What makes you click...

When I thought about this heading for the first time, the instant reaction was whether I was going to write about online advertising and digital marketing since that takes the better half of my time and pays the bills. Unfortunately for my CEO and fortunately for the non digital guys out there, this is no way connected to an ad, a click or even a sale but a look at why each one of us does what we do.

Most of the older generation who are now comfortable in their 50s-60s and blare advice to anyone with a ear, their working life was always about doing the 9 to 5 routine and coming back to a home with a family that was more interested in when the next bonus was coming than knowing if the person was actually happy doing what he/she did. I would not really blame them because change 30 years ago was more of a social suicide than a personal endeavor.

Thankfully things now are different for many of us if not most and choices are a factor of personal opinions and not inertia of the past. It’s very important to ask yourself what makes you happy and what you want to do, than following a set pattern. While most businessmen, self-help books and self-obsessed pseudo successful people claim to have done what they felt was right, many of us are still hesitant to take that plunge into the abyss and try to open a parachute on the way. Failure seems to be a taboo and success an immediate validation while the contrary would probably help you more in the long run. It’s always better to know what not to do, than to hit gold the first time though am sure Midas would beg to differ.

Reach out, un-shackle yourself and take that huge leap of faith because finally as Baz Luhrmann said, ‘the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.’ So wake up tomorrow and see what makes you click!

Krishna Iyer
twitter: @thetantrik
Team iXiGO
twitter: @iXiGOrocks

Planning a great bike trip - the dos and donts

Ever rode beast at speed so fast, that the world around turns into a vivid blur? There is nothing around but a vast stretch of barren land, ice covered mountain peaks or maybe the vast expanse of the sea on one side. Its like being the only one in the middle of a small barren universe. Complete Isolation. Oneness with the self. And then the wind, which was relentlessly lapping on to your face with undying fervor, mysteriously starts to talk...
Or wait.. is that GOD himself?

There are many people who go for bike trips all throughout the year. In fact even as I write this post or you read it, there will be thousands of people all around the globe taking their machines on some wonderful escapades. While the very idea of a bike trip sounds exciting to everyone, it requires a little bit of preparation in advance in order for it to be a thrilling, yet safe experience :)

Be as meticulous in your preparation as you can be. Here is the list of dos and donts that will be helpful if you are preparing for a bike trip somewhere.
Dos

• Try to book hotels in advance - If you book a hotel/accommodation before you start your journey, you avoid the last minute shock of finding no decent accommodation available. Or at least you can check out online if there are reasonable number of hotels available during your travel dates. If yes, then it might be safe enough to book upon arrival. And of course the best and cheapest hotel deals can be found at www.ixigo.com/hotels
  
• These things MUST be taken - Map, Water bottles, first aid kit, pain killers, torch, puncture repair kit, biscuits, glucose, phone numbers of police stations/hospitals on or near the route, rain coat(if you going to mountains esp.), ploybags to cover electronic devices/important stuff in case it rains, a wind cheater, camera
  
• A GPS device can come in handy and be cool as well
• Always keep a tab on the distance you have covered since the last petrol refill. Keep refilling the petrol tank to full capacity after traveling a good distance. You never know how distant the next petrol pump is. If you are driving on a stretch where there might be no petrol pump for 2-300 kms, then carry some fuel with you.
  

Donts

• Never ever ride without wearing helmet. I know you might be tempted to do that, but DON'T ever take off your helmet. A combination of a solid skull + safe thrill/fun is definitely better than a crushed skull bone any day
• Avoid traveling during nights. Generally in remote places/hills there are no street lights on the roads. Mountains are especially dangerous during nights. Even the truck guy is in a hurry to cover as much as he can during the night. And they are not the most careful/responsible drivers either . So in any case it is quite unsafe to ride during nights/ after sunset
  
• Do NOT drink while driving. While this might seem too preachy, it is perhaps the sanest thing you can do. Most of us tend to ignore commonsense over whims when our hearts cry out for cheap thrills. Resist this temptation at any cost
  

Making your trip awesome

• Estimate your expenses before-hand. Then carry 30% extra, just for the times of emergency or a sudden urge for being pampered :)
  
• Carry a camera. There will be a lot of "Kodak moments". From old dilapidated forts, to beautiful pine covered hills, the occasional chai shop, and or general horsing around. Be rest assured that you will have a range of memories that you will cherish.
• Take breaks. Go easy. You are not in an F1 race. The point is to enjoy your ride.

Once you are done with all this preparation and start on the journey, leave your office/girl/guy trouble, bitching landlord/landlady, abusive maidservant/manservant, nosy friends, nagging parents, taunting relatives and the overachieving cousins behind. It's time to unplug and be at peace.

iXiGO's Birthday and first newsletter!

iXiGO.com has been bringing you the fastest searches and easily the most comprehensive for quite some time now and while we were doing this, we hardly noticed a year pass by. On June 3, a year back, we started iXiGO to envision being the Google of searches for all domestic flights in India. We have now expanded to Hotels as well.

In this one year, it has been great progress for us and we are really happy with what we have achieved so far. Along with this went up our first newsletter too! All you have to do to recieve them is to be on our registered list. We'll upload the PDF version soon so you can download right off from here.

Here's a quicklist of some of the highlights in the last year so far...

• The most comprehensive search on Flights.
• Maximum number of hotels searched by any Indian website.
• Mentions in the likes of Business Today Magazine, top 100 start ups in Red Herring, NASSCOM and most recently in IT Magazine.

We have just launched our swanky new Hotels 2.0. All in all we have had a wonderful year so far and here are some of the birthday celebration pictures too!

Part of the iXiGO gang with the birthday gifts

The cake cutting ceremony

All this we couldn't have achieved without our loyal iXiGOers. That means you! So here's a heartfelt thanks from us for making us India's No 1 travel search engine.

Cheers,
the iXiGO team.