Welcome to Wander Wave Journey!
Hello. My name is Harikesh Yadav. I’ve been called a storyteller, writer, photographer, solo traveler, and environmentalist. But in my heart, I’m just a girl who believes in the transformative power of travel.
In 2011, at age 23, I quit my 9-to-5 corporate job with a dream of travelling the world.
In 2013, I gave up my home, sold most of my belongings, and began living nomadically.
In 2015, I turned vegan and decided to cut out all animal products from my diet and lifestyle, realizing that it’s better for the animals, the planet, and my own body.
In 2018, I published a book – called The Shooting Star – about my personal journey and how my travels have shaped my life choices. I was overwhelmed when it became a national bestseller in just over a month of release! It’s currently in its fourth reprint.
My journey
I grew up in a protective Indian family in Dehradun, a valley at the base of the Himalayas, and spent my childhood wondering what lay beyond the mountains I could see from my rooftop. Upon finishing high school, I went to Singapore to study, with big dreams and a big student loan.
As luck would have it, I graduated in the middle of the financial recession of 2009, when most companies I wanted to work with had ceased hiring. I landed a job with the Singapore Tourism Board, where my experiments with social media began, and I first began following the journey of travel bloggers around the world.
It was impossible to tame my restless cubicle-bound soul, so in 2011, I took a 2 month sabbatical from work. I went flash-packing across Western Europe with a friend, and volunteer-travelled by myself in the high Himalayas of India.
In those two months, I saw, experienced and lived more than I ever had before, and decided to quit my first and only corporate job with a dream of travelling the world on my own terms.
In 2014, the story of how I quit my job to travel was featured on BBC Travel.
In 2017, I was featured on the cover of National Geographic Traveller India magazine!
In 2018, I was awarded silver for best writing in a travel blog at TBC Asia Awards.
How I like to travel
I’m not a backpacker. While I carry a convertible backpack for convenience, I like to stay in experiential accommodations (Airbnbs, homestays), seek local experiences and don’t believe in counting every penny I spend. I like to go slow, get under the skin of a place, spend time with locals and experiment with the local cuisine; here’s how I survive and thrive as a vegan traveller. I mostly travel solo or with my partner; group travel with a fixed itinerary is just not for me.
I believe that our travel choices have an impact on the places we visit. On my part, I try to contribute to the local economy, prefer public transport, avoid plastic bottled water and other single-use plastic, say no to unethical animal attractions, consume no animal products, prefer to eat what grows in the region, ask for permission before photographing people and try to form my own opinions of the places I visit and the people I meet.
