Shivya Nath's Blog: The Shooting Star, page 4

7 Sustainable Home Decor Brands to Furnish Your Home or Bnb Creatively.

Since we left Goa for Himachal earlier this year, life has been a rollercoaster.

After three blissful months at our dream homestay in the mountains, we unexpectedly got kicked out. A dreamy piece of land we *almost* took a long lease on didn’t pan out. Our search for a longer term abode left us with two choices: Pay through our nose to stay at a creatively furnished Bnb, or find an affordable longer term rental and furnish it ourselves.

You’ve read in my last post that I have very mixed ...

We Travel in Search of What we Need, and Return “Home” to Find it.

A few weeks ago, I unexpectedly happened to catch up with a friend in Morocco. When she innocently asked what I’d been upto, I blurted out that I felt like a complete idiot. Ever since the pandemic, I’ve been making these big decisions, only to reconsider them a few weeks or months later, and make polar opposite ones.

You probably know that I had lived out of two bags since 2013, until the pandemic hit. I guess I was pretty content slow travelling the world as a digital nomad – blogging and f...

We travel in search of what we need, and return “home” to find it.

A few weeks ago, I unexpectedly happened to catch up with a friend in Morocco. When she innocently asked what I’d been upto, I blurted out that I felt like a complete idiot. Ever since the pandemic, I’ve been making these big decisions, only to reconsider them a few weeks or months later, and make polar opposite ones.

You probably know that I had lived out of two bags since 2013, until the pandemic hit. I guess I was pretty content slow travelling the world as a digital nomad – blogging and f...

Volunteer Travel in India: 7 Opportunities to Realign Your Passion and Purpose.

Guest post by Dhruv Khanna (with inputs)

In the summer of 2022, I had the opportunity to volunteer travel to the remote Sarmoli village in the Uttarakhand Himalayas. Along with the local organizations Himalayan Ark and Himal Prakriti, I was to organize workshops on visual storytelling for the local community.

Before I arrived, my main aim was to share what I had learnt about social media, especially how to reach a wider audience with a meaningful approach. But once I got there, I quickly ...

Volunteer Travel in India: 8 Opportunities to Realign Your Passion and Purpose.

Guest post by Dhruv Khanna (with inputs)

In the summer of 2022, I had the opportunity to volunteer travel to the remote Sarmoli village in the Uttarakhand Himalayas. Along with the local organizations Himalayan Ark and Himal Prakriti, I was to organize workshops on visual storytelling for the local community.

Before I arrived, my main aim was to share what I had learnt about social media, especially how to reach a wider audience with a meaningful approach. But once I got there, I quickly ...

Insider’s Guide: 27 Best Vegan Restaurants & Cafes in Goa in 2023.

Are you on the lookout for some of the best vegan restaurants in Goa? Places change, open and shut so frequently that I’ve decided to update this list every year.

As a foodie, I’m always on the lookout for vegan, healthy, organic, ethically-sourced, ideally gluten free, world-inspired food. Goa is perhaps the only place in India where that’s not too much to ask for!

Over the past 10 years of visiting, and the past 3 years of living here, I’ve delightfully witnessed an explosion of vegan r...

Insider’s Guide: 24 Best Vegan Restaurants & Cafes in Goa in 2023.

As a foodie, I’m always on the lookout for vegan, healthy, organic, ethically-sourced, ideally gluten free, world-inspired food. Goa is perhaps the only place in India where that’s not too much to ask for!

Over the past 10 years of visiting, and the past 3 years of living here, I’ve delightfully witnessed an explosion of vegan restaurants in Goa.

I’ve also learnt that Goa’s own Saraswat cuisine has traditionally been vegan-friendly – and features a delicious range of local dishes and flav...

My First Course: Get Paid to Travel the World With Purpose!

The idea of teaching what I’ve learnt over the years – about meaningful travel, impact storytelling and making a living from a combination of the two – first occurred to me when I was travelling in South Africa.

A travel blogger friend in Cape Town confessed that she felt lost in the clutter of creators. How could she stand out without losing her soul to Instagram trends? How could she get noticed by brands without having millions of followers? Could she ever make a comfortable living through...

Why Lubeck is Not on Your Germany Radar, But Should Be!

I remember my first evening in Lubeck quite vividly. Exhausted after the long bus, train and flight journeys from Himachal to Delhi, to Frankfurt, to Lübeck, I had expected to hit the bed in my hotel room right away. But as we drove past the magnificent 15th century Holsten Gate, I looked back in awe. I knew almost nothing about the city except that it was the world’s marzipan capital!

Is Lubeck worth visiting?

I spent that first evening, ahead of a 3-day travel conference by Germany Touri...

I Measured My Flying Footprint in 2022, and This is What I Learnt.

As someone whose passion, work and income is closely intertwined with travel, making the commitment to measure, reduce and compensate my flying emissions hasn’t been easy.

Towards the end of 2021, I signed the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism – released at COP27 to urge the tourism sector to acknowledge and reduce its carbon emissions. As an independent travel writer and consultant, I pledged to keep track of all my flights through 2022, measure my flying footprint, figure out...