90% Mountains, 10% Mankind.
In a tiny European country with no airport and no trains!
On a chilly morning, I boarded a minibus from Toulouse airport in the south of France. Along a handful of co-passengers, I journeyed through the French countryside, crossing rolling meadows, olive groves and carpets of yellow wildflowers. We gradually winded uphill into the rugged, snow-capped Pyrenees.
Near a tiny office building in the middle of the mountains, the driver slowed down and called out to us in Spanish: ¿passaporte o no? Most passengers nodded no, and I was still trying to figure what she meant by ‘passport or no?’ An enthusiastic Austrian couple insisted yes, and asked her to stop.
From the minibus window, I noticed the signs on the opaque glass door of the building, and asked the driver if this was a border checkpoint. She nodded yes, but had no idea if I needed to have my passport checked. We were still in the European Union, but no longer in a Schengen area. I grabbed my passport and followed the couple. An idle border guard in a tiny passport control room told them that European passports didn’t need to be stamped. But when he saw my navy blue passport, he disappeared with it into another tiny room (no surprises).
A few minutes later, he arrived with his stamping device and found an empty page on my passport, but then realized that the stamp bore some old date. Eventually, he stamped my passport with a rare stamp: Andorra!
Along the snow-clad Pyrenees, we rolled into what was just a tiny dot on my Google Maps all this time, sandwiched between Spain and France. A tiny mountainous country, of which only ~10% is inhabited, the rest is mountains, forests and rivers.
Next to the bus stop in Andorra la Vella, the capital city, I first met the Gran Valira river which flows across the country. Along it, I hiked several kilometers on old forested trading paths once used to carry iron ore, crossing meadows with semi-wild horses (reared for meat) and ancient villages built entirely in stone. I met people of mixed descent, some Andorran by birth and some by residence, who like me, had been drawn by the 90-10 mountain-mankind ratio and never left. At the country’s only vegan cafe (yes!), I met one of the country’s 15 vegans. One day, I got snowed in in my cozy HomeExchange apartment, and the next, I joined the country to picnic under cherry blossom trees in full bloom!
Nearly a week later, with no train station or airport in the country, I found myself in the same minibus, at the same tiny border room, getting stamped out of the tiny dot on my map that now felt like a whole other universe. Isn’t that the joy of travel - to be able to live and breathe in our planet’s incredible landscapes and cultures, one tiny dot on the map at a time?
Conscious recommendations
Meaningful travel ideas, eco-friendly finds and worthwhile opportunities, as well as articles, books and films that’ve inspired me.
Travel:
I’m writing to you from a cozy abode in Kigali, Rwanda, as grey clouds erupt over this green city. I know the sunbirds will be back outside my window as soon as it stops raining. We’re here for a month, the first stop of our slow travel journey in East Africa, and I’m surprised to find myself in love with laidback city life after all the time I’ve spent on the countryside!
HomeExchange: If you read my last newsletter, you might remember that I was going to stay in local homes in France and Andorra while my hosts travelled, in collaboration with a home swapping platform called HomeExchange (though I haven’t hosted anyone yet). In Toulouse, near the Garonne River, I stayed in a French home filled with natural light and little touches. My hostess left me vegan snacks, and a ton of recommendations of local cafes and long walks. She set the benchmark rather high! In Andorra, I had a warm apartment all to myself, with a balcony overlooking the snow-capped Pyrenees - the perfect place to get snowed in. In a nutshell, I’m wowed by my HomeExchange experiences so far - a great way experience Europe like a local, yet on a budget. If you plan to use it (with the annual membership fee of ₹7500), you can use my referral link to get 250 guest points that can be used to finalize an exchange without hosting.
Candlelight concerts: Toulouse in France is known to be the city of music, and while googling musical events in the city, I randomly stumbled upon Candlelight Concerts - candlelight music events taking place in obscure venues in cities around the world! One happened to coincide with my arrival date in Toulouse: A tribute to Coldplay by a string quartet from Agence Musicale de Paris. A stunning, unforgettable experience.
Films:
After an unexciting spell, I stumbled upon some incredible films this month:
You Hurt My Feelings: A beautifully made film about an author who happens to overhear how her partner really feels about her upcoming book! I love indie films where nothing too dramatic happens, yet the conversations keep you gripped - and this is one of them. Funny and relatable. Available on Netflix.
Dream Scenario: Inspired by the Mandela effect (the phenomenon of a collective misremembering of an event or detail), the crazy premise of this film has everyone collectively dreaming about a geeky evolutionary biologist. It’s absurd, humorous and strangely real. Available on HBO.
Juror #2: As a fan of legal dramas, I loved this gripping Clint Eastwood film about Juror #2 who happens to have a troubling ethical stake in the murder case he’s on the jury for. Available on Prime, HBO and Apple TV.
Check out:
The future of flying: I was invited to the Airbus Summit 2025 in Toulouse, France - and wowed to see some of the most promising sustainable aviation technologies in the works: Fuel cell technology for use in green hydrogen aircrafts, a model of a hybrid-electric propellor plane, a prototype of planes with longer, thinner, foldable wings, and more. As someone who sees travel as a means of deep cultural exchange and a constant source of inspiration, the need for sustainable aviation feels personal. I walked away from the summit with a reality check on SAF (sustainable aviation fuel), but also hope that I might fly in an eco-friendly aircraft in my lifetime!
My stories elsewhere
Stories I’ve written recently, as well as social media posts I’d love for you to check out.
Blog:
Things I Wish I Knew Before Travelling to Peru: My Peru series has finally begun, starting with all the things that surprised me about this incredible country - including the 1300+ varieties of potatoes they grow!
What You Should Know About Sustainable Aviation and the Impact of Flying: Everything I learnt at the Airbus Summit, and examining my own flying guilt.
Instagram:
I felt overwhelmed by the nostalgia of calling Himachal home for the past two years:
There’s no other place like Deer Park Institute in India (and perhaps the world)
Unique organic farms and bnbs to experience the true beauty of the mountains
Stay in touch
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Wow! Just wow!! Reading this, I feel like Andorra is this magical place that I would step out into when I get into a magical closet!
I'm new here and slowly getting to understand how this platform works but in such a short time, I have started reading the blogs and the minimal distraction this place offers.