Real Stories. Real Places.
The Journal
Real trip stories, honest travel guides, and everything nobody tells you about these places.
Tirthan Valley — Where It All Began
August 2024. I was sitting on a cold boulder in the middle of the Tirthan River, watching trout swim in water so clear it looked fake. No tourists. No Instagram spots. Just a river, a forest, and complete silence. This was the moment Been Like Local was born.
Riding Through Atal Tunnel — October on a Bike
October in Lahaul is borderline insane. Most tourists are gone. The roads are empty. The mountains are turning gold. And you're riding through the world's longest high-altitude tunnel into a completely different world. This is when you ride.
Rishikesh Beyond the Rafting Brochure
Everyone comes to Rishikesh for rafting. The brochures, the Instagram posts, the travel blogs — all rafting. But the real Rishikesh is in the back lanes, the small ghats, and the conversations with sadhus at dusk. Here's what most people miss.
McLeodganj — Where Tibet Meets India
I expected a tourist town. What I found was a community — Tibetan refugees, Buddhist monks, Indian families, and travelers from across the world, all living in a small hill town under the Dhauladhar range. McLeodganj is unlike anywhere else in India.
How to Travel Himachal in Under ₹8,000
People think Himachal Pradesh is expensive. It's not. The expensive version exists — luxury hotels, private taxis, curated packages. But there's another Himachal that costs almost nothing. Here's exactly how I travel the mountains on a real budget.
Manali in November — First Snow of the Season
We drove to Manali in November — four of us in my i20. Most people go in summer. November is different. The tourists are mostly gone. The apple trees are bare. And then, somewhere above Kullu, it started snowing.