- Lakshika and Shehan on travel blogging and more
Lakshika, an architect by profession, and her partner Shehan, who’s a seafarer by profession, have spent most of their lives on the road (or sea, in Shehan’s case), exploring the unknowns and becoming one with nature. Their blog on Instagram – @resfeberdiary – depicts their wanderings, as does their YouTube channel where they talk about their experiences and make travel simple for the average person.
Brunch had a chat with the two of them about their travels and more.
How did you discover your passion for travel?
We’ve been members of a mountaineering club that we formed with friends since we went to school, so we didn’t forget to go somewhere as soon as we got some free time. Shehan spends most of the year sailing between different countries and oceans, and when he comes back home we always choose to travel during the months we’re on vacation. It helps us to relax, and we believe travelling is a golden opportunity to escape from this busy world.
What inspired you to start a travel blog and how has the journey been so far?
We really see it as a small effort to share with others the experiences we have had and the memories we have accumulated while traveling.
What has been your most memorable travel experience?
That would be our tour of Narangala, because we started that journey the night before the Easter Sunday attacks. As usual, that night we went to Badulla by the night mail train. After we reached the top of the mountain we got to know about the attacks and the situation over our phones, but since we were still at the top of the mountain and could not return home on the same day, we decided to camp and stay on the mountain that night. The next morning we reached Badulla town as soon as possible and boarded a bus to reach Kandy. I’ve never felt that kind of fear of death until we reached home, so our encampment at Narangala is still an unforgettable adventure.
Have you been anywhere which turned out to be totally different to how you imagined it? If so, which place was it?
Yes. That was a camping night at Harithakanda. That day we went to Harithakanda to spend a beautiful camping night with our friends. But right after we set up our camping tents, it rained with strong winds, but we took some early precaution not to destroy our camping site by the wind, so we set up our camping tents following the direction of the wind so we didn’t have much damage but because of this unexpected situation the beautiful camping night that we expected was a bit bitter.
What has been your most successful blog post to date and what is it about?
Obviously that is the blog post we wrote about our camping at Haritha Kanda. It was shared faster among the community than we expected.
What are the biggest challenges you faced when you started out your travel blog? Anything that you would’ve done differently today?
The biggest challenge was doubting whether the right audience would join us. But with the response we are getting now, we think now we have a better audience than we expected. We are really happy to have such great travel enthusiasts around us.
What are your travel plans for the rest of the year and are there any bucket list destinations you will be tracking off?
This year can be considered as a very tiring year for both of us due to the months of quarantine. So we have very few opportunities to travel freely. But once this pandemic is over, we hope to get lost again through nature. We would really love to go to Baththalangunduwa and we would like to hike through the Knuckles Mountain Range.
Further we have planned several overseas trips. At the top of our list are Lauterbrunnen village, the Matterhorn mountain, and Interlaken in the Swiss Alps. In addition, we are also planning a tour of the Maldives and Vietnam.
Do you have any advice for aspiring travellers?
Be a responsible traveller. Be more concerned about everyone’s freedom.
Instagram: @resfeberdiary
