Candida Louis is an inspiration. And that’s pretty much all I have to tell about her. She does not need any kind of separate recognition because her work is proof of the person she is. She is a brave-hearted, wild-spirited girl.
During this pandemic, her adventurous story of taking a solo trip from India to Australia will make you rant but also make you want to plan for your next trip. We, the people at Mad4India, were so excited to write about Candida Louis and her empowering and adventurous story.
It’s true that traveling with your friends, family, or a group is always fun, but has anyone told you that traveling alone can be fun as well? It’s exciting, enthralling, and adventurous. Though it can get overwhelming sometimes, the beautiful memories, adventure, and location make it all worth it. So if your friends or family with whom you’re supposed to go on a trip cancels the plan, you can still make the trip.
Rather, I would say, go on the trip, alone. You’ll experience so many new things and get time to explore yourself too. So many people have told me that traveling has helped them to find themselves, connect with nature, and several other benefits.
Candida Louis’s Background
Candida Louis has her roots in Hubli and is a passionate biker and travel lover. To fulfill that travel dream of hers, she rode her bike across the 24 states of India, covered 34,000 km, and took a solo trip from Bangalore to Sydney. She also led biking tours in seven countries out of all the 25 countries she has visited.
Candida Louis was just another working woman who left her hometown and moved to Bangalore to work at an MNC. While she sat in her office, she felt sudden urges of staying outdoors and exploring the world and feel free. Her passion to travel anywhere riding her bike took over her, and this time she couldn’t repress it.
Soon she quit her job to follow her heart. This makes Candida Louis different from us; she knows how to take on challenges; she follows her heart no matter how risky it is and refuses to be bound by the boundaries of society.
Candida Louis and Her Bike
Traveling to and from Goa with her dad on his bike to his sister’s place made Candida Louis fall in love with bikes and traveling. During her college days, she would ask her guy friends for their bikes to ride on. In 2016, after her dad gifted her a bike on her birthday, there was no looking back.
All the awards she had won for her biking and all the biking tours gave her confidence to take this passion of hers a notch higher. And that’s when she set out on her journey from Bangalore to Sydney on a Bajaj Dominar 400. To all of you reading this article, what’s stopping you from stepping into those traveler’s shoes? Go for it. The world is waiting for you with open arms.
The Beginning of Her Dream
So many of us think a traveler is someone who gets all the benefits in the world along with excellent pay. Well, here’s a spoiler for all of you; the initial beginning like any other thing is always difficult.
Candida Louis shared that initially biking across places used up almost all of her savings and sometimes she faced a crunch, but her love for traveling made her continue to travel. She started creating unique and amazing content that reached hundreds of people. That’s when the money and resources started flowing in.
Recalling the combination of her happy and difficult days, she gave out a message to each one of us. She said that after a while her bikes and trips started getting sponsored, but it won’t happen initially but if one keeps at it and is consistent with what they’re doing, success will find you eventually, and things will fall into place. Apart from the money factor, there was one more thing; going up to her parents and telling them about it.
Though her dad was always supportive of her decision, but her mom got convinced only after she got all the right answers for her serious questions.
“Things will fall into place” is her mantra for life it seems, as no matter what happened, she said that things kept falling in place.
A Scary Experience
What is traveling without some spine-chilling moments? Candida had her share of those moments, too. She was once riding through a dense forest, and there was no accommodation. In such a situation, she ended up clicking a mysterious selfie. It was late at night when she was riding through the forest when she wanted to click a picture to keep as a memory. She took out her camera and clicked a picture before the battery died and continued riding until she reached her accommodation. After reaching the accommodation and charging her phone once it was morning, she discovered a mysterious face in the side-view mirror of the picture, though she was the only human there.
From Bangalore to Sydney – Dreams Come True
Candida Louis was selected for the “Change Your World” travel project that aims to fund and support wayfarers. After the death of Alistair Farland, Candida Louis’s idol and the founder of the Change Your World NGO, she traveled to Sydney to meet his family as a tribute to him.
Being a part of this project, Candida Louis stopped at some schools and talked to the locals. She said that driving the last few kilometers became difficult for her after biking around for more than 27,000 km. Her family and friends waited to receive her, and Alistair’s mom tracked her journey ever since she left India. And this made her emotional.
She stayed at Alistair’s place for a week and visited his grave. She says that she solely dedicated this trip to Alistair Farland and several other future Alistair’s to come. Being the humble and amazing person she is, she says that if she was to choose from the bucket of her memories, her fondest one would be the satisfying feeling of being able to inspire people all over the world. Sometimes people waited for her on the highways.
Lessons and Plans
No wonder traveling the world is the best form of learning for any individual out there. Candida’s biggest takeaway from her travel experiences is that it is important to stay focused on not giving up on the choices for which you gave up your comforts. And my biggest takeaway from writing this article would be this lesson of hers.
According to her, money will come but the experience is hard-earned. Being the unstoppable and brave heart she is, she has plans to travel from India to London or Africa. She also wants to travel with her parents more on a bike and wishes to drive her father to Bali.
If you liked this story, please read the Iyer family and how they live their lives out of the 4 suitcases.
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