The Inspiring Wanderer: Stories of a Full-Time Traveller
Vimal Geethanandan: The Inspiring Wanderer
Have you ever felt the desire to wander? To be a full-time traveller and explore the world beyond what is familiar to you? To disconnect from society and all its expectations, and just… disappear? Meet Vimal Geethanandan, a 27-year-old wanderer, a nomad who lives out of his van! This inspiring wanderer is travelling the length and breadth of the country in his travelling van, exploring new cultures, meeting new folks, establishing new relationships. volunteering, fulfilling his dreams and inspiring millions!
There is something about the nomad that is so romanticized and alluring. Perhaps it is the freedom they seem to have or the mystery that surrounds them. The truth is, there is more to being a nomad than just travelling from place to place.
The team at From The Experts’ Mouth (FTEM) got in touch with Vimal to learn more about his fascinating life. What followed was a conversation filled with fascinating revelations about how Vimal not only pursues his passion as a full-time traveller but also goes the extra mile in doing his bit for the society.
Related Read: Tourism for Inclusive Growth on World Tourism Day
Embracing the Wanderer Within
When did you discover the “wanderer” in you?
I used to read a lot of books growing up. Whichever book I took, there was travel in it. Take fantasies like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty or even my favourite Gulliver’s Travels, Troy. All these stories excited me. At the same time, in books on kings and princes, a prince before becoming a king has to go on a travel. That was part of their education. That fascinated me. They aren’t mad, there must be a reason to do so.
Then, after growing up, I got hooked on Biographies. Every biography I picked up, there was travel. Every famous person I read about, had travelled. So I wanted to see, what all this travel is all about.
I left home and started travelling. So it was a slow process of discovery. It didn’t happen overnight.
How supportive were the people around you, your loved ones when you took the decision of spending the rest of your life travelling?
My mom understood this is the life I’m interested in. So she didn’t have a problem. People say a lot of things. And I do understand, most of them are saying it out of concern because for them, this is no life to live and that’s ok too. But this is what I enjoy, so I do it.
The Voice
There is a voice inside of you
Falling Up: Poems and Drawings by Shel Silverstein
That whispers all day long,
“I feel this is right for me,
I know that this is wrong.”
No teacher, preacher, parent, friend
Or wise man can decide
What’s right for you–just listen to
The voice that speaks inside.
The Life Before
What was your life like before starting your journey as a nomad?
I was doing my engineering. I had a startup at college. That didn’t work out. So I dropped out of college and started travelling.
Was it difficult leaving a so-called “stable” life and career?
Not particularly. Because I started travelling when I was 21. I still do things that excite me and don’t do things that I don’t enjoy. So, it wasn’t difficult as such.
Donning several hats
How do you sustain your travel and daily expenses?
I’m a freelance content writer. Mostly through that. Sometimes, I conduct workshops online. Over the years I have done many things. I ran a food truck as a chef, I was a delivery boy, an interior design intern, sold tea on the road, sold toys on the road, helped my mom with setting up AirBnB, etc.
I volunteer a lot. I volunteered over the years as a writer, photographer, artist, teacher, interior decorator, chef, waiter, cleaner, driver, night manager, HR manager, caretaker, receptionist, etc.
Maaya: The Travelling Van – A Haven on Wheels
Tell us everything about your Van, Maaya. How did you build it?
I got my van in 2019. I did so many things to get it including the jobs I mentioned above. I crowdfunded for it. People from different walks of life helped me get it. Then, it took me a year to convert it into a home. I built it all myself with the help of two of my juniors who volunteered to help me. I have a full home set up in the van. A bed, kitchen, a bean bag to sit and work etc. I have solar on top of the van, through which I draw electricity.
It was a learning and unlearning process. I made mistakes, rectified them and finally built Maaya into what it is today.
Vimal describes Maaya as a labour of pure love and hard work. Initially, it was just a far-fetched dream until things started falling in place and bit by bit his fantasy home started taking shape.
Maaya is an embodiment of passion, an insatiable thirst for travel. Vimal has an innate desire to build Maaya into a place that would welcome one and all, regardless of their gender, race, religion, caste, political differences, to share their life experiences, journeys, thoughts, and perspectives. He envisions Maaya as a safe haven where he can lend a listening ear to everyone who wants to be heard. He emphasises that Maaya shall be a place full of love, devoid of judgement.
Related Read: Living life on your own terms
Did you ever face an unprecedented situation, a moment that may have made you rethink your decision of living off the edge? How did you overcome that?
I do face certain situations like vehicle breakdown or too many mosquitoes or too much heat. Or when I was travelling without money, an unknown place and uncertainty of where and how will I eat, stay and manage. Most of the time, some magic happens, and I get along with the day without thinking much. I did have Covid twice and it was hard. I barely managed to cook and eat. And a phone call from friends I made over the years, who turned out to be so good to arrange things for me.
It’s in those quiet little towns, at the edge of the world, that you will find the salt of the earth people who make you feel right at home.
Aaron Lauritsen, 100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip
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Enriching Experiences
How much have you travelled so far? What has been your best experience?
I have been on the road for six years now. So a lot of places. There are many experiences. I cannot quantify them as such. Most of them, have been great experiences. I really don’t know which one to pick. People picked me up from buses and took me home. Some treated me like I was a form of god. Finding a huge waterfall while trekking in a forest. Or my volunteering experiences that changed my life in so many ways.
Out of Vimal’s travel diaries full of amazing experiences was one where he went without a phone for months at a stretch, completely disconnected from the world. That phase gave him the opportunity to reconnect with himself. He got to do some deep self-introspection. You must be wondering how Vimal managed to function without a phone for so many days, and how he navigated without Google maps! Well, he was helped by the ‘local people and their knowledge of the place’. He also used hand-drawn maps to reach a location.
Technology can be a great tool for connecting with people and learning new things, but it is important to remember to take time for ourselves and enjoy the present moment. Detach from technology every once in a while and connect with the world around you. Take a walk outside, talk to people face-to-face, or simply relax and enjoy your free time. You’ll be surprised at how refreshed you’ll feel after disconnecting from technology!
One of the great things about travel is that you find out how many good, kind people there are.
Edith Wharton
Related Read: Edith Wharton: Complete Works
Going the Extra Mile
Pursuing your passion and doing your bit for the society must have brought you a sense of immense contentment. Please tell us about Vimal as a volunteer.
Volunteering has always brought me inexplicable joy and peace. One of my recent volunteering assignments was for the children of Spiti- setting up their library and helping them run the primary learning centre in Kaza, Spiti, Himachal Pradesh, one of the most backward places of India, situated at 14000 feet above sea level, this cold desert doesn’t have a proper place for the right kind of education.
Reading has always given me joy. I remember the days, after reading a beautiful story or a beautiful line, closing my eyes and dreaming about faraway lands or just contemplating a perspective that I have read in that book. It made me what I am, it made me look at the world with a different set of lenses. Everyone deserves that joy, even the children in the remotest parts of the world.
These children who get cut off from the world for six months straight, because of thick snow and unforgiving temperatures too deserve the same. Every child deserves the right kind of education and the right kind of childhood.
Vimal describes storytelling as his favourite art. His love for storytelling has been the driving force behind his travels.
This is a picture from his trip to Spiti. He read Gulliver’s travels to the children there. Gulliver’s travels was his favourite story as a child and it was this story where Vimal’s love for travel blossomed. “I remember we had Gulliver’s travels as a supplementary book with our English subject. I read the whole book even before our sir took that lesson up. That curious I was. I guess the curiosity continued”, says he.
A Journey of Learning and Change
You must have had a lot of learnings from your excursions. What are some of the best learnings?
Most of the time learning and unlearning are subconscious. You know you are a changed person, but you really cannot list it down though. If I have to, some of them are like – being grateful for what you have, not judging people because everyone has a story. Every person is facing their own issues, some are homeless, some live in posh villas. When I stayed with homeless people sleeping on the road, they cried to me, when I slept in big villas of some influential persons, they cried to me too. I did a lot of inner travel over the years, understanding myself much better.
A Note for Aspiring Travellers
What would you like to tell those aspirants who are yearning to become full-time travellers but are too inhibited to take the plunge?
I would ask them to just do it because it isn’t hard to try. Whether you enjoy it or not, depends. Until and unless you do it, you’ll never know. I will ask them to take a small break and travel to see if they enjoy it. If they do, they can go for longer travels.
If you’re twenty-two, physically fit, hungry to learn and be better, I urge you to travel – as far and as widely as possible. Sleep on floors if you have to. Find out how other people live and eat and cook. Learn from them – wherever you go.
Anthony Bourdain
Related Read: Les Halles Cookbook by Anthony Bourdain
About Vimal Geethanandan
“I am a normal human being like you, just that my dreams and priorities in life may differ from yours. Now, all I want to do is travel the world in my own van, give it back to society in whatever way I can, and realise my dream. People think it’s very special, or that I am trying to do something amazing, but for me, it’s realising my dream, nothing much.”
You can follow Vimal Geethanandan, Inspiring Wanderer, on Instagram.
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