Why Itchy Feet should be the TFN blog

Those great folks at Ride A Cycle Foundation are back with their Tour of Nilgiris 2010. I had friends who were part of the adventure last year and having heard so many stories about the fun they had, and having seen the pics from the very talented peevee, I now want to be part of this experience. The TFN is a wonderful initiative – it combines the best of everything that travel has to offer – adventure, community, giving back to society, satisfaction, a bit of hard work and a lot of fun.

TFN is now looking for a blogger to officially cover the ride. So, read on to see why Itchy Feet should be the chosen one.

(images courtesy: the TFN website)

1. Itchy Feet, aka Charukesi has heard so much, so much about the TFN from friends who went on the ride last year – Anita Bora and gang – and has been dying to be a part of it – without distressing herself unduly on the hard seat of a bicycle. and she has finally been offered the perfect way to do it – “You work real hard on the Tour of Nilgiris but don’t have to sweat it out like the ones on saddles.” She knows that such opportunities come but once in a lifetime and is hoping that the jury agrees with her on this one.

2. Itchy Feet is always on the look-out for all expenses paid holidays. However, canny as she is, she knows that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Or a truly all-expenses paid holiday (without ‘conditions apply’ in fine print). This time, therefore, she is actually willing to work for it.

3. Itchy Feet is a fun person to be with. And she promises to keep the team motivated with a steady supply of bad jokes and puns. If nothing else, the team will want to forget their tiredness (and forgo those numerous rest stops) and hit their saddles quickly again just to get away form her sense of humour! If that won’t keep the tour going, then what will?

4. Itchy Feet and her partner (who pays to soothe most of the itchiness most of the time and accompanies her on some of her mad capers) were part of the Great Driving Challenge conducted by the Mitsubhisi Cedia Sports company last year and they made it to the top 12 teams of the contest from over a thousand applicants. This, of course, has no relevance to what we will do in December but it never hurts to say – or perhaps, the relevance is that this goes to prove her love for travel and being on the road. And I promise you, it won’t hurt to check out those votes and testimonials at the bottom of that page. As part of that journey, partner and she kept a blog of their adventures.

5. The blog ‘Itchy Feet’ is over six years old now and has hundreds of travel posts. She has a great eye for stories – the unusual, the unnoticed and the everyday stuff too and she promises to bring the TFN alive to readers. This blog has been Charukesi’s stepping stone to professional travel writing. She has written over 75 travel stories for newspapers, websites and magazines. She is a veteran travel blogger and writer – read some of her published articles here.

6. Charukesi thinks that bicycles are wonderful. Heh! Read this, if you don’t believe it… (notice? it was written more than 5 years ago – not with an eye on the TFN!)

So then. Are you still thinking? Undecided? Alright then, here is the clincher. Itchy Feet will provide photographs (as a bonus!) along with the blog posts of the TFN. Head here to her flickr stream to see some of her best photographs.