Womens Travel - Girls~on~the~Go Club

19/10/2024

GOTG founder Piya's quote in NDTV Profit on travel trends post Covid :

While most post-pandemic consumption trends have wound out, Indians’ love for holidaying is the only trend that’s chugging along unabated.

30/05/2024

BALCONY VIEWS

Waking up to gorgeous views of the Garhwal mountains these days in a hidden gem of a homestay in a village up in the mountains of Chakrata in Uttarakhand.

It's been a week of no TV, limited mobile network, a couple of local eateries, evenings spent at a central ancient temple where locals sing Kirtans and trekking to farms to work with farmers. Being a part of this simple template, I feel so many thoughts shifting and new ideas emerging.

Spaces like these help me to focus on the real luxuries of life. My days are full listening to bird songs, breathing in pure oxygen, drinking natural spring water, watching cows grazing contentedly, shepherds herding mountain goats, locals carrying firewood and women harvesting fresh vegetables from kitchen gardens. There's a renewed remembrance of the slow, sustainable ways of life of our ancestors where life flowed gently while getting hard work done.

While I am preparing to re-calibrate to city life, I do realise that if there's one thing we need to do urgently in current critical times of climate change and apocalyptical levels of pollution is do a major re-think of what's the category of luxury we want to give ourselves and what are the compromises we will not make.

30/05/2024

WOMEN OF BURASWA

Going off the beaten track in Uttarakhand with my adventurous pahadi buddy led me to the village of Buranswa. Stayed there with the colourful Jaunsari community and learnt about their culture.

The women warmly welcomed us into their home, showed us around their farm and danced to foot tapping folk music. Village life is hard work and has its challenges especially for women. But the women here are powerful and captains of the home ship. Watching them do heavy lifting in the kitchen and farm, while remaining assertive about their identity and points of view was very liberating to witness.


#

27/05/2024

Wow, super ladies. Thought you might like this epic historic photo showing Lucy Smith and Pauline Ranken ascending Salisbury Crags in Edinburgh, Scotland. Here is the photo evidence that they did this climb while wearing long, ankle-length skirts, hats, blouses and smart shoes, in the year 1908!

The rocks of the Crags include columnar basalts and dolerite outcrops as 46-metre (151 ft) cliffs at the top of a subsidiary spur of Arthur's Seat, which rises on the west of Holyrood Park.
This climb posed dangers! The only protection these women had was a length of rope tied around each of their waists - they had no other safety equipment or protective gear, like helmets, harnesses or spikes.

In 1908, the ladies formed their own club -- the Scottish Climbing Club -- after being barred from joining the "for-men-only" Scottish Mountaineering Club. By 1909 the climbing club had fourteen members.

Photo & writeup credit - A Great Older Life

https://www.facebook.com/agreatolderlife?mibextid=ZbWKwL

22/05/2024

SOUL SAFARI

Sujata, our adventurous solo traveller shares her experiences of a wildlife safari organised for her by Girls On The Go in April - May 2024.

"My holiday across the enchanted forests of MP was well-planned and impeccably executed by Girls On The Go. Right from a comfortable relaxed itinerary to excellent resorts to stay in and helpful drivers and guides, everything worked like a charm. Of special mention is the food served at every place—it’s like they read my mind. Thanks, Girls On The Go! More power to you.

A cousin observed that May’s too hot to travel through the forests of central India. And yet, that’s the best time in the year for wildlife sightings—sloth bears, spotted deer, nilgais, swamp deer, sambars, the Asian palm civet, wild boars, langurs, barking deer and lots and lots of exotic birds. And of course the Royal Bengal tiger, native to the Indian subcontinent and in greatest numbers in India.

Safaris therefore are strange and wonderful things—habitual late risers are sharp and ready at 5am. Eager to brave the cold weather just before the sun starts blistering down mercilessly for hours. Dangerously speedy drives through uneven forest terrain that yet bring a thrill to the senses and set the heart beating. Alarm calls by jungle animals are followed by endless patience, waiting for the movement of maybe a big cat. And finally the sheer exuberant joy of sightings.
Safaris are truly magical. For proof, just see the faces of riders as they return from one!"

22/05/2024

SOUL SAFARI

Sujata, an adventurous solo traveller shares her experiences of a wildlife safari organised for her by Girls On The Go in April - May 2024.

"My holiday across the enchanted forests of MP was well-planned and impeccably executed by Girls On The Go. Right from a comfortable relaxed itinerary to excellent resorts to stay in and helpful drivers and guides, everything worked like a charm. Of special mention is the food served at every place—it’s like they read my mind. Thanks, Girls On The Go! More power to you.

A cousin observed that May’s too hot to travel through the forests of central India. And yet, that’s the best time in the year for wildlife sightings—sloth bears, spotted deer, nilgais, swamp deer, sambars, the Asian palm civet, wild boars, langurs, barking deer and lots and lots of exotic birds. And of course the Royal Bengal tiger, native to the Indian subcontinent and in greatest numbers in India.

Safaris therefore are strange and wonderful things—habitual late risers are sharp and ready at 5am. Eager to brave the cold weather just before the sun starts blistering down mercilessly for hours. Dangerously speedy drives through uneven forest terrain that yet bring a thrill to the senses and set the heart beating. Alarm calls by jungle animals are followed by endless patience, waiting for the movement of maybe a big cat. And finally the sheer exuberant joy of sightings.
Safaris are truly magical. For proof, just see the faces of riders as they return from one!"

04/05/2024

GUATE MAYA

Girls On The Go Founder Piya Bose's article on Slow Travel through Guatemala exploring the philosophy of Maya in the land of Mayans - was listed among Founding Fuel's Top recommended reads.

Check it out.

04/05/2024

Girls On The Go Founder Piya Bose speaks to Dainik Jagran on the importance of women's travel.

01/05/2024

RUSKIN BOND LAND

Standing in front of Dolma's Tibetan cafe in Landour, next to Ruskin Bond's white house, I imagined myself in various pages from his book "Roads to Mussoorie".

Hearty home made English breakfasts, stylish tea parties at residences of the hill station's "It" crowd, getting an insider's earful of the town's scandals & getting spooked by Bhoot aunty who stops cars driving late night on the hills.

Bond says - For over forty years I've been living in this rather raffish hill station & when people ask me why, I usually say 'I forgot to go away'.

While traveling solo, I like reading story books by authors from that region & then do a literary trail down to where they live if they are still around.
Much as I would like to meet them, definitely don't ring their bell though ;)

It''s my way of visiting that point in my mind where fact & fiction merge & past & present super impose.

Reading Orhan Pamuk's book "Museum of Innocence" while traveling in Istanbul, George Orwell's book "Burmese Days" while on a road trip in Myanmar have helped me see these countries with interesting perspectives.

So, next time you travel try adding a new dimension to your trip by reading a story book on the land.

20/04/2023

MOMENTS FROM MONGOLIA

A group of adventurous ladies travelled to Mongolia. Starting from the capital Ulaanbator, they ventured out into the Gobi desert.

They lived like nomads in traditional Ger camps & had a wild time meeting the golden eagle, vultures, Central Asian horse & seeing ancient dinosaur fossils.

Mongolia is truly a National Geographic type adventure. If you have the soul of a true nomad, do plan a trip to Mongolia. We are happy to help of course :)

10/04/2023

ZERO CASH BUSINESS MODEL

Girls On The Go founder Piya Bose started her venture on a Zero Cash Business model in 2008. During a trip to Tibet which is not politically independent, she realised the importance of free will. And how people in politically independent countries are privileged to use their free will to start their own ventures without government interference.

She started experimenting with various Zero Cash start-up models in the pre Facebook & Instagram marketing era. She put up free listings in newspapers & wrote to hundreds of women on Orkut, a pure social media site that was popular those days. She told them about GOTG & the first trip to Ladakh she was going to organise.

Many women wrote back saying this was an idea whose time had come & that they were waiting to get out of the closet.

Piya later spoke about her experiences starting GOTG at TEDx, a global platform for sharing unique ideas. This talk was later featured by Forbes among Top 9 Travel talks globally. Check out her TEDx talk "Making a Career While Travelling" on YouTube.

08/04/2023

EVEREST BASE CAMP

Our trek to the Everest Base Camp was led by Padma Shri awardee Premlata Agarwal. She's the first Indian lady to climb the highest peak in every continent & the oldest lady Everester at 48 yrs.

During the trek there was a weather disturbance in Nepal & phones were unreachable. But, thanks to our travellers being with Premlata who knew the area & local sherpas well, we were confident that she would use her expertise to get them home safe. And she did.

Girls On The Go takes traveller's safety very seriously. We do some really off the beat places that many travel companies don't even want to touch because it's perceived as high risk. So, careful collaboration with local experts ensures that you are well looked after.

The risks involved while trekking on tricky terrain is not significantly more than making a cup of tea on your gas 🔥. Despite best precautions, both can go very wrong anytime, but they rarely do. And that's when you realise the importance of surrender to the protective forces of the universe.

We understand that an increasing number of women travellers really want to explore their limits through travel. At Girls On The Go, we really want to help you travel into the depths of your soul.

06/04/2023

Explore other dimensions of your relationship with your mom, grandmom, sister, mom in law etc with thoughtfully curated road trips by Girls On The Go.

If you have been meaning to go on a girlie trip with your family members, let us know :)

27/03/2023

Our mission is to help women

Travel ~ Evolve ~ Transform

into more courageous & compassionate versions of themselves.

27/03/2023

Hi ladies. We are now on Instagram. Show us some love & join our Insta page .

28/01/2023

Everyone join me on a sloth fest 🦥💤

16/05/2022

Check out this very inspiring video interview of Deepa in conversation with GOTG founder Piya. She has done long cycling journeys without carrying any money or mobile phone. Listen to her share her incredible experiences living with locals & the deep insights she gained from her travels .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsSEZxlvTKU&t=1478s