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Doing Nothing : What Is It?

There’s a bunch of seasoned Lingerers who not only “get” what we mean when we say “do nothing” on your vacations, but practically have defined it for us! But we do have a lot of queries around this from those who’ve just come across Linger, or gotten a reference from a friend or family.

“What will we do there?”

“Will the kids get bored?”

“Can you tell us the activities around there?”

Of course there’s lots and lots of things to “do”. We’ll take you through some things here, but the real meaning of this is …… where’s the rush – just linger on this page right upto the end 🙂

A passionate set of birders has discovered the wealth of avian treasures and put us on the eBird map .

There’s walks and hikes to do, of course.

Of course, there’s stuff to do and explore around the farms.

And of course, the food! This is a highlight. We’re adding some “try your hand at it” soon too.

And then, people have come written books, had small destination weddings, helped with farming, painted the landscape, just watched movies, planned their next 6 months of content at work, gone for village festivals, and lots more.

But all this just happens. The best things are not what we plan, but what we find.

Our idea of doing nothing is really to create a blank space where you explore, discover, let things happen and observe life around you. There’s just so much magic and serendipity in the world around us, that we each have unique experiences as we flow with it. Insects we can’t imagine, a dance of a pair of a racket tailed drongos, the cacophony of the cicadas as the rains approach, hundreds of sheep as the shepherds start their journey to the higher passes before the monsoon, personal challenges against a glacial stream you learn to stay in and enjoy over a few days, the getting used to the monsoon rain and the comfort with using trees as umbrellas, foraging for the greens and wilds in the right season, finding a flush of mushrooms after a night of thunder and lightning, a nice long conversation with neighbours who offer coffee but share no language but friendliness and smiles with you, coming across a huge monitor lizard on a little detour through the forest as you drive to the place.

All of these, and more, have happened with our guests. None of it is stuff we planned. And that’s exactly the idea of doing nothing. To clear out schedules, plans, itineraries, preset notions of what you want to see and experience, and let the place, the pace of life and life itself in these amazing places open up to you.

So, yes, there’s much “to do”. But we don’t really know what 🙂 What we can tell you for sure is, if you come with an open mind and heart, and slow down the pace enough to pause, observe, enjoy what comes your way, not only is boredom not a possibility, but entire worlds will open up and you’ll want to come back for more.

Come over and Linger!

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Vacation Ideas : A Week Under the Dhauladhars – Art, History, Adventure, Nature

Palampur is one of those amazing places that’s blessed with everything – snow peaks, green valleys, streams, weather that’s mostly never harsh, history, culture, art, adventure. 

Explore the amazing fort at Kangra – the oldest continuously occupied fort in the world from the times of Porus and Alexander, and whose cliffsides have an interesting story to tell!

Take the little heritage train to Baijnath to see the old, mystical temple that’s one of the jyotirlingas established by Lord Shiva himself. Head further to Bir and Billing for some paragliding!

The Earth House, Palampur

Nearer Palampur is Andretta, home to art and a pottery school. Many an artist comes spends time here, and you can even sign up for a session of learning how use the potter’s wheel and create your own work of art!

Of course, around The Earth House itself are numerous hikes, treks, village walks that let you explore the hills and streams and dams, the homes and bazaars of a Himachali village, and old temples. It’s just great for your lungs to hike in the fresh air of these hills.

All of this is just 35km from the Dharamshala airport! You could also drive from Chandigarh (245km) or Pathankot to which you can take one of many trains from Delhi – which is about 3.5 hours away by road, or you could take the slower but really lovely Kangra Heritage Railway.

You could easily spend a week in this beautiful valley and will never want to head back home!

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Team Offsites at Linger : A Better Connect

We just got this review – made our day 🙂

Great place for off-sites

16 of us were at Linger for 5 days for a team offsite – and it was a brilliant experience.

The setting is beautiful, natural – complete with fireflies and the chorus of the jungle insects.

The place is simple & basic – so do not go in expecting luxury.
The food was amazing, and the service was fantastic – we were served tea, coffee, lemon tea based on our preferences that the staff remembered on-time, just when we needed it (without even asking)!

Thanks, team Udhyam Learning Foundation. We loved it that you loved it!

We’ve hosted small teams every now and then, and it’s quite a nice feeling to see colleagues bond, become friends, and do things together. We believe the fact that we’re not insular, formal “resorts” helps in this process a lot. Also, most teams end up taking the whole space for themselves, and make it home for 3-4 days – that helps too.

If you’re planning to spend some quality time with your team – brainstorming, or celebrating something, or getting to know everyone better – come over. We aren’t about conference rooms and poolside dinners etc – but we’re about a deeper connect, uninterrupted thought and bonding.

At most places we can host about 20-25 people quite easily. The campsites, the farm at Chettimani, Chiguru, Varshini Estate at Sakleshpur, Balur Estate at Chikmagalur and The Earth House at Palampur are particularly well suited for this – with many common spaces, hikes, and undisturbed environs.

Plan a 3-5 day time out with the team for a reboot. We’ll help all the way.

Reservations :

stay@linger.in or call +91-959-005-0001 or WhatsApp : +91-854-806-5772

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Workations! Go Linger AND Be Productive

I also do a little bit of Product Management on the side, and for one such assignment, had travelled along with a colleague for a couple of days of brainstorming and ideation. We did have access to decent-speed-internet so my colleague’s check-ins happened like they would on a regular day anyway!

Got me thinking that our locations would amazing for teams to head to head to for a week to ideate, collaborate, or even for creative folks to spend 4-5 days at all by themselves. There’s way fewer distractions, no commutes, you feel fresher, and can come up with some seriously new and different ideas while there.

And I was not alone – someone had thought of this independently and came over for those 5 days to Chettimani, Coorg. Thanks to JioFi, it was almost like a regular workday for her and she could collaborate with teams in Europe and Japan. And not only got a lot of good work done, ideas hashed out, but also played with the pups, spent time around the farm, and even did a morning’s trek up Kopatti and back!

So we’re opening up the idea of Workations!

We’d love for you to take a Workation. Let us know if you want to plan this for yourself, or for a small team (3-5 people max) over a whole week – and we’ll set it up for you. We usually discourage folks from staying connected and using devices at Linger, but for Workations we’ll throw in use of a Reliance JioFi device with some limited data as well 🙂

Want to go brainstorm and come back with some inspiration?

Let us know at stay@linger.in 

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Visiting Karnataka : Coffee, Beaches and Hampi

Whoever coined “One State, Many Worlds” for Karnataka Tourism got it spot on! The diversity of geography, languages, food, climatic conditions, and the history, wildlife, culture across the state is unbelievable!

KarnatakaTourism

Someone asked us to stitch up a road trip across the state inside of a week to cut across and sample various places, so we thought we’d share it for everyone’s benefit. The idea is to keep the drives to 4-6 hours, and cover a decent variety. The whole state is still too vast for seeing inside a week, and we usually recommend more time at each place. Hampi, for instance, alone needs about 3 days!

Bangalore – Sakleshpur/Chikmagalur via Shravana Belagola and the exquisite Belur Temple.

About 300 km : 4.5 hours + breaks

The drive itself is fantastic, and gets into a scenic countryside pretty much as soon as you get out of Bangalore on to the Mangalore highway. There’s a bunch of options along the highway for a quick snack.

Sravanabelagola – about 150 kms out – is one the most important pilgrimage centres for Jainism, and goes back to the 3rd century BC! It’s totally worth a stopover.

The Belur Temple at Belur, 35km past Hassan, is one of the best crafted and preserved temples in South India. Do use the services of a guide while there – they tell the story really well.

And then you’re amidst the coffee estates. Rolling hills, low clouds for a major part of the year, rivers and streams born in the Western Ghats, and a cover of green as far as you can see. We’ll be happy to host you at the Balur Estate or at Golden Wood, Sakleshpur.

Spend a day or two here soaking it in, going on long walks/treks in the estate, understanding growing, picking and producing coffee and its different grades and forms. A planter’s life is a blissful one, if tough.

Malnad – Tirthhalli – Shimoga – The Sharavathi Valley – Honnavara – Gokarna.

About 310km – 6 hours + breaks.

The Malnad – male’ nadu or the land of hills – is one of the prettiest terrains we’ve ever driven through. The roads are not always great, but the treat of the eyes, the clean air and the lack of traffic make up for it. Tirthalli is one of the wettest districts in the South!

You could stop over at the Jog Falls which plunge 830ft. This is especially gorgeous just after the monsoon, and a sight to behold.

At Honnavara you get to the coastline after a lovely drive through the Western Ghats – the lush green Sharavathi Valley which drops to the coast in a matter of a few kilometres. The roads from here are good, and you keep catching glimpses of the Arabian Sea. Turn in to Gokarna (stay with us!) for quiet, long beaches, pretty estuaries with sandbanks, hills and forests, right upto the sea, mangroves and numerous fishing villages. The temple town is ancient and psychedelic, and the area – unlike Goa – retains the feel of the ages old world that it is – great for exploring on foot.

Gokarna – Hubli – Gadag – Hampi

Another 320km – 6-7 hours. No real stops on this.

The drive starts out along the coast, winds back up the Western Ghats and then gets deeper into the Deccan Plateau. Gadag has an ancient Jain Temple worth a quick stopover at.

But it’s Hampi you want to get to! A whole city built of stone and abandoned completely a few hundred years ago.

 

The drive back to Bangalore should take you about 7 hours, and is mostly zippy highway. Except a quick stopover at a dhaba, not much there, unless you want to stop and ogle at the magnificent Chitradurga Fort. It’s amazing how much history dots the landscape everywhere!