Yesterday I stepped into Plitvice Nat Park with my group. As I walked through the boardwalks, staring at the gorgeous lakes, I was filled with nostalgia.

11 years back, I was backpacking through Italy. My first solo trip. I saw a poster on a bus of the Plitvice Lakes, and it fascinated me.

I changed three buses to reach the national park. On a shoestring budget, I walked for a few kms trying to find the cheapest hotel. Three guys tried to bully me and taunted that they could kidnap me, but I managed to turn the situation around and they ended up buying me beer. Later I met a guy and decided to camp in a forest with him. That night we got chased by a bear.

11 years later, I’m sitting in a cute hotel.

Back then, Instagram wasn’t big. We took fewer pictures, we didn’t bother to edit them at all. That trip, I was off my phone for 35 days. I didn’t post a single picture, or text/talk to anyone in India for 35 days. Now, I wake up to work msgs.

Back then I would never have known Id become a trip leader and have my own travel company very soon. I had no clue I would try to make a dent in the Indian travel industry, and put up trips to places like Ethiopia, Borneo, Antarctica.

We grow up. Life changes. As I type this, I open a cricket website. Maybe some things will never change. Love for cricket, love for Bollywood. The fact that back then I was playing games with backpackers, and even now I’m doing the same every two weeks with trippers.

Oh Croatia.