r/TravelUnhinged

Asking Indians to skip foreign travel to "save" the rupee isn't economic policy. It's economic paternalism dressed up as patriotism.

The people flying to Bali and Bangkok are the same ones paying taxes here, earning in rupees, building businesses on Indian soil. They're not the problem.

And the irony is suffocating — this is the same government that runs Incredible India campaigns begging foreigners to spend here. Foreign exchange is a win when they bring it in. A crisis when we take it out.

Here's the real question: why are Indians choosing Phuket over Pondicherry? Because the infrastructure and experience aren't comparable yet. That's not the traveller's fault. That's unfinished homework.

If the rupee is struggling, fix monetary policy. Don't ask a 28-year-old saving for her first Europe trip to carry the weight of macroeconomic mismanagement on her backpack.

Build better experiences. Make India impossible to leave.

Until then — see you in Europe.

Suddenly every "offbeat" destination is on Instagram reels. Kasol became Goa. Rishikesh became a yoga theme park. Coorg is now wall-to-wall resorts and homestays charging Bangalore prices while the local Kodava culture quietly disappears.

Locals in Manali can't afford rent anymore. Every guesthouse is booked by influencers shooting the same waterfall content. "Hidden gems" stop being hidden the moment someone posts coordinates in a travel Facebook group.

The Char Dham roads are choked. Kedarnath gets a helipad rush. Ladakh gets 3 lakh tourists a year with zero waste infrastructure.

Go fewer places. Stay longer. Spend at local dhabas, not cloud kitchen chains that opened a "mountain outpost."

And stop calling yourself a conscious traveler because you carried a tote bag to Spiti.

I went to Alleppey for the first time a few months ago and I still think about it randomly during the day.

Not because something crazy happened there. It’s just one of those places that quietly gets stuck in your head.

I remember reaching there tired as hell after a long journey and the first thing I noticed was how slow everything felt. Boats moving lazily, tiny shops near the water, old uncles sitting outside their houses doing absolutely nothing. Nobody seemed to be in a rush and weirdly, that started affecting me too.

I spent most of my time doing the simplest things. Eating fish curry meals at small places near the road, getting lost in narrow lanes, sitting near the backwaters for hours without even touching my phone much. One guy running a tea stall spoke to me for twenty minutes like we already knew each other.

There was this one evening when it started raining lightly near the lake and the whole place somehow became even prettier. The water, the sound of boats, people casually carrying on with their day. I just stood there completely still for a bit.

As someone who’s still new to travelling, Alleppey felt very different from the usual “tourist place” experience I had imagined in my head. It didn’t try too hard to impress me.

It just felt real.

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Funny how all the “please reduce spending, avoid unnecessary foreign travel, conserve fuel, save the economy” messaging started showing up right after elections.

Before elections, everything was:

India booming.

Economy unstoppable.

Middle class thriving.

Global superpower.

Fastest growing nation on earth.

Then votes are counted and suddenly citizens are being told to tighten belts, travel less, spend less foreign exchange and prepare for “global uncertainty.”

It’s honestly exhausting how every crisis in this country gets repackaged as a moral responsibility for ordinary people. Oil prices go up? Citizens must sacrifice. Currency weakens? Citizens must sacrifice. Inflation rises? Citizens must be patriotic harder.

Meanwhile the same political class, industrialists and influencers preaching restraint will continue flying internationally, hosting destination weddings and posting luxury Europe itineraries without skipping a beat.

The timing is what gets me. If things were this fragile, why does the truth only appear after elections are safely over?

I know the title sounds weird but hear me out. BJP has won in Bengal now and I feel it's going to change things a lot. The biggest fear for me is the city losing to capitalism. People from around the world come to Kolkata to witness history but now I feel BJP will overhaul things and it might eventually drive tourists out. What do you guys think?

Travel is a hobby. Like stamp collecting, but more expensive.

You go, you see stuff, you eat, you come back. Your personality remains exactly the same. The world does not care that you went. You are not more interesting for having been there.

The people insisting travel "changed them" mostly just got a tan and a new story to tell at parties. The rice paddies didn't teach them humility. The hostel didn't teach them connection. They just needed a break and won't admit it.

Go. Have fun. Come home. Stop performing.

Dont get me wrong, I understand the heritage and importance of pilgrimage but i'm strictly against using animals to complete the trip. Pilgrimages are a form of surrendering the materialistic things and if youre looking for comfort in that too, then it sucks bro...

Dont be using horses/other animals to make you reach the destination.

That travel is just a socially acceptable identity crisis.

Like you save up money, leave your life behind, fly 3,000 km, and suddenly you’re like “I’m a beach person now” or “I wake up at 5am for sunrises” -no you don’t😭

You just paid ₹40,000 to cosplay a better version of yourself.

And the weirdest part? It works.

Also why does getting lost in a random lane in a new city feel like a spiritual awakening, but getting lost in your own city feels like a personal failure?

Travel really is like: same person, different location, dramatically improved personality.