20240802 Leadership learning while travelling with Koyesha Mukherjee from Budapest, Hungary

okay so yeah so Kesha is in Budapest so we'll just take some leadership tips from her today so quesa how was your uh traveling experience so far hi Michelle uh yes Budapest has been amazing uh while this is not the first time that I am solo traveling but it's definitely the time that I'm thoroughly enjoying it the most uh it just comes with a lot of Independence and decision making and confidence all essential skills of youth leadership being put to good test here I would say um but it's definitely a lovely city great weather it's Peak summer in Europe so definitely a good time to be visiting here so how do you see solo travel versus Group Travel like when did you decide and how do you decide this mostly based on the availability of my friends with whom I usually travel um and so it happened that this time none of them were available and I had a valid shenen visa and I thought before it expires I just want to make the most of it while I'm here in the UK and it's just very convenient to travel as well from London to any of the places in Europe it's just a couple of hours of flight duration um and it's also pretty safe I would say for solo Travelers in Europe uh compared to other countries uh so that's what gives me the confidence as well to just head out solo and just spend a couple of days or over the weekend in these cities um definitely traveling in a group with friends has its own per um and fun and that can be a known Adventure in itself no doubt but I think traveling solar as well has its own fun and I haven't done it for a while so uh it's definitely something that I was Keen to do while my Visa was bid and just kind of uh add a new chapter of Adventure to my life so yeah that's why I'm here so where do you think the Leadership Learning will be more in a group travel or in a solo travel I think it kind of can happen in both scenarios in a group travel if you are the leader of the group then there's definitely some scope there as well to test your leadership skills and practice so for example if you're coordinating the rest of the group on the itinary of the day and where you travel and how you travel then that makes you a leader as well leader of the group of the people that you're traveling with and I think solo traveling just has a whole different angle of leadership because you are by yourself and you're a leader of yourself you're managing yourself your thoughts your own time management and your brain is also playing its own games because you are extra cautious uh when you are by yourself you know you are being careful about your belongings and making sure you're reaching places on time and doing bookings cautiously and stuff like that so I think solo traveling is definitely a more challenging aspect of leadership because it teaches you to manage your own s first before you can go out and manage anyone else so I think that's the interesting angle of solo traveling where it's teaching you all these essential skills of decision making confidence Independence resilience as well uh when you face those little glitches and challenges while traveling and you have to think on your feet and make a quick decision to combat that challenge when there's no one around to help you it can be overwhelming but that's the actual test of a true leader so when you travel in the group uh have you experienced getting limited by the slowest person of the group let's say somebody who takes more time to get up more time to get ready Etc oh 100% there's always that one person in the group who will be running late sometimes that's just me myself um but I think that's what the Journey of a youth leadership is about it kind of teaches you helps you recognize your weaknesses or others weaknesses and kind of how you can support them as the leader and kind of you know helping them out with uh the necessary patience sometimes or just kind of proding them or nudging them when they need to so that the rest of the group is not running late so I think being mindful as a leader is really important and being empathetic as well not everyone is going to have the same PA or same level of thinking so how are you going to be inclusive as a leader is something that is really important um and that's what a leader leadership journey in itself I can teach you so when you travel solo you know you have to be your own leader and pretty much ice break with some of the strangers for talking Etc like in plane or something you're getting bored maybe or you just curious about somebody you had any instances like that yes 100% I always try and make the most of these opportunities while solo traveling it's all about networking at the end of the day and trying to understand the local culture and its people and how they communicate um and the more interesting angle is when there is a language difference and you are trying to also kind of accommodate uh the difference in language and translate at your best um so during my recent trip in Budapest while I'm here I recently made friends with the tour guide so I booked like a walking tour and it was a guided trip and the tour guide was really amazing just a localized local Hungarian person um and then we just happen to talk about spirituality and how that connects us with my roots in India and kind of uh their belief in spirituality Hinduism Buddhism meditation mindfulness practices so again just uh real nuances of leadership skills coming out there as well where he was the leader of the group but talking to him interacting with him made me realize what are the kind of nuances of leadership that connects us both as young leaders and that's what fascinated and just kind of understanding more about the local culture and how they were brought up and their food preferences and kind of seeing the city through their eyes I think is also uh a fantastic experience of uh solo traveling while interacting with local people here and breaking that ice and uh making local friends is really the key part of exploring other countries so you already made a list of things you wanted to see or you left some things like as a surprise a mix support actually uh I like to be prepared I like to be organized so I definitely had a few things on my mind you know the master visit things like the thermal spa and then the Basilica and things like that but then I also had a more or less fluid approach as well to the itinary I didn't want to make it too packed or busy that it becomes too honorous on me especially as I'm traveling by myself so I left a lot of the part of the day free in terms of the agenda so then I could just figure out what to do on the day if I like like something while walking on the way I just go there and explore and spend more time there so I think a balance of both uh has been a really good way to approach this trip and making it a combination of fun as well as relaxing so how do you compare London versus Budapest in few points oh that's a good one uh I think London is definitely more expansive as a city um lot more tourists and more I would say diverse and Intercultural as well um Budapest on the other side is more obviously geographically as well limited but at the same time lots of History here lots of influences of other cultures in terms of their imprint on history and all the different uh kind of communities that lived here from the Jewish to the Germans to um other areas around uh the small country so I think it's f the differences both in terms of geography and history but the one thread that definitely ties both these places is the diversity and the sort of inclusive approach of the people that reside in both places to welcome tourists and their sort of uh Multicultural perspectives that they bring with themselves what about the expenses like uh let's say the food London versus here or your home versus here home area versus here oh I think Budapest is actually really cheap so they have their own currency the Hungarian Point um and compared to the pound or the European currency it's definitely lot cheaper um again it depends which part of the city you are in if you're close to the city center naturally things are a bit more expensive in terms of food and accommodation but if you're a few miles away it does get cheaper compared to Indian rupees it is a little more expensive but I think out of all the European places that I have visited in the last few years this one definitely is the cheapest uh in Hungary I would say uh any communication challenges you faced or it was all okay I think sometimes in local shops they wouldn't be as fluent in English as you would expect um so the easiest goto approach is Google translate uh so I was just buying a piece of art this morning and I happened to ask the person what is this made of and they said something in Hungarian and I couldn't understand so I just took out my phone translated it in English and I understood what they were trying to say so I think it's easy nowadays with technology just a quick help Google translate helps you kind of navigate any of those communication challenges so how many days are you spending there and how did you decide the number of days and nights for Budapest so I'm currently spending three nights four days in Budapest I thought that was a good amount of time to explore a new city and Country so that's the kind of rough guideline I went with also because I have traveled a lot in different European countries and I kind of had a good idea of the rough estimate of time required to explore a city properly so I think three days is a good enough range to explore everything that you need to in a new place so that's what I went with uh comparing my previous experience and versus the time that I have now also because it's the summer holiday season in the UK okay so uh it's it's the perfect time to kind of take a few days off unwind from work relax and explore a new place so what will be one advice for let's say the people who are going to visit Budapest or thinking about visiting Budapest what will be few things uh that you would like to tell them so that they can be a bit more prepared I think if you are a person who likes to be organized and prepared then maybe make a list of the things that are your preferences in terms of your hobbies and interests for example are you a historical person in the sense someone just who is interested in reading a lot or knowing about history in which case you would want to kind of go to Every Museum and Basilica and explore the rich history of for the best or if you're a more funloving adventurous person then maybe have a look at things that you can do in terms of Adventure so there's a lot of thermal spots that do the best of fam as for so if you are a water and love swimming then that's your place to go to and explore all the different thermal Spar options that Budapest has um but I think my one advice would also be try a balance of flexibility as well in your it because the city can Amaze you with all the different options that it's got It's a really artistic City there's lots of graffiti when you're walking along the city center and you would want to stop and click pictures and take in all of it so I think having a bit of a l in your itary would definitely help explor the city to the fullest okay thank you quesa for your time it was a good quick overview of Budapest and the leadership learning that you shared from Budapest so hope our audience will learn a bit from this thank you thank you Melle