India

“[India is] the One land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for all the shows of all the rest of the globe combined.”

 – Mark Twain
India Travel Guides – Hawa Mahal, Jaipur

India is on the bucket list of many but in the practicality of a few people. Indeed, traveling to this beautiful, complicated country is not a joke. If someone has told you differently, he is lying to you. So far, India has been one of the most difficult countries I visited in terms of logistics. Indeed, what you normally prepare for a trip. Like for example an itinerary or how to move from one place to another, doesn’t quite applies to India and its colourful chaotic world. I hope these travel guides to India can help but you should remember that everything has its own system, time and space there. if you are patient (and lucky), you’ll probably arrive where you should.

Take part to the Indian Odissey

I spent in India well over three weeks. I planned my trip for months, researched the best places and trusted contacts. Nevertheless, India it’s India for a reason. So things not always go as planned and sugarcoating its nature doesn’t do good to any traveler. Looking now at what my trip was then, I call it “the Indian Odissey”. Because that’s what it was. A series of misadventures after the others trying to visit different places without being scammed.

Of course, if I have to travel now I would avoid many bad decisions I made (6 years around the world have their own scope after all). But at the time I was young and naively in love with everything I was posing my eyes so, I was served well by the brutal truth of the country I was traveling.

If you are planning to travel to India, there are some observational tips I wrote soon after my trip and are still very true to remember. I divided these into small sections for reading purposes.

Preparedness

You will never be enough prepared for what will be your impact with India. It doesn’t matter how much you will read, how many Indian friends have discussed or planned your trip with, how many nights you have spent searching information and impressions about this country. Once your feet will touch New Delhi’s ground, all that you think you knew about India will be gone in a second. This will be replaced by a thousands of sounds, smells, colours and people hitting you like a bucket of iced water.

Moreover, make plans but don’t stick to them too much. You will discover that most of the time it is impossible to do what you want to do the way you want to do it.

Trust

This sounds counterintuitive if you think about India, but trust people. It’s true, there are hundreds of scammers (particularly in New Delhi) and you have to pay attention to each of them (especially at the train station) but great part of Indian people are fantastic. Genuine hard-working people who want to help you honestly without second ends.

Culture shock

If you have never traveled to developing countries before, you might have a culture shock. To me this hit hard when I saw a lot of children dirty and half-naked demanding money on the street with no adults around them. I think I cried non stop all the way from Agra to Jaipur.

Unfortunately, there is no much you can do about it except being open and welcoming towards a different culture and way of living. Traveling with a strictly westernised mindset won’t help you to live better your holiday. Instead, will isolate you from what India could offer you.

Healthy issues and self honesty

I honestly departed this trip not in the best physical condition. My husband was also feverish even before we departed and worsened a lot in New Delhi. I was holding for a few days but the mixture of jet lag, flu, pollution and dust are an explosive combination and I had one of my lowest trip moments in Agra. I had to skip some of my “bucket list moments”. Such as the sunrise at the Taj Mahal or the pilgrimage to Mathura.

If I had been more honest with myself, I would have stopped a few days to give my body the time to recover. But I didn’t want to lose a second or a place to see. So I forced myself into every single thing until I crashed. Not really recommended. Particularly in India.

Therefore, if, for any reason, you get sick, keep it slowly. You might loose a day or two but you won’t regret it later.

Travel information about India

View of the Jal Mahal in Jaipur -India Travel Guides
India Travel Guides – View of the Jal Mahal in Jaipur

The capital city of India is New Delhi. A large, densely populated metropolis that is, unfortunately, among the 200 most polluted cities in the world.

The local currency is the Indian Rupee (INR). Differently from Egypt or Morocco. You can pre-order Indian Rupees before your trip. It is best to have Rupees before arriving in India. Indeed, many flights in New Delhi land at late night. I honestly wasn’t able to locate an ATM in the airport crowd. I am sure there is one, but having some Rupees in advance will spare you a lot of hassle on arrival.

The official language of India is Hindi. Nevertheless, India has a further more than 447 native languages spoken all around. You will notice that at least one in two people speak Hindi and understands at least another Indian native language. For example Punjabi or Bengali, depending where they are coming from. English is a second official language and it’s widely spoken at most levels of the society. Most of my Indian friends speak English even within their families.

In India there are three associated plug types, types C, D and M. Some hotel have the same UK adapters. However, to avoid buying the wrong one, I always use an universal adapter . So that I don’t need to buy one for every destination I visit.

Booking your hotel in advance is essential to avoid last minute scams and stay at your preferred accommodation. I always get the best rates on Booking.com and I booked here all my stays in India. For this country in particular, I don’t recommend you to go to a place lower than four stars and well-reviewed. Indeed, photos online might be misleading and most places have very low standard regarding hygiene conditions.

Driving in India

Driving in India is not really recommended. It’s the only country in the world where road rules probably don’t apply. I saw people going against traffic in the motorway, my driver watching a movie while driving to Mumbai, people jumping on cars to cross the street. It’s a jungle. Without counting the countless hordes of animals you will meet on the road. From cheeky monkeys to camels, cows and elephants sometimes standing in the middle of the road without moving.

If you decide to venture out and driving, be sure to be covered by the best health and driving insurance because you might need this.

For our safety, we decided to book drivers along the way. This didn’t spare us from having a car accident in Jaipur (yes, I told you it’s a jungle). But at least we didn’t have to deal with the all the arguing with another angry driver and the bureaucratic aspects of having an incident.

Safety in India

As far as we never felt “unsafe” from a criminal perspective, India has some safety issues. One of these is related to scammers. They are everywhere, some of them are also very smart. There was one day, when literally every single person we met tried to scam us in some way. It is exhausting and obfuscate the real beauty of the country. Rough Guide to India has a very good section on many of the scams you can find on your way around India. I would suggest you to give it a read as literally each of them happened to us.

A second issue is related to harassment. This is done generically when people approach you (even physically) to demand money or something from you. Or, is specifically targeted to women (particularly those traveling alone). I was harassed a lot in India, even if I was with my husband. Groups of men stared at me or catcalled me 99% of the time. It was very unpleasant and I felt unsafe. Therefore, women traveling alone should be very vigilant. Particularly during big festivities like Holi.

Also, as you will walk always in a lot in crowded places, particularly in New Delhi or Mumbai, I recommend to place your passport and cash in a Invisible Money Belt. My best suggestion is to keep on your wallet only small pieces of cash and hide the rest in the money belt. Indeed, this is very discrete and will ensure you can go around safely and without gaining unwanted attention.

Where I have been in India

Latest travel guides to India

I know there are just a few guides here. This section is still developing. I traveled many places in India including New Delhi, Agra and Mumbai. So I hope to cover soon some guides also for each of these places! Stay tuned!

India Travel Guides
India Travel Guides
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