The part before travelling

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The Taj at night, valley of flowers , northern lights in Ice or Ireland, cherry blossoms in Japan, colorful mountains in China, Brazil at carnival, pizza in Italy, hot dog in New York, Times square, rain-forest in Brazil or south east Asia, savanna in Africa, great barrier reef, the great ocean road, the tallest and oldest tree in the world, Palau, Leh...

These are places that any traveler would love to see and I am no different. However, I don't have the essentials that all travelers I know have; Determination and a lack of self preservation. So, I do what I'm good at; dream , plan and repeat.

So, I wanted a map of the world. With routes, places and color coding!! It would have been faster and easier to print the map out or order one from Flipkart. However it would not be unique and satisfying. Thus, now I have a book of maps. It has most of the continents (sometimes in bits and pieces) and countries.

I started with Australia(close to New Zealand, culinary capital) and New Zealand (more land for wildlife, more women in Government, and the least corrupt in the world). It was treat to map out these countries and struggle with it also. I used Google maps and some pictures online while drawing and I soon realized that I need a better technique.

Then I moved on to USA(mystery spot, food trucks, amusement parks). I drew in the dark as there was no electricity at home. This screwed up Florida! (this and using picture on my mobile as reference) So, i started taking print outs of the picture and using them instead.

Then I moved on to Europe(backpacking , Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, London, olive oil, cheese, chocolates, snow..) Drawing this was a b**ch!!! The countries got affected if I squeezed in boundaries or loosened them up. I spent a good 5 hours just trying to draw Spain and few more for Denmark. However I screwed up only Ukraine and eastern Europe (but that's ok, I was not intending to go there)

After this I took a printout of all my references, drew grid lines on them, magnified the grid lines on the map book and started drawing the picture in bits. This lead to a very quick and beautiful picture of Africa(the big five, pyramids), South America(Volcanoes and birds), south east Asia (food, sand, sea, lady boys). From there on, I spend more time on planning what to do in the countries I draw , rather than on drawing them.

I realize that I haven't drawn my country ; India, and that is because I'm yet to feel excited about travelling in India.



These maps talk about my love for travelling and mean the world to me. However , I would not recommend it to anyone. This is almost like a drug addict not having the balls to do what is really necessary; Get out! I intended to take baby steps, starting with the planning but now I see that I love travelling only when I am travelling. Not the bits after or before.

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