The travel bug, as far as I am concerned, is the most treatment resistant bug on this planet and, at my age, the most enjoyable lust is wanderlust. The bug, on the one hand, and the lust, on the other, consume me every now and then. With every advancing year, I succumb to the bug and give into the lust with gay abandon. What if there is no tomorrow? What if the limbs don't obey the dictates of the mind? Or, worse still, what if the mind completely gives up on your body?
All these uncertainties have driven me to enjoy every moment of my life; the present is the biggest present. I have come to practice what I had read and heard in my younger days - the never keep for tomorrow what you can do today. When you are young, the tomorrows stretch endlessly ahead of you. That feeling for me ended when my parents passed. That's when the harsh reality of mortality hit me. I started realizing that I have only a finite amount of time left. I said to myself that, that time must be spent enjoying what makes your soul dance with contentment. Travel is the foremost indulgence that realizes my life's objective. A vacation every quarter, thus, is on top of my annual plan.
Initially, I drew up plans to visit Armenia and Azerbaijan. While checking out flights I discovered that one cannot travel directly between the two countries because of ethnic and territorial hostilities relating to the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Frank Carter, my colleague in DP World Cochin many years back, had told me about the incredible beauty of Georgia and Batumi. Moreover, an Indian passport holder with a valid US visa can get free visa on arrival.
Secondly, the e-visa for Azerbaijan can be obtained in three working days for a nominal fee of about 26 USD. But one must be wary of the fake sites that seem like the official Azerbaijan government site for e-visa. They charge almost four times the official fee and surely lack credibility. There is provision to obtain an e-visa within 3 hours in case of an emergency from the official site. This carries, naturally, a higher fee. For some reason, I took a long time to decide on the tour program. By the time I applied for the Azerbaijan e-visa I had to contend with the Eid holidays in that country between 17-19 June. However, as guaranteed on the official website the e-visa arrived in my mailbox on the third working day from my application date.
The major glitch that led to late finalization of the tour revolved around my driving license. I intended to drive in both the countries. From car rental companies in Azerbaijan and Georgia I ascertained that I did not require an International Driving Permit; an Indian driving license (DL) in English would suffice. But they warned me that the original driving license would have to be submitted to rent the car. That's where I got stuck. My DL was renewed in March 2024, but the original smartcard was never dispatched till June. When I checked up through sources, I came to know that licenses issued even in January 2024 were yet to be cleared - the backlog was over 15 lakhs.
I had no hope of getting the original and the digi-locker DL would not be acceptable to the rental agencies. That's when my son, based in Bristol, UK mentioned that he has a few days that he had to take off from work compulsorily before 30 June. I submitted his DL and reserved a rental car through Automile in Baku. 5 days of a Chevrolet Spark would cost me about 175 USD with a small upfront payment. Since he would be with me for a couple of days in Georgia too, I thought I could rent a car in that country too with his license.
While stressing on the issue of the DL I enquired with my brother, Satheesh, who has an enviable network of friends, acquaintances and well-wishers, of he knew someone who could help me resolve the issue. Sure enough he connected me to a person intimately involved with the process. Through his intervention, within a week, my emergency appeal was acted upon and the original DL was despatched through Speedpost from Ernakulam to my permanent address in Palakkad on 14 June. However, till 17 June the Speedpost tracking didn't show up any updates.
I had, by 14 June, booked my flight ticket from Ahmedabad to Baku via Sharjah. Based in Gandhidham, I had no hope of getting the DL by courier. I requested Rajiv, my friend and the proprietor of Network Tours and Travels, who has dug me out of deep holes in the past, for an address in Ahmedabad to who the DL could be couriered to. When the DL was finally delivered on 18 June in Palakkad I had it couriered through DTDC, who said that it would be delivered on 21 June to the address in Ahmedabad, and it was. On the way to the Sardar Vallabhai International Airport, I collected the DL from Rajiv's contact. This is a prime example of what Paulo Coelho said: When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
It is now a habit with me to consult Rajiv Shah of Network Tours and Travels about flights options for my travels. By now he knows the various variables I want covered. He optimises them and gets me the most optimal solutions. The Air Arabia flight from Ahmedabad to Baku via Sharjah and that from Tbilisi to Ahmedabad via Abu Dhabi looked the best bet with 30 kgs of check-in baggage. No meals were chosen for the flights for which one would have to pay extra. The flight from Baku to Tbilisi was operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, another budget airline. The round trip, with the interlinking flight, cost me Rs. 67,700. Rajiv also got me an overseas medical insurance for just over Rs. 4000.
I rely mostly on booking.com for my hotel bookings during travel. I have used Airbnb, MakemyTrip as well as Agoda at times, primarily to compare prices, features and locations. Invariably, booking.com trumps the rest and I have obtained some excellent deals on the portal over the years. I have graduated to Genius Level III, unlocking additional discounts in the bargain. This time for Azerbaijan and Georgia too it was no different.
I made one wrong move this time, though, but did not lose ground thanks to my habit of reviewing plans done. As I was confirming the accommodation booked in Baku for 22 and 23 June I was aghast to find two reservations done for the same dates, one of which was non-refundable! The other had free cancellation till the proposed date of occupation and that saved me the monetary blushes. I cancelled the overlapping reservation at no cost and retained the non-refundable booking, even though the accommodation suffered from the infirmity of lack of car parking space.
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