If you are a travel freak, then you must have heard of solo travel, budget travel, and the likes. However, community travel is something that doesn’t come up that often and not a lot of people are aware of it. But, what is this form of travelling and why do you need it on your bucket list?
This blog talks about everything you need to know about community travel, excerpts taken directly from the experiences of travel agencies in Kolkata. Here’s a look –
What is community travelling?
The concept is simple and beautiful at the same time. In community travelling, tourists book or arrange overnight stays in the house of locals. And these aren’t locals who have posh villas on hill and sea fronts. Rather, they are ones who are indigenous to the place and often belong to the lower strata of the society.
Community travelling lets you in on their daily lives like never before! You get a glimpse of their real domestic culture, their food habits, and their tendency and adaptability to make something out of nothing.
Imagine the Ladakhi thukpa for instance. It is a delicious vegetable and meat broth that is nutritious, yet healthy and easy-to-make. In fact, it is easy too and made with affordable materials like veggies and wheat flour. This is the real essence of Ladakh.
However, if you go and stay in a 3-star hotel over there, you might get delicious food, but not the real essence of the world. That is what community travel is all about.
Now, let us take a look at why you should do it at least once!
The reason why you should try community travelling is because of the kind of insight to life that it provides. Here’s a list of things you learn from travelling to indigenous communities. Let’s take a look –
1.Their lifestyle
Indigenous people make do with the littlest of resources in the harshest of terrains and environment. If you look at it closely and try to involve yourself, then you can see a lot and learn from how they lead their lives.
You might even pick up on some tricks of how to perfect your version of their native dish and try it at home whenever the memories of those times strike you!
2.Their attire
During your community travelling experience, you will also find out a lot about what they wear and how they wear it. This is especially true for harsh and cold terrains where they adapt to find innovative ways to keep themselves warm, without spending thousands of rupees on the best leather and artificial jackets.
3.Their spirit of life
It’s not just how they live that is worth knowing. If you look at it the right way, many of the community hosts live in abject poverty and yet you will almost never find them not happy. They have a unique approach to life and it always keeps them jubilant. That is definitely worth knowing and you should look at it with a deeper vision!
And that’s not just it – there is plenty of more that you could learn as well. These are the things you can only learn when you try and there is so much more that you can pick up. Just get in touch with the best travel agency in Kolkata and start your journey!
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