ToRoots

Rural Vs Urban Travelling, What Is Right For You

2024-12-18T05:47:11Z

Are you looking to start your travel journey to a new place? This travel experience can bring new changes to your lifestyle in this new normal since the pandemic. Not to mention the fact that traveling to underrated cities has its benefits. From sustainable traveling to helping to spread the proceeds of tourism to smaller communities. But do you know traveling to both rural and urban areas has its own experiences? As both spots are ideal for what kind of vacation you are looking for. But traveling to rural areas isn’t always as cheap as people assume. But as a traveler, you can adapt to both the changes of traveling be it urban or rural. Here are some of the things to consider when you are deciding to travel to either a rural or urban location. Choose which one is right for you.

Urban Travel

An urban city is one of the most sophisticated, cultural, and politically civilized areas to travel. It has a lot to offer from easy to travel to tourist attractions to visit, and an easy mode of transportation. Though it costs you a little more money, especially if you enjoy eating out. But urban cities can surprise you with their dynamic infrastructure and best of style, culture, art, entertainment, and technology. If you love urban traveling and want to experience its incredible city life.

Tend To Be More Expensive: Urban travel tends to be more expensive due to its prime location and development facilities. From parking tolls, lodging, mode of transportation to eating out, visiting tourist attractions you will have to pay a pretty decent amount for it. The urban area is always vibrant and lively with history and culture. The energy is infectious with people

Indulge In Various Activities: One of the plus sides of traveling to urban areas is you can indulge in various activities. From sightseeing tourist attractions, parks, museums to indulging in interesting activities. Some of the major cities offer a free walking tour. Where you can explore the city’s best sites with the help of a local tour guide. Also, there is no way better than soaking up the atmosphere of a city than at a local market. Where you can witness and experiment with the new flavors of the fresh food to the fabrics of the art and crafts. These markets have been a powerhouse of the city’s best form. You can always find a museum, galleries or a theatre in every city to visit. This will give you a lot of insights into the history and culture of the urban city.

Taking In The Culture: For some people, it is the galleries, museums, and expos that are important in an urban city. But apart from that, the urban area attracts people from different walks of life to discover the city at its own best. It is a learning opportunity to teach children about the diversity and culture which differs from the rural area. The urban area is known for its beautiful streets, nightlife, and many other things. It offers something to learn for everyone.

Pros of Urban Travel: It offers a lot of benefits with its dynamic infrastructure and best lifestyle. It has increased diversity and is a cultural hub. Urban cities are full of life with countless opportunities. It gives access to an easy public transportation system. Cons: The cost of living and traveling is comparatively huge. It has a competitive job market and less space. The city gets polluted a lot with air, noise pollution.

Pros of Urban Travel

It offers a lot of benefits with its dynamic infrastructure and best lifestyle.
It has increased diversity and is a cultural hub.
Urban cities are full of life with countless opportunities.
It gives access to an easy public transportation system.

Cons of Urban Travel

The cost of living and traveling is comparatively huge.
It has a competitive job market and less space.
The city gets polluted a lot with air, noise pollution.

Rural Travel

If you want to have the benefits of rural traveling then travel somewhere far from you. Rural may simply refer to a community or an area that is far away from an urban city or that lies outside of the town. Rural travel offers a different perspective of rich culture and traditions, the community and their people which is a reward beyond itself.

The Best Mode Of Relaxation: Rural travel can provide a relaxing vacation for you. If you are someone who is looking for more kinds of places which are not popular and not visited by a lot of people. Many rental or vacation homes have spacious spaces for you to seclude from the bustling world. Compared to Urban travel, rural travel will cost you less. But you have to keep in mind that you will need to plan your vacation perfect experience.

The quality of living while traveling to rural places will give you peace and a refreshing change in your way of living. Nowadays travelers are looking for real experiences with meaning and authenticity. They want to slow down and enjoy being in the present and witness the spellbound beauty of the surroundings.

Meet Friendly People: When you go on a rural trip you get a chance of understanding the local way of life better. Where you will get a different insight about the way of people’s lives and their living. A few days in the rural homestay in the countryside with the locals and meeting them will add a different perspective to your holidays. You will be able to understand the composed living of one big family under one roof. Also, the people here are curious and super friendly. That they will make sure to help you in finding a place to live, eat and explore the community.

People from the rural area will be your hosts and in addition to showing their culture to you. They will be interested in knowing yours. Thus you will have a wonderful journey to learn about rural village life. What’s different here from the things you do at your home? In this way, you can learn to be more sustainable in your life as well as travel sustainably.

Enjoy The Minute Details: Traveling to a rural area will allow you to enjoy the minute details about the community and their daily lives. The main goal is to experience the way of life, even with less infrastructure. Staying in the rural community also means enjoying eating locally produced food coming straight away from the host’s backyard. There aren’t many things to enjoy for entertainment in rural areas. But you get to choose your way of entertainment so that you don’t get bored much. Also if you need anything, it won’t take much of your time. Since everyone in the village tends to know everyone which makes it easy to find help.

Pros of Rural Travel

The cost of living and traveling is less. However, it can vary from one place to another.
You will have closer proximity to nature and surroundings.
The slow-paced lifestyle will allow you to relax and rejuvenate your mind and body.
You get to meet new people and learn the culture and traditions of the community.

Cons of Rural Travel

You will have less access to utilities and modes of transportation.
The maintenance in the rural area tends to be low which means you have more to take care of while you are on vacation here.

In the end, the question is not about which one is right for you. But it gives a perspective of getting to know about both rural and urban travel. Rural travel is not a cup of tea for everyone. But those who wish to be in quiet isolated regions with fewer developments. Then traveling to rural areas is the one for you. Also traveling to urban areas gives the benefit of enjoying the city life and its infrastructure. So the only thing that matters is what you appreciate and approach while traveling.

Why You Should Travel To Rural India

2024-12-18T05:48:21Z

Discovering Rural India has its charm, wisdom, and specialties. These quaint hamlets are endowed with beauty, culture, and environment, which differs from the cities. The diversified nature takes us back to the age-old culture filled with vibrant colors and unexpected contradictions. It tickles our nerves to a very different chapter that is realistic from city life. Traveling to the rural villages gives you an insight into a different world and a country’s culture and values. From the warm welcome of locals, the rusticity of living to the waving gesture of green plants, the quiet of nature – all of it mingled together makes village tourism a potent and sustainable way of traveling for a traveler. Here are some of the reasons or good points to travel to rural villages below.

Traveling to Rural India has something that belongs to you and holds a distinctive place at the bottom of your heart.

Fresh Air To Breathe: The freshness of the air in the rural villages is worth hundreds of millions to trade for anything else. Where the environment is peaceful, and it allows gaining mental development along with positive spiritual energy. You can immerse yourself in nature and discover the special places through the eyes of the local people.

Enjoy The Traditional Organic Food: Organically grown food is enough reason to travel to rural villages, as when you eat the most delicious food cooked and offered by the local people. The amount of hospitality they show and the organic foods they serve in your plans hits on a different chord. You can relish this memory for a long period which is not anywhere in the city. Thankfully the villagers are still cultivating crops without adding any pesticides or chemicals. It inspires us to focus on growing more local fresh veggies.

Engage In Local Cultures & Traditions: What do you think about your trip to a rural village outside your city? What do you remember most about the destination? Is it about the rental car, tourist attraction or the taxi driver? But it’s about the warmth and love of different people coming together to engage with you in a friendly and respectful way, by even staying a few weeks in rural villages, especially outside the tourism area. You get to exchange and engage with them in their traditions and culture. It gives you an insightful conversation, but you as a tourist and local people gain knowledge about many things. Also, these local people are in no hurry, which adds value and different perspectives to your holidays. You will get the opportunity to learn about their daily lives, their lifestyle, and culture. It will inspire you and ignite our hearts to lead a better life.

The Simplicity Of Life: There are rampant landscapes and views in the rural villages to enjoy. Staying in this environment is a refreshing and relaxing retreat from your toiling work life. You get inspired by the local people, and the natural way of living life without advanced technology will be a learning process. You might discover there are still enough places in this world where life moves slowly in a rhythmic manner, where you will be able to witness the beauty of mother nature and be able to talk to neighbors, and feel good within yourself. Traveling to rural villages is all about going and seeing places that are new and attract you. Rural villages are heaven to soul seekers. Who is looking to rejuvenate their soul into the lap of nature away from the chaos of the city?

Explore The Surroundings: Depending on the location of your village, you can explore the surroundings and indulge in a lot of adventure activities like trekking, camping, etc. You can set up camping in the heart of the wilderness or jungle or take a walk through the woods. You can also trek your way into the hills or ride a boat made of straw to reach another side of the village. It is easy to enjoy in a village that is devoid of tourist hustle, where you can go anywhere with ease and get to explore exclusive sights and experience the vicinity at its best.

Support The Local Community: It is extremely important to support the local communities in these rural villages whenever you visit them, as locals don’t have enough education and the ability to fight for their rights to protect their lands. You can engage locals in the development of their livelihood by creating self-employment opportunities within the villages. It will enhance their productivity and allow them to stay close with their families in the village and enjoy decent working conditions.

Why You Should Put A Few Rural Trips In Your Bucket List

2024-12-18T05:48:05Z

Rural Experiencesism is a fairly new (but rapidly growing) concept in India. For people who are hearing this for the first time, the idea is that the traveler stays in a village, enjoys the hospitality of the locals and participate in their daily routines to exchange knowledge & make new friends. Recently, the ToRoots team took one of such experiences via GrassRoutes Journeys in a distant village in Maharashtra & below is the capture of the same.

Located in Akole block of District Ahmednagar, Village Purushwadi is situated 220 km from both Mumbai & Pune en route to Nasik. This tribal village is inhabited by the ‘Hindu Mahadeo Koli’ tribe, renowned as rice cultivators and skilled animal herdsmen. We reached there in the evening and were greeted by smiling villagers who were speaking fluent English. Later we learnt that they were fluent just not in English but Hindi & Marathi too. Most of us only knew two languages. When inquired, they told that that they learnt it simply by interacting with the wide ethnicity of travelers, who visit their village. The impact was just not restricted to language. The locals were well aware of the importance of education, the equality of men & women, and that the right age of marriage is post 20.

What Stood Out

The real magic of evenings, where nature fill in the settings with all kind of soothing sounds. Our dinner was at a local house. We walked some 500 meters to reach our dinner host’s home and with just one light and a shy smile, she welcomed us in. Right into the heart of her house. The food was getting prepared in clay pots over charcoal. Our dinner was in the kitchen, right by the ‘chula’ where our host had just cooked. We chatted with her as she doled out the food. under one solitary light. The meal was simple, wholesome but it was special.

Sitting on a mat, we forgot all those fancy restaurants because of the warm hospitality of our host who was keen to serve us hot ‘just prepared’ food. Our night started sitting around a camp fire with chai & laughs all around. The moon was providing the ambiance lighting while we interacted with the locals, making new friends & understanding their way of living. We learnt that their main occupation is farming & they grow the crops not to sell but to feed the family. The food that we ate as dinner was all organic and required some months efforts to grow in a nearby field.

Once you meet the creator of your daily staple, there is an overwhelming feeling to hug them, once you learn their efforts of harvesting. The morning was spectacular! The moon was setting down behind a mountain and at the same time the orange fireball was coming up from the back of another mountain. The villagers were already up and were greeting us with genuine smiles. No usual stale ‘good mornings’ , no half nods. Just bright smiles & beaming faces. Before we left in the afternoon, some of us tried hands in ploughing fields and that’s the first for all of us. Using the dated tools we worked with the local farmer , with a hope that after few months, the harvest will inspire a new traveler.

The simple life holds so much in it that one can’t understand it unless they are in it.

From Visiting Destinations To Experiencing Places – A Paradigm Shift

2024-12-18T05:38:11Z

There used to be a time when one used to think about travel, the whole idea used to revolve around nature, beaches, historical monuments etc. But over the time with the rise of ‘Generation Y’, which is more experimental by nature and wants more, there has been a trend shift in the tourism industry. This has given rise to the rapidly growing experiential travel in past few years.

Let’s take a step back and ask ourselves a question: why do people travel? There might be various answers for this like to see new places, meet new people, know about cultures/traditions across the world, to eat new things and so on. But if you delve down deeper, the simplest answer I think is to break the monotony of life and satisfying the basic curiosity.

Experiential travel consists of activity based and localized experiences, and there has been more than 250% growth in this sub-category of travel only in last 4 years. Travelers are now looking for more holistic experiences rather than just visiting destinations. Abraham Alapatt (Chief Innovation Officer and Marketing Head, Thomas Cook) puts it in the perfect way, “The Indian traveler is hungry for more than the vanilla holiday”.

This change in the taste of consumers of tourism is ascertained by the rapid rise of numerous small and big specialized travel agencies which has more to offer to the segment with their experiential travel offerings. WhileGrassroutes based in Mumbai is providing ‘Festival of Million Fireflies’ experience, IndiaUntravelled is offering ‘The Best Kept Secrets of Kerala’, The Folk Tales has “Rustic Charms of Bundi” among their bouquet of experiences and so on. Similarly the startups like SeekSherpa, Vayable, Thrilophillia etc. has been emerging and growing rapidly. This trend has also opened new avenues to the underrated destination e.g. states like Sikkim, Andaman, Assam etc. are mow seeing the rise in tourists in past few years, where few years back the regions with historic monuments, natural beauty, beaches etc were taking major share of the travelers.

While the travel and tourism industry is growing at a good pace due to in rise in disposable income in parallel to the increasing share of young working people among the total population, the providers who are offering unique and experiential experiences are gradually eating the market share of big players who has more of commodity like standard tour packages to offer.

Despite the concept of experiential travel relies on a bespoke, unique vacation; the travelers are now seeking for options in which they can live the destinations by exploring the the traditions, culture, lives, people, etc which makes them feel like a native instead of just a tourist. Thought the experiential tourism is a very small part of the the whole pie, this paradigm shift in the industry is making sure the growth of such options at rapid pace.