‘The diver in me takes me back to Maldives’: Saiyami

Shikha Duggal

What is your craziest travel story? That is exactly what we asked the trending actress Saiyami Kher for our freshly entwined segment titled ‘Travel Tales of Celebs’. She narrated, “I visited Wimbledon in 2018 as a tennis fanatic and I ensure watching my favourite sport live. While i was in my hotel, the fire alarms went on! I am unable to forget that incident, it was frightening.

And secondly, once I was in Sri Lanka on my shoot schedule and borrowed four days for myself for a spree. The tornado arrived! I saw huts getting removed. Witnessed all by myself.” Traveling is also an art of self-indulgence. While Saiyami travels, she takes time out for herself completely, like her latest trip — “If given a chance, I’ll revisit Maldives over and over again. The ocean over there is something else, I didn’t come out of the ocean at all. There are so many water sports to try there.

Sometimes, it’s an overrated place because you’ll find most of the celebs there but it’s just a flight away, whar to do? The diver in me takes me back to Maldives! I suggest celebs to visit the non-tourist places now away from the typical water villas. I learnt surfing, can’t wait to try in a big ocean now. Would love to learn snowboarding now.” Developing her own prescription of happier life, she loved staying in a water villa over there.

She told, “I never travel alone, booking a villa is a must for me anywhere across the world. This is the best way to bond under one roof! Plus, I enjoy cooking when I am on a vacation so villas offer you your personalised kitchen.” So, a vacation shared with someone else is wonderful. But when taking a break from the intense pressure on shoots, she loves visiting Ladakh. And that’s because, “Ladakh is a peaceful place. Mountains talks to you! What I don’t like is its getting over-crowded now, it wasn’t like this. Yet, i take a trip there every year. Bike rides are special for me over there.

Irony is, I fell in love with Ladakh when I was shooting for my debut film (she laughed).” Manhattan and San Francisco are her other favorite go-to destinations which was introduced to her via films. Lastly, what travel means to the Breathe:Into the Shadows actress? “For us actors, we are taught that if you want to have a decent filmography in your career, just pack your bags and travel to observe. We must feed off looking at other cultures! Life cannot be dangling between Bandra and Juhu. And now, Japan is the next place I am going to tick off from my bucket list. I am not going there for the gaga around cherry blossoms but skiing.”