Rediscovering the soul of travel through authentic homestays.
I’ve spent years chasing sunsets across continents—and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: hotels may show you comfort, but homes show you truth.
You can have white sheets, infinity pools, and perfect service. But what’s the point of travel if you never touch the heartbeat of the place you’re in?
That realization changed how I travel. Today, I stay in homes-real homes, where the kitchen smells like masala and smoke, where laughter spills from verandas, and where the morning chai comes with a story. Because travel isn’t about *visiting* anymore—it’s about *belonging.*
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The Beauty of Belonging
Most people travel to escape routine. I travel to return to connection, to simplicity, to the raw rhythm of life that hotels can’t offer.
That’s why I was drawn to Oerth Staycations, a collective that restores and hosts travelers in traditional homestays across the Himalayas. From the apple orchards of Kullu Valley to the high desert villages of Spiti, Oerth curates authentic experiences that feel less like a stay and more like being adopted by a village.
When you travel with Oerth, you don’t just visit—you become part of the story.
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Homes with History
Imagine waking up in a 150-year-old Kathkuni home in Shaleen, sunlight dancing through carved wooden windows. Or sipping chai beside a gushing river in Barshaini, surrounded by pine forests and fog. Or spending a night in Hikkim, one of the world’s highest villages, where silence is louder than your thoughts.
These aren’t accommodations, they’re living museums of tradition, built by generations who knew how to live in harmony with nature. Each home has its own rhythm, its own flavor, its own heartbeat.
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Slow Travel Is the New Luxury
We live in a world obsessed with fast Wi-Fi, fast flights, and fast check-ins. But in the mountains, slowness feels like wealth.
Oerth’s philosophy of slow travel invites you to pause. To sit under the stars instead of scrolling. To talk to locals instead of staff. To eat food that didn’t travel thousands of miles to reach your plate.
Because travel shouldn’t be a checklist, it should be a conversation.
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Travel That Gives Back
Every Oerth Staycation is built on the foundation of responsible tourism, restoring old homes, reducing plastic, creating jobs, and protecting local ecosystems. Travelers become part of a cycle that sustains rather than consumes.
It’s not about luxury. It’s about legacy.
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So, Why Stay in a Hotel?
If you truly want to see the world, don’t book the room everyone else has stayed in. Stay where the air smells like pine and home-cooked dal, where mornings begin with a “Namaste” and evenings end around a fire.
Because homes, not hotels, are where travel becomes personal.
And maybe, just maybe, that’s what the world needs more of: travel that feels human.