A prelude to my series of posts about my recent travel to India

India… well, it’s really hard to describe it. I had a short time there and I wanted to get a sample of the North, Goa Beaches & South part of the country. So maybe for me it was a bit more rough as traveling through all of the regions and spending only a few days at each town can have toll on you. It’s a big country and things don’t always pan out the way you had planned it. In India, you must be flexible. Be ready to adjust to the moment and don’t let the chaos get to you 🙂 . There’s a bit of a cultural gear shift that you have to put yourself into, but if you’re willing to just enjoy the moment then there’s plenty of exciting and interesting things all around.

In India, you must be flexible

How to prep

So this obviously will depend more on the region you’re going and what your plans are. I went during winter in December-January and traveled through Delhi, Rajasthan, Goa, Karnataka & Kerala.

Visa

Most non-Indian citizens will need a Visa to enter the country. I traveled in 2018-2019 and US citizens could apply for e-Visa online. I got the visa in email in one day.

When you get the e-visa in email PRINT it.

Climate

I traveled through mid-December through mid-January

• Delhi: cool during the day chilly at night
• Rajasthan: warm/cool days, chilly nights
• Goa: hot days, warm nights
• Karnataka: hot days, cool nights
• Kerala: hot days, warm nights

No rain in the winter season for these regions

What to pack

Just a few things that you may miss in your packing that for me came in handy

• Bug spray — You will be in regions with mosquito
• Pepto-Bismol — I wish I had carried two bottles 😀
• Selfie stick — DON’T … please!
  
• Swim suit
• Cash
  
• Jacket — Rajasthan nights were a bit chilly in winter. I wish I had taken a better jacket.
• Good camera — You’ll find to take plenty of pictures. And everyone there loves taking pictures

Cash

Most established places you go will take international credit cards. But smaller shops will not. So having cash is sort of essential if you wanna leave the touristy places.

Important, carry new bills with you. In my experience, any bill before 2002 was not accepted by most exchange place. And if they do, they will give a bad rate. For US $100 dollar bills, they wanted the blue note, and for $20s they wanted new bills 🙄

Cellular

I found Airtel to work well. There’s a good cellular coverage through the states that I traveled through. Only place that we had a bit of an issue was Munnar in Kerala. Make sure you’re phone is unlocked to be use by any cell provider.

I paid ₹450 for one month of service and 1.4GB of data each day. Plenty for my use.

Don’t buy in airport unless you must. They asked for ₹1000 which is way too expensive. If you’re in Delhi, check out Happy Holidays Travel. Very nice people and speak ok english.

Booking Sites & Apps

I made most of my travel bookings through makemytrip.com. Keep in mind that it’s not the best and most stable site in the world, but it works for the most part. Sometimes you may struggle with international cards, but hopefully you have one that works.

Booking cars with Olacab & also again makemytrip was pretty easy and hassle free. Just make sure you exactly tell the driver where he needs to go. In one our trips he misunderstood us and we ended up in a different town 😀 lost half a day of traveling!