Her zeal to push boundaries and Ponker roads took her on her second adventure in 2019 as she travel over 21. 0 km from from from from Coimbatore to Stpetersburg. A whopping 52 days. Her expedition was centered around raising awareness around cervical cancer, a heartbreaking journey and a powerful cause. And she's here with us, us to share some of her experiences. Minakshi, welcome to Swell. I'd love to know more about the story behind your extraordinary journeys
Goldfis Trails
@GOLDFIS · 1:53
So we did that in January, literally the same time today, like today is when we were somewhere in Myanmar, five, six years back in 2016, four years back. That was my teaser. And then that's how the whole thing behind began. And I started putting things together. After I came back from that trip, I was like, all gung Ho about wanting to I call it the mother of all road trips because going to London, there can't be anything bigger than that
@changemakers · 0:54
Thank you for that Manaji. So it does look like the idea for your expeditions were set in motion quite early. While I'm sure that both the expeditions were truly rewarding in terms of the people you met, the places you traveled and the experiences you had, I particularly loved that both your journeys were centered around powerful causes
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Goldfis Trails
@GOLDFIS · 3:46
And I realized that even the affluent, even the well educated people don't really know about this vaccine and how important it is for a girl to get the vaccine. So I started working on that. And then I did about 100 talks in all over the schools, colleges, telling girls and their parents that there is a vaccine that you need to get your daughter's vaccinated and how it can keep cervical cancer away. So that sort of thing
@changemakers · 1:00
Wow. That is so heartening to know in Akshi. I'm sure you've touched the lives of those young women in a huge, huge way. And thank you so much for doing what you're doing. I also love of what you mentioned about your first expedition being an all women crew and the message that you wanted to share with the world that women can go after their dreams and passions irrespective of who, what or where they are
Goldfis Trails
@GOLDFIS · 4:01
But when you're travel with strangers, you don't know their habits or they don't know my habits. And we are all from three very different social environments I'm bringing as well. So this lady from Mumbai is also well travel. She has a Canadian passport. She's lived abroad for quite a long time. And I'm from COVETO again, well traveled. And there's the third person who has never traveled out of the country at all. So also from a very agricultural background
@changemakers · 0:52
How has last year 2020 been for you? And how did you manage to keep your spirits up and keeping going along, any lessons or any takeaways from 2020 that you could share with all of us
Goldfis Trails
@GOLDFIS · 3:01
So we've always had pets at home, dogs at home. So we kind of spend the family spend time together. It's been a huge lesson. And slowly things are opening thankfully. And yeah, I'm back on track. I've been doing a little bit of traveling. I went to Megali for the new years and came, but still no travel outside the country because it's still not possible because the qualities of the visa and lots of issues
@changemakers · 1:29
It also made me think that it would be such a great idea to have all three of you here on the app having a great chat about your journey together, and I'm hoping that they will come on board when you do share this conversation with them. So 2021, do you have any road trips coming up within India? Of course, as international travel is still a bit of a question Mark. And also, what do you think about how travel is going to be in 2021?
Goldfis Trails
@GOLDFIS · 3:03
We've been running busy since we opened, and it's good for travel in India has really picked up, especially typically resorts and places which are spread out and not like a typical hotel. Those places have really picked up and homesteads have gotten busy as well. All throughout India. I'm looking at a couple of drives in India in June, looking at a trans Himalayan drive which starts from Leila Dark via Bhutan and Nepal and ending in Arunachal Pradesh
@changemakers · 1:38
Of course, travel will not be the same anymore, but we need to kind of start somewhere, right. So I remember trying to get some booking done for the long weekend we had for Pongal a few weeks back. I made a few calls to some resorts, a few in Kanyakumari, a few in Bondagerry, some in the Nilgiris. And I found that most of them were full. There wasn't a room left to spare, and I was pleasantly surprised
@changemakers · 1:03
And I'm so excited to know of your upcoming travel plans in 2021, especially the Kashmir Kanyakumari in an electric car expedition. So I do have a request quest to make of you. Please keep sharing updates on these expeditions as they play out on Swell for us to keep following you as well on your journeys. I think that would be fantastic if you could somehow do that
Goldfis Trails
@GOLDFIS · 2:45
Hey, Ramya, thank you for the question. I can't zero down on one favorite place because there are a ton of them. I've traveled to about 70 countries so far in my life in all of my 40 years, eight years. But most recently, I was in Magalia in January. I spent my new Year's. There a very quiet New Year. I did a road trip for about 700 km in six days with a close friend of mine. So both of us were there
@changemakers · 1:40
So I agree with you when you say that cultural travel needs to go beyond exploration and it is in a way of life, you could say, and also the very way in which you describe Megalia has made me add it to my travel wish list. So I must thank you for the recommendation, and I think I could just go on and on asking you a lot more of questions
Goldfis Trails
@GOLDFIS · 4:11
Those are things that some things that you don't do, especially on trips like this London or St. Petersburg or anywhere else. I've traveled in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. I did a solo trip by myself in a car and I didn't know the language. I was by myself. I rented a car in Riga, and I traveled across these three countries for 14 days by myself. And you're just careful
Goldfis Trails
@GOLDFIS · 0:31
Hey, Ramya, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure interacting with you and talking to you on Swell. I kind of like what's like the whole idea about talking. I love making friends and interacting with people. So thank you so much for putting me on to this well, community. And and I've had a good time as well. And yeah, I'm looking forward to questions from everybody and let's see how it goes