Don't let bad press affect your decisions

A long weekend was coming to the UAE due to a public holiday and the pressure was mounting. Everyone in the city seemed to be having the same conversation, which went a little something like this: "So, going somewhere for the long weekend?"

If you paused in your answer, you would be interrupted with: "Oh, well we just decided to hop off to the Maldives and rent one of those amazing huts out on the sea … did you know you could see the fish from the room?"

Everyone knows you can see the little fish from the room.

So, having been inevitably bitten by the travel bug, a group of us decided it would actually be refreshing to get away. Into the world wide web we dove to find a location that would appeal to each of us, one with a maximum of a four-hour flight to allow more time for exploration. Someone had suggested Sri Lanka, which fell into our time bracket. Besides, for me with my fear of flying, every single second counts up there while trying to convince myself: "Yup, being up here is totally natural."

Before travelling, it's always good to do some reading about the place just to make sure it's safe, as well as devising the checklist of places you want to visit. My girlfriends and I checked on the political situation, while the guys, well, they checked the weather forecast.

Although Sri Lanka sounded fantastic and we had bought the tickets immediately, I was a little worried about all the media reports of rebel fighting and general political unrest. "Don't go here, don't go there" is pretty much the message we got. I then received an email from a colleague, with the subject line reading something along the lines of "the lovely countryside of Sri Lanka". Nice. Exactly what I wanted to see. As I clicked to open the email, all I saw were rebels fighting in what appeared to be an open field. I was not amused.

To make matters worse, another friend (who happens to be petrified of snakes) came over to my desk and said: "Did you know Sri Lanka has the highest number of deaths in the world from snake bites?" She did not look amused, either.

She even thought about cancelling, but in the end, we ended up going and having the most amazing time. I cannot say enough good things about Sri Lanka and its people.

We stayed the majority of the time in Kandy, about three hours from Colombo by car and situated 500 metres above sea level. We were all grateful we didn't let some of the negative publicity affect our decision to visit, which unfortunately does tend to happen. Not just with travel, but with simple things such as movies and books. I say always experience something for yourself instead of relying solely on the opinions of others or what we are told is the latest "trend".

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