you are a guest in a private home. You will have your own room, normally with an ensuite bathroom, and with all the sort of luxuries you might expect to find in a boutique hotel.

Homestays are run by the homeowners themselves, who are keen to welcome guests into their private homes, to share experiences and relationships which is something hotels simply can’t provide. It takes the detachment away from tourism and gives you a unique and unforgettable experience of the intricacies of Indian life and culture.

Meals are home cooked and authentic, fresh tea and coffee are delivered to your room and guests are treated with the warmth and heartfelt hospitality that India is famed for.

BDG: How do you find a suitable homestay, and how do you know if it’s clean and safe?

MH: The standard and quality of homestays in India can vary dramatically. Anybody can set themselves up as a homestay host and there are no regulations relating to safety and standards.

It is important that if you want to find a high quality homestay that you do some research or book through a reputable agent who can offer some form of guarantee as to what you will be getting.

Mahindra Homestays have a strict selection criterion before taking on a homestay. We look for properties that are unique in some way, or are managed by hosts who will go the extra distance to ensure their guests have a good stay. All Mahindra Homestays are regularly inspected to ensure they comply with standards that include comfort, cleanliness, safety and originality.

Independent homestays should be thoroughly researched before you book, check review sites such as Trip Advisor for recent guest feedback and ask for recommendations on travel forums such as India Mike (but beware of being approached directly by touts).

BDG: How do you book a homestay, what are the usual policies?

MH: Your booking options will depend on your choice of homestay. Many private homestays do not have facilities for taking online bookings, but will accept reservations by phone or email.

Mahindra Homestays are able to take online bookings through our secure site for all our homestays, much in the same way that you would book a hotel. Alternatively, you can book direct with our call centre team, who can also assist you with any transportation requirements, such as train tickets or a car and driver.

BDG: What is the proper etiquette in a homestay: for example, do you tip the owners? Are you required to do any cleaning?

MH: It is important to remember you are a guest in somebody’s home and as such they may have a curfew or house rules, which you would be expected to comply with. These generally would not be too onerous, but relate to things such as keeping the noise down after a certain hour.

You are not required to do any cleaning or chores, although some guests enjoy volunteering in the plantations and working farms for a few hours so they can learn about daily life, such as how tea, coffee and spices are produced; or they might have a go at farming activities such as milking. There is no requirement to tip the owners.

BDG: Why is a homestay in India a good idea?

MH: A homestay offers access to unique activities and events, whether it be adventurous, cultural, historical, relaxation or culinary. Your hosts open up their home and daily life to you and you get a glimpse into the real India that you might otherwise miss staying in a hotel.

It is not unusual for guests to be invited to join the family to attend a small local festival or take a trip to the market to buy the ingredients for dinner.

Experiences such as behind the scenes visits to Bollywood film sets, kayaking or night-fishing in the backwaters, trekking with a conservationist for the elusive tiger or snow leopard or wildlife safaris as well as having dinner with a Maharaja, taking a cooking class, and more, can be arranged through your hosts local connections.

Homestays also encourage responsible tourism. Mahindra Homestays has initiated many programs that a large number of homestays have incorporated. Through their teachings and methods homestays and travellers can have positive and lasting impact on the environment while boosting the regional socio-economic conditions.

BDG: Any tips on the best way to take advantage of a homestay?

MH: To get the best out of your homestay experience make sure you take full advantage of your hosts’ local knowledge. They will be able to advise you on things to do and see in the local area and help you arrange any activities, ensuring you are charged a fair price.

Eating at your homestay offers the opportunity to try some delicious home cooked food and many of the hosts’ are well known for their cooking. Don’t forget to ask for the recipes of your favourite dishes, a souvenir you can share with your friends back home as you recreate the taste of India in your own kitchen.

BDG: Thanks so much! If you want to know more, read the Mahindra Homestays blog for tips, info and contests!

NOTE: All photos courtesy Mahindra Homestays.

If you enjoyed this post, you can….

Get updates and read additional stories on the Breathedreamgo Facebook page.

Buy Song of India, a collection of 10 feature stories about my travels in India. E-book version is now only $1.99.

Subscribe to the free — and inspiring! — e-newsletter, Travel That Changes You.

Digg Digg

Thank you for reading. Please visit Breathedreamgo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

The 1,001 tales of the Jaisalmer desert

Mariellen — Sun, 06 May 2012 15:55:18 +0000

Travelling to magical Jaisalmer in Rajasthan

At the western edge of India, in the middle of the world’s second-largest desert, the fairytale kingdom of Jaisalmer appears, as if by magic, like a golden mirage in a desolate landscape

Despite the chaos of unmarked coaches, the train left the sodden grey bedlam of New Delhi Railway Station on time. But it still took more than 21 hours to reach the far side of Rajasthan, India’s largest state. Stuck in a cramped compartment, with nothing to look at but flat desert terrain, I had plenty of time to think about the heavy heart I was dragging from Delhi; and wonder if the long journey to Jaisalmer would be worth the effort.

Traveling extensively on the subcontinent on two previous trips, I had fallen completely under India’s spell: both were like magic carpet rides. But now I was facing the end of a relationship with a man Delhi-born-and-bred and I was worried that my love affair with India might be over, too. An unaccountable longing for Jaisalmer impelled me to make the long journey.

moi in the desert

Finally, the train pulled into Jaisalmer station and I stepped onto the platform and into the light of a dazzling noonday sun. I was struck by the colours of this far-flung Rajasthani town – splashes of neon pink and orange fabric against a backdrop of pale red earth, golden sandstone and iridescent blue sky. I felt immediately refreshed by the sunlight and spaciousness.

The Fifu Guest House arranged for a jeep to drive me the short distance to their peaceful location on the edge of town, where Jaisalmer meets the desert. By the time I settled into the fourth-floor terrace restaurant, and beheld the ancient, mountain-top fort, with its 99 bastions, in the distance, Delhi and the arduous trek was already seeping out of me. And Jaisalmer’s magic was seeping in.

As a child, I was obsessed with the 1,001 tales of the Arabian Nights, and I painted huge, colourful murals on my walls – always something I considered Oriental and exotic like turret-topped palaces and stone fortress-like cityscapes. Imagine my surprise when I looked at Jaisalmer and saw my bedroom walls.

Haveli in Jaisalmer Fort

Sunset over the Golden City

Jaisalmer rises from the baked earth of the Thar Desert, the second-largest desert on earth, and culminates in an impossibly romantic fairytale fort surrounded by scores of intricately carved buildings. Made almost entirely from yellow sandstone, each evening Jaisalmer glows gold in the setting sun. In fact, it is called the Golden City.

Ganesh paintings adorn the entrances of many houses

I was attracted to Jaisalmer by its remote desert location and reputation for having a relaxed atmosphere that also manages to evoke the adventure and romance of the former kingdom’s fabled past. Although rich in art and architecture, Jaisalmer is a small town, with a population of only 78,000, and it really is in the middle of nowhere.

But it was not always so. Jaisalmer was an important stop on the caravan trade routes between Egypt, Afghanistan and India for more than 800 years. Jaisalmer’s rulers and traders became rich and hired the finest craftsmen to build sumptuous palaces, temples, cenotaphs and havelis (Rajasthani-style mansions).

After the disappearance of the overland trade routes in the early 20^th century, the town went into decline. Considered inaccessible only a few decades ago, tourism recently began to revive Jaisalmer’s fortunes. Now it’s the town’s chief commercial activity. However, while most visitors to India make it to Jaipur, one of the three stops on the “golden triangle tour” (the other two being Agra and Delhi), only the hardy venture as far as Jaisalmer. Which is part of its charm.

But it’s not only the setting that’s charming. When I arrived, tired and hungry, guest house owner Fifu Kewalia said, “Welcome to your home,” and he meant it. Fifu and his “brother” Jitu Bissa, restored me with their warm Jaisalmer-style hospitality. And then I wanted to explore.

My first wish was to walk the narrow lanes of the fort. I bartered for beaded wall hangings, puppets and silver jewelry, drank chai in outdoor cafes and fended off constant, though gentle, sales pitches. “Madam, just look in my store!”

In Jaisalmer Fort

Falling in love with the desert

One day, Jitu took me on a motorcycle ride through town, which spreads out in the shadow of the fort. Around every turn we encountered streets filled with museum-quality havelis and shops filled with local, hand-made crafts, textiles and jewelry. The women of Rajasthan look like a vision of Scheherazade – they wear the brightest colours and most elaborate jewelry in all of India and, so there are lots of gorgeous items to choose from.

In the desert

Then we rode out into the desert, to a tiny Hindu temple dedicated to the elephant-headed deity Ganesh. While there, I was suddenly and inexplicably overcome by a powerful feeling of tension-melting, life-altering bliss. In that moment, it was like my heart burst open, and seeing with my heart, I fell in love with the burnished beauty of the desert. I felt profound peace – and yet more alive than I had ever felt before.

I was still feeling the joy of that experience when I went on my first-ever overnight desert safari. About 10 guests, and our host Jitu, traveled by jeep to see Bada Bagh, the royal cenotaphs and a delicate Jain temple complex at Amar Sagar on our way to the Sam sand dunes outside of Jaisalmer.

We rode camels into the dunes, where a camp was set up. After a delicious meal of rice, dal, vegetables, chutney and rotis, cooked on an open fire, we rolled out our sleeping mats and I looked at the desert as the sun set and the dome of the sky turned indigo above us.

At first it looked like nothing. Then it looked like everything. The sand dunes rippled in a rhythmic dance. The night sky filled with more stars than I had ever seen before. The only sounds were the gurgling camels and the whispering silence of a warm breeze that brushed my skin and reminded me this wasn’t a mirage. Infinity stretched in every direction, including within.

I lay awake on the dunes the entire night, communing with the thrumming stars, feeling full of wonder and joy, and more attached to myth than time. Incredibly, I had found a place that matched my childhood imagination; a place with stone turrets, an ancient fort and tales of caravans traversing the desert. History, imagination and the profound present intersect in Jaisalmer, and the effect is stunning.

[NOTE: First published in Acura Style magazine, Summer 2009.]

If you enjoyed this post, you can….

Get updates and read additional stories on the Breathedreamgo Facebook page.

Buy Song of India, a collection of 10 feature stories about my travels in India. E-book version is now only $1.99.

Subscribe to the free — and inspiring! — e-newsletter, Travel That Changes You.

Thank you for reading. Please visit Breathedreamgo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

Travel Snapshots: Travelling in the Far East

Mariellen — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 13:27:04 +0000

Bangkok, Thailand 1992

Photographs from my early travels

A photo essay of me travelling in Asia

I started travelling long before Breathedreamgo was launched, long before I went to India in 2005 and long before digital cameras were invented. Recently, I dug out my old photo albums and scanned a bunch of photographs of me travelling around the world — to Asia, Europe, Central America and Australia. So, for a lark, here I am in in Tokyo, Japan and Bangkok and Koh Samui, Thailand in the 1990s.

Japan

In 1992, I moved with my then-boyfriend to Tokyo, Japan. He was working in the film business (for a cinema company), and I was a full-time tourist. I spent my days in Tokyo learning how to shop in the Daimuru supermarket — I had to take lessons, I kid you not — and how to negotiate the bus-and-train system. I bought a book written by an expat in Tokyo called You can’t there from here to give you an idea how complex it is. The highlight of my year in Japan was taking the bullet train to Kyoto, the Paris of the East, by myself during Himani (Cherry Blossom Festival) and staying at a 300-year-old ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) and sleeping on the matted ground.

Philosopher's Walk during Cherry Blossom Festival, Kyoto, Japan 1992

In Kyoto, Japan 1992

Thailand

While we were in Japan, we travelled to Australia and Hong Kong for business and Thailand for pleasure. It was a few months after an uprising, and tourism was way down. We stayed at the world’s top-rated hotel at the time, The Oriental in Bangkok; and flew down to Koh Samui and stayed in a perfect Thai-style bungalow on the beach. At that time, it was the best vacation of my life. In the top picture, above, I am celebrating after finding an out-of-the way restaurant in Bangkok listed in my guidebook. Below, a rainy day in paradise.

Koh Samui, Thailand 1992

Lunch at The Oriental in Bangkok, Thailand 1992

Shimoda

One of my favourite places in Japan, aside from Kyoto, was a small, traditional seaside town we visited called Shimoda. The traditional Japan of legend lives on in this town, where you could still see people walking in the streets in print-block robes and wooden shoes after bathing in natural hot springs; and sipping tea and sake in small cafes like the one pictured below. I will never forget the seafood nor the gardens filled with hydrangeas. There is a a historical park in Shimoda dedicated to the “opening of Japan” and featuring a bust of Jimmy Carter. They love Jimmy Carter in Japan. George Bush Sr. not so much. (I was in Japan was he threw up on the prime minister.)

In Shimoda, Japan 1992

If you enjoyed this post, you can….

Get updates and read additional stories on the Breathedreamgo Facebook page.

Buy Song of India, a collection of 10 feature stories about my travels in India. E-book version is now only $1.99.

Subscribe to the free — and inspiring! — e-newsletter, Travel That Changes You.

Thank you for reading. Please visit Breathedreamgo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

Fashionable travel clothes at Shopgirls

Mariellen — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:53:34 +0000

At the Shopgirls boutique

Breathedreamgo now has official clothing supplier!

Recently, I was walking along Queen St. W., in Parkdale, Toronto, when I discovered Shopgirls. I couldn’t believe it: a store in my neighbourhood, with a great atmosphere and staff, that has gorgeous, affordable women’s clothes that travel well and that you can buy online! And then I met the owner, Michelle Germain, and knew instantly that we were like-minded, and that she was the reason I like the clothes so much. So I asked Michelle if she would be willing to become the “official fashion clothing supplier” for Breathedreamgo — in other words for me! — and she said yes. She is totally cool.

I’ve been so busy travelling and writing the last few years, I stopped paying attention to my wardrobe and how I look. But now that Breathedreamgo and my travel career are both doing so well, and I am going to meetings and speaking at conferences, I felt it was time for a makeover and especially for new clothes. So Michelle spent a couple of hours with me and put me in some of Shopgirl’s most classic and fashionable women’s clothes.

At the Shopgirls boutique

The essential pieces she started me off with were Second Denim yoga jeans that are super comfortable, a flowing silk “Lily” top in deep teal and a red purse by Nella Bella called The London Bag Multi-Tasker. Shopgirls is big on yoga jeans, and offers the biggest selection in Canada. The Lily top by Veronique Miljkovitch can be scrunched up and jammed in a suitcase or backpack and comes out looking good. The wrinkles only change the top’s style; they don’t ruin it.

moi trying on a dress by Veronique Miljkovitch - I bought it in blue

They also love Nella Bella purses. I took my “multi-tasker” to Halifax with me and loved the versatility. It is composed of five pieces: a large and small purse and three separate straps. I carried it on the plane as a messenger bag, and then when I went out for dinner, I put the chain handle on only the small bag, and I had a smart evening purse.

While there are many designers represented at Shopgirls, I kept falling in love with pieces by Melissa Nepton and Veronique Miljkovitch. Both of these designers make elegant, flowing, flattering clothes that suit my age, but that allow me to retain my “funky integrity,” as my friend Shelly put it. Shelly, owner of Lila Yoga Toronto came with me to take photos and offer a sound second opinion.

I also bought a flowing off-white top called Jasmine by Melissa Nepton, a flowing top called Uma by Veronique Miljkovitch and a simple pencil skirt by The Paddock.

Among other reasons for loving Shopgirls is that the store features all-Canadian clothes. This is from their website:

2 of 5 pieces of The London Bag Multi-tasker

“Established in Parkdale Village since 2007, Shopgirls features the best of up-and-coming and reputable Canadian designers. Pieces are carefully edited to cater women of all shapes and sizes… celebrating the female form as it should be. You will find stylish and creative pieces from over 50 Canadian designers including the most figure flattering jeans in the world!

Armed with the best selection in Canada, and boasting over 5,000 happy bums who’ve been fitted in Second Denim’s Yoga Jeans, the Shopgirls team offers expert advice on making all women look and feel incredible. Fashion need not be so serious ladies…bring your babies, dogs, smiles, and fabulousness and let the Shopgirls team work their magic!”

The 5-in-1 Dress: Perfect for travel

One of Shopgirls’ specialties, perfect for travel, is the 5-in-1 Dress. This slinky dress can actually be worn much more than five ways — if you watch the video you’ll see what I mean.

Check out the Shopgirls website. You can order their clothes from around the globe. And write to me if you want my opinion! I am sure I will be visiting the store often. Thanks so much to Michelle and Ashleigh of Shopgirls, and my friend Shelly for a wonderful, and long overdue, shopping spree. I hope this is just the beginning of a beautiful — and fashionable! — friendship.

Photo courtesy Katherine Holland.

[DISCLOSURE NOTE: Yoga Jeans, Lily top and Nella Bella bag provided by Shopgirls for promotional consideration. But I would have bought them.]

If you enjoyed this post, you can….

Get updates and read additional stories on the Breathedreamgo Facebook page.

Buy Song of India, a collection of 10 feature stories about my travels in India. E-book version is now only $1.99.

Subscribe to the free — and inspiring! — e-newsletter, Travel That Changes You.

Thank you for reading. Please visit Breathedreamgo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

Travel is an experience in perception

Mariellen — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:30:25 +0000

Travel to India is like going through the looking glass

When we travel, we learn as much about ourselves as our destinations

WHEN I TRAVEL, especially in India, I feel like Alice in Wonderland; I feel like I’ve fallen into the rabbit hole, or stepped through the looking glass. I lose my bearings and everything is challenged, including my sense of self in the world and my ideas about how life and people should be.

And the experience of being in the alternate universe of a foreign country has helped me become more aware of myself and of the role perception plays in shaping reality.

In India, I meet other foreigners who tell me they think Pahar Ganj in Delhi is “the real India,” and who say the only way to travel in India is by staying in 150-rupee-a-night hovels. I also meet Delhi-born Indians who tell me they think Pahar Ganj is a ghetto and wouldn’t go near it. They prefer Delhi’s five star hotels and the shopping malls of Gurgaon.

When I live with my partner’s Indian family in Delhi, I am accepted into the family and I live as an Indian. But when I travel, I am seen as a foreigner and as if I know nothing about the culture. What’s the truth?

The truth was a mirror in the hands of God. It fell, and broke into pieces. Everybody took a piece of it, and they looked at it and thought they had the truth. ~ Rumi

The truth is, we can only see the world through our own window. And the nature of our window depends on our culture, gender, age, background, experiences, beliefs, judgments, IQ, EQ, and everything else that goes into making us who we are.

Perception is the reason one person loves Thailand and another Rome. Perception is why traveling can be fun and exciting; though you are visiting a place that is “normal” to the people who live there, to you it is novel and highly stimulating.

Perception is the reason one person’s idea of an adventure is to get drunk on the beach with other travelers in Goa, whereas for someone else it would be living in a mud hut for a year in Africa and volunteering to work with AIDS orphans.

I have long been interested in perception and the nature of consciousness. I studied Gestalt Therapy for six years and practiced as a therapist for seven years. I’ve also studied and practiced yoga for close to 20 years. Both say the same things: truth is in your experience, your experience is coloured by your perception, and you are a co-creator in your perception and thus in your reality of life.

And they both recommend increasing your mindfulness — your consciousness — to become aware of yourself. Yoga says you are a drop in the ocean of consciousness. You can become aware of yourself as a single drop and as part of the ocean.

We do not see the world as it is. We see the world as we are. ~ Talmud

I always advise people to go to India with an open and trusting attitude. India is like the cave that Yoda sends Luke into. Luke asks, “What will I find there?” and Yoda answers, “Only what you bring in with you.”

I went to India knowing I would change, but not knowing how. Though I was lucky to have a very soft landing at the beginning of my six-month trip, I was still gob-smacked by the traffic, chaos, colour, and noise. On my first car drive in Delhi, I felt like I was on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.

Horns honking, cows in the road, bicycles piled high with unlikely goods careening between the cars, no one paying any attention to the lanes or the rules. It seemed like madness.

Five months later, when I strode confidently through Connaught Place in central Delhi and noticed that the touts didn’t bother me — they could see I wasn’t a newbie and therefore not a prime target — I was thrilled. I realized I had found my “India legs” and it felt like one of the biggest accomplishments of my life. I had discovered both inner strength and a much higher degree of tolerance and flexibility.

Since then I have traveled often to India, living with my Indian partner and his family, studying with my yoga teacher in Rishikesh, and trying to learn and understand what eastern spiritual leaders have been teaching since the dawn of recorded time: that truth is in your experience. You are not the center of the universe, but you are the center of your universe.

The wisdom of the ancient rishis (sages), who developed the art and science of yoga, gained their wisdom not with external instruments of measure, but by meditating. Deepak Chopra called them “Einsteins of consciousness.” They used the human mind as a portal to the universe.

The last of human freedoms is the ability to choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances. ~ Viktor Frankl

It seems to me that it’s hard to see your own wallpaper. We all have preconceived ideas about the world; we carry around a set of assumptions, but we often don’t realize it until something comes along to shake us up. Like travel.

But even travelers and people who blog about travel spend what I think is an inordinate amount of time trying to get others to agree to their truth; or not realizing that their version of the truth is personal. For example, so many discussions are around trying to figure out what’s “right” or what’s “cool” or what’s “authentic,” whereas only the person who is experiencing it knows whether it’s right, cool, or authentic.

I’m not saying I do not fall into this trap — I do. It’s hard to be a conscious person. But I think it’s worth trying.

I know from my own experience that it can be humbling to find out you are not the center of the universe. But if you learn the lesson with a dose of humility, it can open up a new universe to you. It can open you up to realizing that there is only one thing you can change or control, and that’s your attitude. It is only one thing, but it is a very powerful thing.

[Note: Originally published by Brave New Traveler, January 2011]

If you enjoyed this post, you can….

Get updates and read additional stories on the Breathedreamgo Facebook page.

Buy Song of India, a collection of 10 feature stories about my travels in India. E-book version is now only $1.99.

Subscribe to the free — and inspiring! — e-newsletter, Travel That Changes You.

Thank you for reading. Please visit Breathedreamgo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

A great week for Breathedreamgo

Mariellen — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 02:27:35 +0000

And a breakthrough year for travel bloggers

I’ve been travel blogging about India and meaningful travel for about two-and-a-half years on Breathedreamgo, and for several years before that on a previous blog, too. Slowly, I’ve been building my career as a travel blogger and advocate for travel blogging, and this week feels like a breakthrough week for me — as I think this year, 2012, will be a breakthrough year for travel blogging. Here’s what happened.

Travel blogging event a big success

On February 16, the organization I co-founded, Toronto Travel Massive, held an event at Social Media Week Toronto called “Getting serious about travel blogging.” My co-founder Alicia Taggio of My Life Untethered and I (pictured above) assembled a knockout panel: Dave and Deb of the travel blog ThePlanetD, Evelyn Hannon of the well-known Journeywoman site, newsletter and blog, Jantine Van Kregten of Ottawa Tourism, Andrew Hickey, who is Brooklyn Nomad and also the social media manager for G Adventures, Meredith Howard of High Road Communications, and Adrian Brijbassi, a travel journalist and editor of Vacay.ca.

The event was a massive success by every measure. The Gladstone Hotel ballroom was standing room only, the panel was on fire, the audience was engaged and the Tweets were flying — in fact, our hashtag #SMWTOtravel trended in Canada! I will be writing a wrap-up post about this event as the panelists offered a tremendous amount of tips, advice, information and encouragement on how to be a successful travel blogger; how to work with the travel industry; the challenges and rewards of travel blogging; where travel blogging as an industry is heading; and much much more.

It takes a community to raise an event like this — and I am so honoured and proud to be part of the travel blogging community. Everyone really came together on this one — the panelists, the volunteers, the sponsors — Flight Centre and G Adventures — and all the travel bloggers around the world who joined in our Twitter stream including Gary Arndt from Everything-Everywhere, Keith Jenkins of Velvet Escape, Amanda of A Dangerous Business, JD Andrews of EarthXplorer and many many others.

And my readers and followers are part of this community too — no doubt about it. When the dust settled, Breathedreamgo came out ahead as one of the most followed, engaged and retweeted on Twitter, as you can see by the screen shot below. These results below reveal that although I did not have the highest number of Twitter followers in the room, I have a lot of influence and inspire a lot of engagement. Which means I have great readers!

A glowing review of Breathedreamgo

On February 13, one of the judges for the Canadian Weblog Awards — regular readers will know I won an award in the travel category — wrote a post about her experience as a judge, and singled out Breathedreamgo. Ariane Colenbrander of Ariane C Design said that she was hoping to find a few gems — and with Breathedreamgo she “found a real standout … Breathedreamgo is right on the mark for a niche travel blog… If you’re seriously considering spending any amount of time in India, I’m sure that Breathedreamgo is one of the best online resources to check out. I’m lucky to have discovered Mariellen’s site …”

Here’s a screen shot of her post, below. Thanks Ariane, and everyone who contributed to Getting serious about travel blogging. Because of you, this year is getting off to a good start!

If you enjoyed this post, you can….

Get updates and read additional stories on the Breathedreamgo Facebook page.

Buy Song of India, a collection of 10 feature stories about my travels in India. E-book version is now only $1.99.

Subscribe to the free — and inspiring! — e-newsletter, Travel That Changes You.

Thank you for reading. Please visit Breathedreamgo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

Introducing Breathedreamgo travel videos

Mariellen — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:18:21 +0000

Travel videos coming right up!

Thanks to Mike Corey of KicktheGrind TV, I now have a stunning opening sequence for upcoming Breathedreamgo videos … now all I have to do is make some! Isn’t this lovely?

Thank you for reading. Please visit Breathedreamgo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

Breathedreamgo wins a travel blog award

Mariellen — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:59:04 +0000

Second place win in Canadian Weblog Awards

I am very excited to announce that Breathedreamgo won a Canadian Weblog Award in the Travel category!

Thanks so much to Ninjamatics and the jury for nominating and choosing Breathedreamgo. It couldn’t come at a better time as I am seeking sponsorship for the blog and for an ambitious travel blogging trip I am planning to India and South Asia! Read this Breathedreamgo Sponsorship Opportunities PDF to find out more.

At the outset of the contest, I was nominated in the Writing, Design and Travel categories. On the short list, I was down to Design and Travel. And when they announced the winners today, I won second place in the Travel category, in between Gourmet Fury and Have Baby Will Travel – both excellent blogs, and very different from Breathedreamgo.

As I have said many times before, this blog is a labour of love, and any recognition I receive is very welcome and much appreciated.

If you enjoyed this post, you can….

Get updates and read additional stories on the Breathedreamgo Facebook page.

Buy Song of India, a collection of 10 feature stories about my travels in India. E-book version is now only $1.99.

Subscribe to the free — and inspiring! — e-newsletter, Travel That Changes You.

Thank you for reading. Please visit Breathedreamgo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

My story, or why I write about travel in India

Mariellen — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:06:07 +0000

Elephant blessing in Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India, 2006

Creativity: The missing link

I recently realized that my story doesn’t actually appear anywhere on my blog. By that I mean, a concise telling of why I blog about India. And it’s not like I just started this. I’ve been traveling in India, and blogging about it, for six years. But it feels like it’s time, especially since Sir Ken Robinson helped provide me with some new insight.

In early December of 2011, I marked the six-year anniversary of landing in India for the first time by publishing Six years of travel writing and blogging. A while later, I was on Twitter and saw a Tweet from @SirKenRobinson, which said he was writing about passion. You have probably seen Sir Ken’s video — the most famous TED video ever, about how school kills creativity in kids.

I tweeted my six year blog to Sir Ken, he read it and retweeted it, and the next day his co-author Lou Aronica contacted me and interviewed me for their new book, Finding Your Element — which is a follow-up to their bestseller about passion called The Element. The interview with Lou was cathartic and made me realize why I do a lot of the things I do: it’s because I am a deeply creative person who has never had my creativity supported. Well, certainly not in school.

Alice in Wonderland

So now I see more clearly a thread running through my life, which goes like this. I taught myself to read before starting school. I had a sensitive nervous system and was absent one-third of each school year, but was always at the top of my class. By the age of 10 I was reading Dickens. In short, I was bright, creative and “precocious” (the word my mom used to describe me, along with pensive and sensitive – she often compared me to Alice in Wonderland, and we even looked alike with long blonde hair held back by a hairband.).

But I experienced childhood trauma (too personal to discuss here) and my school didn’t know what to do with me so they had me skip two grades. I was too young when I entered high school, and quit the day I turned 16. It didn’t help that my family felt apart at about that time, and for a while I had no place to live. I was born sensitive, so add childhood trauma, a botched education and sudden lack of family support when I was about 17, and you get a mega-dose of teenage angst. My teenage years were filled with emotional problems. I was even hospitalized for three weeks for depression.

By the time I reached adulthood, I didn’t know who I was, and I was operating in a kind of survival mode.

When I was young, before everything fell apart, I wanted to study comparative religion, English and mythology at university. But instead, I went to college for journalism because it was more practical. My dreams were so deeply buried, I didn’t know they existed. I worked in communications for many years, drifting from one job to another. (And from one boyfriend to another.) Rootless. Passionless.

There were a few highpoints and I did have some fun, though. In my 20s, I was part of the alternative music demi monde scene in Toronto and partied “like it was 1999″ in the early 1980s, with bands like Duran Duran, The The and The Psychedelic Furs. After graduating with a BA in journalism I worked at a leading fashion magazine. Then, I worked in the film industry and attended several films festivals, including Cannes, and met loads of movie stars. (Big deal. Anthony Hopkins stands out, very gentlemanly.) I traveled a lot, through France, to central America, many times to London, New York and once to Paris. When I was about 30, I moved to Tokyo, Japan with my film executive boyfriend, and traveled from there to Australia, Hong Kong and Thailand.

My mom, me and my sister Victoria during my groovy years, circe 1983

There were some low points, too: my best friend killed herself. I had ongoing issues with anxiety and depression and became addicted to anti-anxiety pills. Financial troubles dogged me as I tried to pursue a writing career, and once found myself on welfare, and visiting a food bank.

In my 30s I experienced a crisis and started therapy, and realized I was deeply affected by childhood abuse. I dedicated many years to healing from it, and even gained a certificate in Gestalt Therapy, practising part-time for seven years.

Loss, trauma and my bleakest hour

In my late 30s I was hit by a series of traumas. In a few short years my father declared bankruptcy and we lost our family cottage (which was like losing a family member); my mother died suddenly and unexpectedly and I found her body; my fiance left me, with an expensive wedding dress in the closet; I had a bicycle accident and broke my elbow; and my father died of cancer.

During yoga teacher training. Photo courtesy Christine Lynes.

By the end of it, I was flattened. I was in my 40s, unmarried, no kids, no career, no parents, no money. I was in a deep depression, filled with feelings of grief and irreconcilable loss. None of my early potential had manifested, my dreams were long-lost. It was my bleakest hour.

Slowly, like the ice thaw in early spring. I came out of the depression by doing yoga, and by deciding to go after a dream: to become a yoga teacher. Though I was the oldest and least flexible person in my class, I threw myself into the training program and midway through, had a strange, kundalini-like experience.

A teacher who had lately returned from training in India really impacted me, and somehow I started releasing energy, or channeling energy, and went into a kind of altered state. It happened at the same time as the tsunami in southeast Asia; and for me, it was like a personal tsunami. In three weeks, I lost 15 pounds. And I was gripped with a compulsion to go to India. I had never felt anything like it before, and I had to obey.

I started planning and saving and about 11 months later left for India on December 5, 2005, for a six-month odyssey. I have written probably a half-million words about the affect that trip had on me. How it gave me back my dreams, recharged my life, made me feel I was finally home and provided me with the inspiration to finally start my writing career. I had wanted to be a writer since childhood, but I didn’t have my subject matter until I went to India.

1,001 Tales of the Arabian Nights

When I was a child I was obsessed with the 1,001 Tales of the Arabian Nights and painted huge murals on my walls, of genies coming out of bottles and maharaja palaces. In India, I found the real-life version of my childhood walls; and the inspirational spark to ignite my imagination. India is my soul’s home and my muse.

I’ve found my dreams, and they are traveling (especially in India and Asia), writing and yoga. And I have followed them whole-heartedly for the last few years, because they were buried for so long. Followed them irrationally and without thought to where they would lead. Followed them without knowing how I would support myself financially. I’ve been to India on five lengthy trips and published loads of blogs, articles, a book. I’ve been asked to speak, I’ve been interviewed and I’ve had some fantastic adventures like attending the Kumbh Mela and dancing with Shahrukh Khan. It’s been a magic carpet ride. But I’ve done it with almost no real support, or financial return.

My interview for Lou Aronica and Sir Ken Robinson’s book seemed to bring things full circle for me; it provided a big puzzle piece. I am the same pensive girl, lost in my imagination, dreaming of the “exotic” Orient, making up stories, wishing I could live in my imaginary world, that I was in childhood. A grown-up cross between Alice in Wonderland, having adventures, and Scheherazade, spinning tales. But now I’m trying to make a livelihood from it as a travel writer and blogger who specializes in writing about Asia and meaningful travel.

So, that’s my story. I am now trying to figure out how to bring the “real world” and the world of my imagination together, so I can live a sustainable, creative life. And I’m trying to break the pattern of not having enough support in my life. It’s hard.

If you enjoyed this post, you can….

Get updates and read additional stories on the Breathedreamgo Facebook page.

Buy Song of India, a collection of 10 feature stories about my travels in India. E-book version is now only $1.99.

Subscribe to the free — and inspiring! — e-newsletter, Travel That Changes You.

Thank you for reading. Please visit Breathedreamgo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

What is Immersive Travel?

Mariellen — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:08:02 +0000

Bada Bagh, Jaisalmer: India is my soul culture

Immersive Travel column on Travel+Escape

Last month, I started writing a bi-monthly “column” for the new Travel+Escape website — which complements the new Canadian TV channel — about immersive travel. What is immersive travel? It’s travel that takes you deep into a culture and changes you. Immersive travel can be voluntourism, solo travel or long-term travel. It can be embarking on a spiritual path or a going to a health & wellness retreat. Or it can be simply an attitude. It’s about being open to a new culture, learning from it, and letting it change your ideas, beliefs and assumptions about life and the world. If you go on a trip, and see things differently when you get back home — then, you have probably experienced immersive travel. Here’s a synopsis of my first three columns.

Are you a tourist or a traveler?

If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don’t want them, I want men who will come if there is no road at all.” ~ David Livingstone

There’s a difference between a traveller and a tourist. Maybe I’m old-fashioned: I prefer reading to television; trains to jets; long sojourns to quick getaways. I love reading stories about travellers who went abroad for months, even years, and became completely transformed. Like Ibn Batutta. He left his homeland, Morocco, to make a hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca in 1325AD that should have taken 16 months. He didn’t return home for 24 years.

In total, Ibn Battuta traveled for 30 years. He covered most of Africa, Europe, the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia, all the way to China, for a total of 75,000 miles (121,000 km) – a mileage record that held for more than 400 years. Batutta recorded his travels in a book called The Rihla (Journeys) of Ibn Battuta.

I think of the 19th century as the golden age of travel. People packed steamer trunks and ventured out into the world before there was any kind of tourism infrastructure. These people had adventures!

To read more, please visit Are you a tourist or a traveler? on the Travel+Escape website.

Three hotels that off the comfort of luxury with the joy of cultural immersion

When you think of immersive travel, you may think of living in a local’s house, eating home-cooked food and following the family’s daily rhythm. I do like staying in small guesthouses and homestays when I travel, but I also enjoy finding higher-end accommodation that tries to preserve the spirit of cultural authenticity.

The three hotels featured here ― the Bhakti Kutir in Goa, the Windamere Hotel in Darjeeling and the Uma Paro in Bhutan ― each combine the best of both worlds, the comfort of luxury with the joy of cultural immersion.

To read more, please visit Comfort and Joy on the Travel+Escape website.

Have you found your soul culture?

There are many ways to experience “immersive travel.” You can travel somewhere to live for a time, or volunteer. You can study the culture, learn the language or master the arts. But the type of immersive travel I am writing about today cannot be engineered. You cannot make it happen.

I call it finding your “soul culture” and it’s like falling in love. It just happens.

Sometimes, people discover a corner of the world where they feel most at home. It is often in a country and culture far away, and far different, from their own, and it doesn’t make a lot of rational sense.

People who found their soul culture always intrigued me. And, I admit, I was a bit jealous. Though I had traveled to many parts of the world, and lived in Tokyo, I had never felt that special affinity, and didn’t know if I ever would. Then, in late 2004, at about the same time the tsunami struck Southeast Asia, a personal tsunami of sorts hit me.

I was trying to recover from a series of devastating losses that had left me feeling flattened, and was enrolled in a yoga teacher training program. That’s when the idea of going to India for six months grabbed hold of me.

To read more please visit Have you found your soul culture? on the Travel+Escape website.

If you enjoyed this post, you can….

Get updates and read additional stories on the Breathedreamgo Facebook page.

Buy Song of India, a collection of 10 feature stories about my travels in India. E-book version is now only $1.99.

Subscribe to the free — and inspiring! — e-newsletter, Travel That Changes You.

Thank you for reading. Please visit Breathedreamgo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.