Off to India!

Asia » India
February 1st 2016

Published: February 2nd 2016

I hadn't expected to be blogging again until summer when I have a trip to Alaska planned. However, I opened an e-mail on Black Friday announcing Cyber specials waiving International airfare for select trips with Overseas Adventure Travel. While India wasn't even on my bucket list, there was a trip to India in February and it's warm in India in February! The other February trips in warm places were to South American countries that I'd already visited. I saw that OAT offices were open until 8:00 so I decided to call to inquire about the trip. By 8:20 I had booked a 19 day trip to India! I will be visiting many of the well known cities/sites in Northern India (Delhi, Varanasi, Agra, Jaipur and Rathambore) as well as lesser known cities and villages. This particular trip includes an extra 2 days to attend the Nagaur festival where we will stay in a tented camp near the festival grounds.

This will be a very different trip from my Coast to Coast England walk....and different from most of the trips I have taken in the past several years. There is no hiking component and most of the time will be in cities. In addition, the itinerary is planned and there will be a leader throughout the trip. I was initially concerned about the lack of hiking and worried about having most of the time in cities and sightseeing. However, I have spent a good deal of time reading as well as watching a very good BBC documentary called the Story of India (available on Amazon Prime streaming) and am now very excited about this upcoming adventure.

Posting blogs may be problematic. Though internet should be available everywhere except Rothambore and at the festival camp, my understanding is that it might be very slow and sporadic. Pictures may have to be added after the trip and blogs may not appear regularly even if I write them.

Note on trip preparation: People have asked about required vaccines, visas etc.

Typhoid is suggested and I would recommend the oral since it lasts 5 years as opposed to the shot which is only good for two years. Malaria pills are recommended. Make sure you have completed the hepatitis vaccine and tetanus is up to date.

The Indian Visa application is very long and not easy to understand. OAT provided step by step instructions which was very helpful. They recommended using a company (PVC) for the application, but if you live in DC (as well as some other cities), you can fill out the application online and go directly to the company the Indian Embassy contracts with (Cox and King) to apply. It takes some time, but saves a lot of money. I chose not to pay the $25 to have it mailed, but said I would come back downtown to pick it up....it was ready 4 days after I applied!

Packing is always a challenge for me. I thought this would be easy since I didn't have to pack for hiking, but I still have spent way too much time deciding what to bring. The weight limit for the internal travel is 33 lbs. for checked luggage and 11 lbs. for carry-on. That might have been a problem if I were packing hiking boots (although you can always wear them if necessary), poles etc. My problem really hasn't been the weight limit, but deciding what clothes to bring for a trip where it might be in the upper 30's at night and as high as 80 during the day and where the activities will include visiting temples and mosques and walking through crowded city streets. I've decided that I need to stay away from REI (as well as the REI online outlet) since I probably have too many travel/hiking clothes which makes decision making very difficult!

So....this has turned out to be a lot longer entry than I planned. I hope this will be helpful for people planning a trip to India (or similar trip). I hope the rest of you were able to skim through it quickly. Future entries will not be as long!

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