This is how the word Serendipity is defined in the dictionary. What is your definition? Is it the joyous feeling of unexpectedly discovering warm chocolate inside an ordinary looking cake? Or is it the delirious pleasure of coming across a hidden cove that has waters reflecting the sky and not a soul to take away the moment?

At Pickyourtrail, our moments of serendipity are many. Over the last three years, we have had the joy of sharing the serendipitous moments of most of our travellers from their international vacations. They say serendipity hits you and you can’t go looking for it. We asked a couple of travellers if they thought planning a vacation affected the chance of discoveries during travel.

Here is what we found.

Of Vietnam and mango salad

When our travellers, Nithya and her friends decided to go on a girls-only vacation to Cambodia and Vietnam, they were looking to have a good time together. When serendipity hit them, it was through the most divine mango salad at the night markets of Vietnam. The carried the taste back with them to India and told us about it. For a long time to come, Vietnam memories will start with a mango salad for this group of adventurous girls.

Fortune favours the prepared

Revati and Charles of Different Doors are a couple who travel and write about their journeys; quite a few unique experiences. Like a chance discovery of the mind-blowing restaurant Cantinho do Avillez, while on their last day in Porto (Portugal)! Revati tells us that on this restaurant is now on their Top 5 things to do in Porto. She also believes that planning doesn’t really kill chance during travel, “ We believe fortune favours the prepared, and especially so with travel. For us, every minute of every day we spend travelling is really precious and we don’t want to wake up not knowing what’s in store for us. And when you know what’s in store for you, you’re in a better position to decide what to do with your time or whether a chance encounter is worth throwing all plans for the day away. What’s important is to leave enough room in your plans for serendipity. And trust us, serendipity is a seed that will only sprout on field that’s ploughed.”

Travel simple

Sankara Subramanian however believes otherwise about planning. This wanderer who is mostly on the road discovering places, people and culture tells his stories on ‘Be On The Road’. Sankara thinks that a journey planned the least is the best, “If you keep your travel simple, plan the least, but have the inquisitiveness of a young kid, your chances of experiencing the true spirit of travel adventure increases exponentially. The happiest or should I say the richest travel memories are from the times you least expected it!“

Capturing the Milky Way

Archana and YD Nathan’s trip to New Zealand was a planned one, by us of course. Right from hiring a car to plotting out their visits on the NZ map, the vacation was a well thought of one. At Hot Water beach, Hahei in New Zealand’s North Island the couple were set to enjoy a night-stroll and take in the natural hot water sauna. But little did they realise they were in for an even more ethereal experience. In Archana’s words, “The sky had cleared up and it was pitch dark with a million stars scattered around. Nothing could beat the 360 degree view that we were getting. I had never seen so many stars in the sky. At a point in the night, we noticed a bright light where the stars seemed more concentrated and the light seemed bright at only one place. A little later, we saw the milky way radiating its aura to us wonder struck mortals!”

Guess planning helps you be prepared for life’s most unexpected moments too!

Plan your serendipitous vacations with us!

We are Pickyourtrail, a Do-It-Yourself platform for hassle-free, value for money international vacations. We are 3 years young but have sent more than 1000 people on their dream vacations. On our unique travel platform, travellers get to craft itineraries that blend their preferences and our travel insights. Our personalized vacations come around in just 4 steps and 10 minutes, and of course result in awesome memories!

On our list of awards are Tech Sparks, Amadeus Next Incubation programme and also the Phocuswright top tech innovators awards. And how can we forget the love from our customers – more than 300 Five-star traveller reviews too!