Exclusive! We Would Say Travel is Like Meditation For Us: Savi & Vid

Digital sweethearts and lovebirds, Savi & Vidit are forerunners of the blogging and digital entrepreneurship sphere in India. The duo has visited over 100 countries together and their writing and photography have been credited for changing the way millions of people approach travel. 

In a candid conversation with us, the duo opened up about their journey, here are a few edited excerpts from the exclusive interview.

Can you tell us about your journey as a travel couple? How did you transition from being avid travellers to starting your own travel blog?

Our love affair with the world goes back a long way - When Savi and I were dating, we decided to take a short trip together to Malaysia. As they say, the rest is history. We fell in love with the idea of seeing the world, learning about cultures, and making friends across the world. So we made a pact that we would travel to a new place every month. We've stuck to that pact ever since! From saving our pocket money & our salaries to travel to making travel a full-time profession, it's been a roller coaster ride

We started blogging almost 10 years ago when the word 'influencer' did not even exist. Both of us had full-time jobs at the time. We consciously worked towards our plan – by saving money for collecting experiences and future travels. Finally, In 2015, we decided to leave our full-time jobs and follow our dreams of exploring the world together & establishing a location-independent lifestyle.

With over 107 countries and hundreds of cities under your belt, what are some of the most memorable destinations you've visited together and why?

Savi: Out of the many memorable trips we have taken, the one that truly stands out was the month we spent in Peru. It was our first trip upon quitting our day jobs and transitioning to being full-time travellers and entrepreneurs. This was scary and led us to question our decision a lot. But being in Peru and realizing we now had the luxury of time to explore new places instead of cramming everything into a short trip based on annual leave changed something in both of us. Something just clicked. It was the trip where we realized we wanted to travel full-time with each other and make our entrepreneurial dreams a reality. This has gone on to define our personal relationship in the years that followed - a life-changing trip indeed!

Vid: There are many experiences around the world that we have loved so far but my favourite will have to be driving around Iceland in winter. I remember we were heading back to our cottage in the middle of nowhere after a day of exploring. We were tired and looking forward to a hot cuppa when suddenly out of nowhere the pitch black sky was lit – green and purple lights dancing across the sky. We couldn't resist parking our car on the side of the road and just sitting there, hand in hand, marvelling at the beautiful sky, the tiredness slipping away from our bodies. At that moment, nothing else mattered – just us and the gorgeous night sky of the Snaefellsness peninsula that night.

Photo Credit: Savi & Vidit Team

How do you approach travel in your own unique way? What do you enjoy most about exploring offbeat and romantic destinations?

We've been travelling together for almost 15 years and I can safely say it has brought us closer in so many different ways. I truly think the cliche 'Couples that travel together stay together' is somewhat true because travelling to new places, out of one's comfort zone, can often be a sensory overload of sorts. The good things - Trying new foods, meeting new people, etc also come with the bad ones - falling sick in a strange place, getting lost, etc. But sharing these new experiences with someone familiar heightens the pleasure involved in the act of exploring the world in our case. And it has definitely brought us closer.

If we had to sum it up, we would say Travel is like meditation for us. It has taught us to live outside our comfort zones and educated us in a way nothing else ever could and made us realise human emotions are the same the world over. The simple act of traveling, experiencing the world together, and meeting new people has made us question so many of the stereotypes and biases rampant in society. It truly is a thrill like no other.

Photo Credit: Savi & Vidit Team

 As travel bloggers, how do you strike a balance between experiencing a destination authentically and creating content for your audience?

When we first started out as travel lovers and digital entrepreneurs, the field was nascent, almost non-existent. As a result, we had no one to guide us. There was no glass ceiling to break because this profession had no template. We wanted to provide travel lovers and aspiring entrepreneurs a blueprint to help them strike a balance between reaching out for their dreams, managing finances, and securing their future by sharing how we went about this process. So, we packed our website and social media with travel tips and advice inspired by the hurdles and successes we faced in our journey.

Chronicling our travels comes naturally to us - so we love putting detailed travel and packing guides on our website and social media too. However, for this it is important to experience places authentically - one of the best parts of the life we've designed for ourselves is that we have the luxury to travel slowly. This helps us experience places and create content without it feeling too rushed. For instance, we spent a few months in Bali and in Guatemala. We would pick the camera probably once a week - the rest of the time was for experiencing little things and local life which works its way into our travelogues and tips! 

How do you choose the locations and activities to feature on your blog? What criteria do you consider when selecting destinations for your audience?

It goes without saying that for every good vacation or amazing hotel, there is a horrible one! And you can only discover it through trial and error! Our mission in life is to make sure our readers, who have busy jobs and really cherish their short vacations, don't have to experience the bad or horrible ones! In that sense, our profession allows us to be the guinea pigs. We experience everything - the good, bad, and ugly - and recommend only the very best to our readers! But even the ugly bits make it to our website or even social media as travel 'rants', so our online community also knows what not to do, in addition to knowing what to do or where to go! We sift destinations and experiences based on our personal experiences, and then weave them into detailed guides that can help travel lovers worldwide. We strive to capture the essence of a destination through our writing and photography, so our readers are well-prepared for their holidays

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How do you manage the demands of being a full-time travel blogger, including writing articles, responding to reader queries, and maintaining an active presence on social media?

It might not seem like it but content creation is just like any other full-time job. And a very demanding one at that! The only difference is, when you work for yourself, you need next-level discipline and motivation. Over the years, we've both found a balance that makes sure we can use our own strengths and weaknesses to the best of our abilities. We still work longer hours than we used to in our day jobs - approximately 10-12 hours each day on average, but we have streamlined our work so we can have a flexible schedule, depending on which part of the world we're in

How do you approach partnerships with brands and accommodations while traveling? 

Such a great question! Since day 1, we've been extremely selective about the brands we choose to work with because we want to be able to recommend them wholeheartedly to our readers, who are like family to us! Of course, there is a lot that goes into considering whether or not we want to work with a brand - but the most important question we always ask ourselves is - would we recommend that brand or service to a friend or family member? Only if the answer is yes, do we consider going ahead with the collaboration! This has meant saying no to a lot of financially-beneficial partnerships over the years but we have no regrets because the trust it fosters in the community is invaluable to us!

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 Can you describe some of the challenges you've faced as a travel blogger and how you've overcome them? How do you stay motivated and inspired on your blogging journey?
Starting anything from scratch is never easy but add to that the fact that it's something that is not considered “normal”, and you end up facing a lot of questions from everyone around you. We distinctly remember my manager telling me that we were being foolish by leaving our well-paying jobs to travel the world and establish Bruised Passports as an online venture. That we'd regret it. And he was not the only one. It was difficult for society to fathom that someone would leave financial stability to travel the world. But the two of us were sure about our passion and knew we had to give it a shot.

And we're glad we did or we would have lost out on such amazing experiences, a thriving business venture, and the most loving and supportive online community of Bruised Passports readers. This story is also chronicled in our bestselling book called Bruised Passports: Travelling The World As Digital Nomads In the end, it's all about choosing your priorities and giving them your very best! We love our work to bits and it makes us smile every day.

What is your approach to sustainable and responsible travel? How do you promote ethical tourism practices through your blog and social media channels?
As passionate travellers, it is hard not to feel bad about tourists littering beautiful places or not respecting locals - the list goes on! Of course, no traveller is ever perfect - but we believe small gestures can go a long way and truly make a difference. Over the years, we have pioneered several initiatives that promote responsible tourism - from anti-littering drives in popular tourist places in Bali (Indonesia) and Kerala (India) to meaningful and slow travel experiences - whether it be volunteering with local communities or pioneering digital education in rural areas! And like everyone else, we are constantly learning more, educating ourselves, and implementing small changes in our lives too.

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How do you plan to evolve and continue making a positive impact in the travel industry?

On the travel front, the list of places we want to explore is endless but we definitely want to explore more of French Polynesia and South America this year - the mix of culture and scenic panoramas offered by these destinations excite us to no end.

On the professional front, we are ecstatic that Bruised Passports has become a renowned brand and received more accolades and magazine covers than we can count recently. We are also so fortunate we were able to tell the story of our lives in a book published by Harper Collins at such a young age! However, we have even bigger dreams - we are constantly diversifying and have a big project that we will unveil soon - we can't say much about it right now but we're currently devoting all our energy to the grand reveal. So the future is a mix of lots of exploration and taking the field of digital entrepreneurship and travel planning to new heights - hand in hand with each other of course.

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