Going the Distance: We Flew to Sri Lanka to Make up For Lost Time

How do you keep a long distance friendship alive? Travel to Sri Lanka impulsively, like we three BFFs did!

The friendship you share with your childhood friends is the purest kind of relationship one can have.

(Photo Courtesy: Vanya Rakesh)

Many will relate to the fact that the friendship you share with your childhood friends is the purest kind of relationship one can have. It’s all the more beautiful when these people stay with you beyond the corridors of school, and travel with you through the cross-roads of adult life.

I would not be wrong when I say that, with time, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep in touch with friends as you walk down different paths in life and lose yourself in work, responsibilities, et al.

I have been particularly blessed to still have friends from high school in my life (a whopping 7 years since we moved in different directions).

As people grow apart, however, I’ve discovered that travelling with your best friends is the simplest recourse to keeping your friendship alive.

Embarking on a trip to a foreign location with such people can be enthralling. After spending 7 years with massive geographical distance between us, three best friends decided to take a trip to Sri Lanka earlier this year. And the experience? It’s something we’re going to cherish for years to come.

After spending 7 years with massive geographical distance between us, three best friends decided to take a trip to Sri Lanka earlier this year.(Photo Courtesy: Vanya Rakesh)

Planning That Perfect Trip

While the idea of a trip to foreign shores was something we’d zeroed in on almost immediately, the whole process of taking time out from our schedules and finalising bookings took us a lifetime! We battled through endless phone calls and hours of planning – but also discovered that we made a fun team while at it! Before long, we’d decided on flight coordinates (since we were all flying in from different cities), looked up the weather, places to stay and activities to do – and before we knew it, we’d locked in the whole trip!

Jet, Set, Go...

First on our itinerary was Sigiriya (where we journeyed to from Colombo) – a UNESCO certified heritage site where we undertook that famous trek to the top of the rock, all in the middle of a thunderstorm! From secretly trying to click pictures inside the Buddha caves in Dambulla to sipping Sri Lankan tea and discussing our respective careers in the magical tea plantations of Nuwara Eliya, we managed to weave long-lasting memories to savour for life.

The whole process of taking time out from our schedules and finalising bookings took us a lifetime!(Photo Courtesy: Vanya Rakesh)

There was little we didn’t do. From enjoying a breathtaking sunset to playing with the turtles at the Bentota sanctuary, from waking up at five in the morning to watch blue whales dive majestically into the waves to sampling delicacies at Hikkaduwa by the beach, the three of us grew emotionally closer through it all. We lived together in comfortable Airbnb homestays, talking our hearts out over every meal – on one occasion, trekking to this near-remote beach in Mirissa – filling pages of our diary with rich experiences.

While we’d engaged mostly in instant messaging – sometimes making calls to each other or meeting up, once a year, in cafes – the whole process of road-tripping in a beautiful foreign land just added to our friendship. Three different people with different schedules had done their best to come together at the same time, and we knew it had been worth it.

While we’d engaged mostly in instant messaging – sometimes making calls to each other or meeting up, once a year, in cafes – the whole process of road-tripping in a foreign land just added to our friendship. (Photo Courtesy: Vanya Rakesh)

What Did We Learn?

Go ahead and plan that trip with your long-distance best friends now. You know, the one you’ve been postponing for ages. When you don’t live near enough each other to build a repository of common experiences, shared travel stories become your go-to.

Defeat the challenges the geographical distance brings between your friends and take that impending trip.(Photo Courtesy: Vanya Rakesh)

As the perils of growing up often involve growing apart, travelling together and enjoying the food, weather, destinations, culture and history of a new place can strengthen the bond. If we could do it, you can too. Defeat the challenges the geographical distance brings between your friends and take that impending trip. You won’t regret it!

(Vanya Rakesh is a lawyer who enjoys travelling and documenting her experiences. Seeking adventure in new cities is her preferred mode of learning about herself and she enjoys reading, writing and clicking pictures. She blogs at Moments from the Carousel of Life and can be found on Instagram @vanya.rakesh and on Twitter @vanyarakesh.)