Vinay Bagri, Co-Founder & CEO of fintech firm NiYO Solutions, has travelled to 50-plus countries across continents. The 46-year-old globetrotter prefers going on long holidays over weekend getaways. What he loves the most when on a trip abroad is setting off on an unplanned journey in the country he is visiting. Except the entry and exit cities, all his travels are based on recommendations from locals. "Once I travelled across Europe via Eurail with no hotel reservations? just boarding the train whenever we felt like... booking hotels while in the train. Such adventures did put us in soup sometimes; for example, not getting reservations or missing out on scheduled events that we wanted to attend, but 95 per cent of the time we explore places in small towns."
Unlike those who prefer travelling solo, Bagri generally has his extended family of cousins and friends accompanying him. "Not everyone has to be together all the time, but staying closer to each other is fun." He plans trips for his employees as well, and often travels with NiYO Co-Founder and CTO Virender Bisht. "Once we partied till late in Europe and ended up missing the morning flight for a conference. It is one travel memory I will never forget and hope we never repeat," says Bagri.
So, what life lesson has he drawn from travelling? "Best things are never planned; you have to be prepared to make decisions on the fly," he says.