2019 was the most happening year. And by happening I literally mean a lot. I stopped writing for what they call a writer's block which lasted for a year, went beach hopping on the most beautiful shores and entered the most enthralling field of all- wildlife conservation. Jerdidah Jenkins, the famous travel writer once said "Routine is the enemy of time", a quote that inspired many like me to step out of their comfort zone. And thus I ventured. Basically, I travelled. Life for the very first time felt like a year long episode on Fox Traveller. Not that I bag packed and became a wanderlust for 365 days but for what I tried to do, travel became an integral part of the journey. My passion for nature and wildlife led me to pursue zoology for degree. After an exciting first year of meeting new people in graduate college, I decided to intern with two of my friends Saloni Sawant and Tanaya Rele with this organisation called " Wild Otters" in the pristine Chorao island of Goa. A treasure trove of mangrove ecosystem, Chorao is just an hour away from Panjim. On our first day we got a surprise when we met our senior from college Noah who too had applied to intern there along with Anumit Saralkar from IISER Thrivunanantapuram. And from that day for three weeks began a beautiful journey which I would fail to ever forget. I lived in a bungalow with these aforementioned insane bunch of people without a phone in the wild(a tragic story), studied the elusive smooth-coated otter, surveyed the island on different sites for the animal's signs, learnt various wildlife research techniques;our favourite being dealing with scat( scientific jargon for shit) in the literal sense and worked with one of the most experienced researchers. Like wildlife research should sound, this internship had its perks as well. Played the most fun games with fun people, ate icecream all night and spotted birds and snakes all day and got a three week music therapy from Noah's impromptu jamming sessions. All of this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't thought of traversing to Chorao and gone simply beach hopping or partying to the neighbouring mainland Goa with a mainstream perspective. Semester 3 of college passed. It was time for yet another vacation. And this time, I was lucky enough to travel to two of the worlds finest corners. The first one being Mauritius in October. This one was my family trip version of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. We went road-tripping through the coastline of the island country as my dad hired a car, journeyed through routes Google Maushi (Maps; for I affectionately call her maushi) did not recommend and yet found places better than the destination. The turquoise waters and my new found love for snorkelling just made life better. The second trip was with my lovely zoology department. This year we planned to go to Dandeli, a gorgeous town in Karnataka. And this trip was full of adventure right from spotting rare species, sighting lizards fly and the hornbills indulging in sweet romance, till visiting an island wild enough to have no human habitation and playing kabbadi in a paddy field. Each day became so much special as we bonded with the most amazing zoology professors whom we adore the most. And like our Head of Department, the best, Dr. Smitha Krishnan said that it was all possible only because of the absence of network which made us forget about our phones and connectivity to the outer world. The last trip, yes this year's final one was again an internship. I had visited Dapoli earlier and was in love with the place back in 2018. And this time I went for a cause that inspired me back then. Along with Tanaya and Kabeer Nadkarni, two of my friends from college, we interned with Mr. Amol Handore for 10 days for his PhD project on marine turtles. Our major work included collection of data which was analysed to measure the slope of the beach and to analyse the amount of garbage that lurked around on the beach. Again I met four maniacs at the internship. And like I mentioned earlier, travel was the most important part of this internship. We conducted surveys on 9 beaches in 7 days, started one of our days with our car tyre getting punctured and ended it with the most scenic sunsets and a crazy night with multiple snake sightings accompanied by a starry sky. We couldn't sight any female turtle nesting as they land ashore only in the night during lowtide, but this was the best way I had ended a year, doing something which I always wanted to. And that was my 2019. With this, all I want to express is that travel is essential. It did take a lot of resources; I'm grateful to my parents for supporting me through all of this. But it is worth the investment. The highlight of my year wasn't specifically studying otters in Chorao or sighting a tarantula in Dandeli, neither was it about meeting new people and going beach hopping every other day. These were special days and I feel fortunate enough to have lived them. But the highlight was gaining a new perspective. I did not feel like writing for a year. I judged myself as incapable to do what I liked and feared about the results. Travel made me realise that more than the destination its your journey that can help you decide how far you want to go. And for that one needs to start. Thus here I am, restarting my sojourns to places through the words of a lost mind.