Travel tips for those thinking about heading to India
(I couldn’t see any other obvious place)
India Travel Tips
BigBirdy on 10/05/2018 - 11:15
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Immodium
Where are you going specifically?
Use tour or tour guides. Book 3+ Star Hotels.
@Bigbirdy, which part of India are you planning to travel?
I recently returned from my second trip to India, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. 21 nights, travelling around mostly by car. Had a great time.
My experience of Indian hotels was mixed, some fantastic boutique beauties, but others just awful due to poor construction and poor maintenance. Not ‘building falling down’ issues, but poor tiling, plumbing, electrical, etc, leading to mould, rot, water leaks, tripping hazards, etc. These issues mean a hotel ends up with good rooms and bad rooms, and good rooms can quickly become bad rooms. Where I previously had a good hotel experience, a revisit three years later found me in a room where mould and fungus were lifting the bathroom tiles from floor and walls. Reviews are helpful, but be aware of their limitations.
use Uber or other similar app.
I initially found it tiring to negotiate with taxi drivers on fares eg. "$25 for the trip?!?! But i only paid $5 to get here!!". uber removed that hassle.
i went to Chennai and booked an apartment with airBnb. it was really good (comfortable, air con, nice neighbourhood, etc)
Travelan. Highly recommended. I didn't have any food problems in India. Familiarize yourself with the common scams in the country, especially around train stations. Bring some US dollars with you. Its been a while since I've been to India, but at New Delhi train station there was a bureau reserved for foreigners to buy tickets. However, you could only pay in cash, and only Euros, Pounds, or US dollars. No ruppees, no cards.
Plan your toilet stops as you probably won't see one all day once you leave the hotel. Not as bad as it sounds, as it's so hot and humid you tend to drink a lot and sweat it all out.
India is a fascinating place to visit and highly recommended, but it's worth doing a little bit of research.
India uses two sizes of power plugs. I found Australian travel shops only sold the larger size which is only used for air conditioners, so if you want to plug in your phone/whatever for charging overnight you have to choose between having the air con running or charging your devices. Not a fun trade off.
Toilet stops … lol … we found a town with, apparently, no working toilets. No shortage of men taking a leak roadside, but hard for the ladies. Mostly we were fine; tourist sites usually have 5-20 rupee (10-40c) toilets, and hotels, restaurants, shops and even some private homes were fine letting tourists use their facilities. I think locals, in country areas at least, understand the toilet shortage problem and are mostly helpful.
You can hire a Toyota Innova and driver for a full day (8 hours) for £20/A$35. He'll drive you anywhere, give you tour suggestions and stop wherever you want and wait for you. You can also hire them longer term (pay little extra for food and accommodation) and they'll happily drive all over the country if you want. Makes it easy to go to Taj Mahal/Agra/Jaipur from New Delhi.
Probiotics, so you don't poop yourself when the bad curry hits.
Go with the expectation to learn and experience something new. It is not perfect place to be but It is not as bad as people portray in media and in documentary.
We found it far better than we’d expected; a friendly, welcoming, happy place. The cities were hard going, crowded, traffic, dusty, the smaller towns were much nicer. Walking in towns and cities can be difficult due to lack of pedestrian paths and crossings, but there’s always locals you can join to cross roads. Lots of locals want to take selfies with foreigners, and they’re always happy to assist with directions.
Most of police commissioner/police department of a city/local authorities have verified twitter account and most them are very active. Any issue just tweet or upload picture and ask for assistance. Even external affairs minister's account is very active on twitter. Hope this helps.
Helpful tips for the first time traveler to India
Be patient and slow
Select the route smartly
Cover up conservatively
Always negotiable
Careful about what to eat
Do not trust everyone
Traveling through train is the best way to wandering long-distance destinations in India.
SIM Cards
The best value SIM I found in India (in March 2018) was Airtel Rs233. For 233 rupee, about A$5.00, you get 28 days of unlimited calls and text, and 1GB data per day (ie up to 28GB) on a pretty good network coverage through most of India.
I used it in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. I bought it at an Airtel shop in Mumbai. It required passport and photo. They stuffed up activation for both mine and my wife’s, but fixed it the next day. My research suggests stuff ups are common, so best to do it such that you can go back if it doesn’t activate.