Once in awhile we all face an urge to get away, pick up our bags, and venture into the unknown, a world of travels and exploits. Two souls who had that nagging feeling followed through and now inspire us everyday to do what we love, for them it was travel. Savi and Vid – founders of Bruised Passports, a blog documenting their journey across the world, have travelled across six continents and aim to soon conquer the seventh. During their recent trip to India, we caught up with them over nitro coffee. Radiating contagious levels of enthusiasm, Savi’s bright smile & Vid’s quirky humour had us cracking up within the first few minutes and we knew we were in for a ride, one that was going to take us across the world.
Travelling across Singapore while living in Asia and expanding their expeditions to Europe when Savi moved to London, there came a point when they realised the life they wanted was one of constant travel. Recalling their time in London, Savi shares “A four days hiatus was never enough for us, we wanted more like four months! Everyone was saving money for houses and cars while our spending graph was focused on travel expeditions.” Vid is quick to add how they had a different plan for life, “Most people save money till sixty before going on their much dreamed vacation but we have a Travellers Retirement Plan – enjoying retirement whenever you can. It means living our dream as we go.” As alluring as it may sound, it has to be a well thought out decision and Savi promptly points out how they took four years to actually reach the stage where they could quit their jobs, stay monetarily strong, and make travelling a business. Their passion has now yielded a brand, for Bruised Passports isn’t just a blog and Savi and Vid aren’t just travellers, they are entrepreneurs.
“Every single person we spoke to questioned our decision and couldn’t understand why two sane adults would give up their life for travel, but that never wavered us because we were 100 percent sure. Though to be fair, packing up our lives was more of a challenge than that, especially our wardrobes!” shares Savi. Vid put that in perspective “If your passion becomes your work or vice versa, it never feels like work and that’s the thought behind Bruised Passports. We spend longer hours on our blog now than we did during our day jobs and are much happier for it.” It may all seem like fun & games, but it’s a tough grind – each trip, each blog, and each social media post comes with its own ground work, and they handle it with clear delegation. Savi handles social media and content writing, whereas Vid manages digital marketing and photography for the website. With a cheeky smile Savi adds “We try to keep it well divided, otherwise we argue our socks off.” But how do they answer the biggest question – Where to next? “Most of our travel destinations are spontaneous selections. Once we were dining with our friends and someone happened to bring up Japan, later we thought to ourselves what’s stopping us? The answer was nothing and we booked our tickets for April, all ready to experience the cherry blossom season.” shares Vid.
Culture & cityscapes drive their passion for travel, but pressing the brakes on it is the very real safety concern for Vid and Savi who share one such experience, “Guayaquil, Ecuador is extremely unsafe, locals warned us not to venture out alone or use our DSLR. We like to travel uninhibited, exploring the city, talking to strangers, but couldn’t do any of that and don’t think we’d like to go back.” However, when the world is literally your oyster the negative experiences do not even begin to weigh against the adventures. Four years and seventy-two countries later they are still looking for more travels and escapades in the future but also a few revisits, “Iceland took away our breath, it is so raw and untouched,” spills Savi with a gleam in her eyes, “Driving around the roads, the places we saw, the panoramas we experienced, the feeling of being in that place, just the two of us, it’s out of the world. We look forward to exploring the ice-caps in winters.” As a chill goes down our spine at that thought, it’s clear that these curious cats aren’t replete with Iceland just yet. However, even the serene icy views and the aurora aren’t enough to motivate them to settle. Savi shares with a quirky laughter tinted with resistance “Unlike most people who are scared of getting married or having babies, it’s the thought of settling down in one place for the rest of our lives that terrifies us. For me, London and Paris came close to make the cut.” Vid differs, “New Delhi, our family is here” which leads to a banter ending on the note “New Delhi is great, we grew up here and we love it, but we also itch to escape it at times.”
Before they embark on their next expedition, we warmed up the DSSC rapid fire with a question we knew they’d love to make happen someday in the future.
What does your perfect day around the world look like?
Savi: I would like to start my day in Paris with freshly baked baguettes, followed by theatre or ballet in Prague and an evening in Brazil before ending the day in the Vineyards of Africa.
Vid: My travels revolve around the two things I love most – Photography & Savi (in no particular order). So, I would wake up to the sun rise in Ladakh, followed by breakfast in London and of course a cup of coffee! Fly to Guatemala for lunch at Lake Atitlán and take a cruise ship from Argentina to Antarctica to enjoy photography with penguins and sharks. End the day in Fiji, watching sunset with the locals.
One travel memory that could give Bollywood movies a run for their money?
Savi: Cruises in Europe! I feel cruises are very filmy, when they dock in, say at the Mediterranean, Italy, or even Norway, the panoramas are so majestic, it reminds me of Yash Chopra movies.
Vid: Savi sitting on a boat in the Yamuna River, against the backdrop of Taj Mahal. It reminds me of Shahrukh Khan movies.
What are the most embarrassing shenanigans you are guilty of?
Savi: I am to be blamed for most of the embarrassing shenanigans, but a lot of them happened when we were filming in Taiwan for discovery channel. They made us do such funny things in busy markets, we were hung from suspended wires!
Vid: Once we were boarding a flight to Europe and were told we had to get off because of some random issue and Savi started crying in front of 200 passengers! I was just standing there thinking what to do and that was a little embarrassing.
Best local cuisine you have experienced?
Savi: I love Asian cuisines and Thai definitely wins.
Vid: Peruvian! We weren’t expecting food in Peru to be so delicious but it was absolutely amazing, everything was so fresh and organic.
Savi, the songs you keep on repeat on the Bruised Passports’ travel playlist?
Savi: I always have My Way by Frank Sinatra and I Will Follow You Into The Dark by Death Cab For Cutie on the playlist. Recently we have also been listening to Cheap Thrills by Sia a lot.
Vid (chimes in): She also throws in a few Beyonce songs to mix things up!
Vid, your most outlandish food dare?
Vid: It has to be spiders from our trip in Cambodia, they treat it like candy there!
Top travel tip for all wanderlust believers?
Savi: Flash a beaming smile, it can break all barriers.
Vid: Book a ticket and stop over analysing. Just go to the location, enjoy the culture, talk to the locals, and break through your comfort zone.
With that we sign off and so do Savi & Vid, currently exploring their way through South Korea with hello kitty dim sums and panda coffee art.
Image Courtesy: Bruised Passports
