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Venturing off the beaten path is advice that globetrotter Radhika Jain gives not just while travelling, but in life as well.
Ever since her childhood, the Indian-American, who recently made Bahrain her 121st international stopover on a mission to visit all 197 countries on the planet, has charted her own path.
After losing her father last year to Covid-19, Radhika shaved her head and renewed her commitment to travelling to every country. As her hair has regrown since then, so have her travel logs.
“When I was 18, I knew I did not want to follow the conventional path of an Indian woman,” the 48-year-old told GulfWeekly as she sipped on an iced tea during her recent jaunt to the kingdom.
“I wanted to be independent and find my own path. A lot of teenagers at the time would just complete their university, get married and settle down. I wanted to travel, so I decided to become an occupational therapist and move to America.
“While I worked in the US to establish residency, I was unable to leave the country, so I drove all over the States, and have actually driven from the east coast to the west coast, and from the north border to the south on both sides of the country.”
Before she moved to the States, she had travelled to fewer than 10 countries.
Once she received her green residency card, Radhika looked to the world as the next oyster she wanted to crack open, and booked an around-the-world flight.
Starting from Boston, she flew to the UK, where she backpacked for four months. Then she travelled onwards to Johannesburg, South Africa, spending about a month there, before flying to Perth, Australia, followed by New Zealand and Fiji.
“That’s where I fell in love with the idea of backpacking and travelling – basically living out of a bag and staying in hostels,” she added.
“All of this was self-financed, so I had to find a way of balancing work and travel. This became much harder when I got a permanent job in 2006, which made taking time off so much harder.”
And for a decade, she put her extensive travel plans on hold, quenching her thirst for life by becoming a competitive ballroom dancer.
She would travel the world when she could, but her dream of travelling to every country which was slowly formulating into a goal was on the back-burner.
However, five years ago, she was able to strike a deal with her boss, which would allow her to work for eight months of the year and take four months off.
And, off she went, tracing the path of the illustrious Silk Road in China and Central Asia during one adventure, traversing the trans-Siberian Railway in another quest and finding her way to everywhere from Galapagos Islands to Cuba.
When she turned 40, she also did the Mount Kailash trip, developing a love for hiking and trekking along the way.
In 2019, she also conquered Mount Kilimanjaro, the fourth-highest peak in the world, after more than six months of preparation.
“I never say no to a place out of fear, but there is always a smart way of approaching travel – like always being respectful of local customs and also making friends along the way,” she added, before sharing an anecdote of travelling in Burkina Faso.
Although travel is not advised in the country due to unstable political conditions, Radhika was forced to go through after Ghana closed its border during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The reality of the country was far from her expectations and she enjoyed meeting the people, which is what she treasures most in her adventures – along with the treasure trove of photographs she has built over the years.
However, her subsequent country was Togo – right when the country had a turbulent political struggle – but with patience and just the right amount of charm, she was able to navigate the situation.
As she looks to the next 76 countries she has yet to visit, she is also hoping to find another place to call home, trying to balance her nomadic tendencies with a desire to spend longer stretches of time in one of her many destinations.
For more details, follow @globetrottingchic on Instagram.
