I put a lot of thought into why I wanted to write this blog and what I hoped to accomplish with it. What could I offer that couldn’t already be found elsewhere? What did I feel was lacking from other, similar blogs?

In terms of travel advice, what I had to offer was my own unique experience. And what I felt was most lacking from other blogs was context. Narrative travel blogs typically lack raw details of how they did what they were writing about – how they set things up, how much activities cost – while review type blogs lacked details of the sort of experience one might expect from the activities or places they were reviewing.

Keeping that in mind, I hoped to write my own blog with a broader perspective. I wanted to share stories of my travels – what happened, how it felt to experience it, what my thoughts were on the experience – while later sharing details on the specifics of how it was done. Because the reason I wanted to write this blog was to share, and to inspire. I want to write with honesty, to show people how little you need to travel, and how much you can gain from it.

Keeping that in mind, I decided to write about my experiences as a series of narratives, while hoarding the finer details for a review to act as a sort of summation once the travel was done. This way, the audience would be able to read about my experiences in a way that was (I hope) enjoyable and, for any they were themselves interested in seeking out, the information and advice would be in place for their own research.

You’ll find my forthcoming review on travel in India to be personal and selective. I saw no need to write reviews for every place I stayed, because you’ll find suitable accommodation easily enough. Nor did I see a need to outline in detail every piece of information I picked up along the way. Because you can find this information easily enough in any Lonely Planet or Rough Guide book, or over modern apps and sites like Yelp, UrbanSpoon and TripAdvisor. I instead wanted to stick to my favourite places I stayed and activities I experienced, the ones that really stuck out. The highlights.

I hope to make my reviews read like advice shared between travellers on the road. What was particularly awesome and worth keeping an eye out for. What sucked, and was probably best to avoid. I want to give advice as I would like to receive it. Ideally, I wanted my reviews to read almost as a conversation.

As such, please feel free to write in with any questions you find still lingering after reading. Is there anything you’re curious about? Any questions you felt weren’t answered?

And, as always, thanks for reading.       – K

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The A Vagabond’s Guide to Travel in India series will begin tomorrow.