Geographically and culturally, India is a world apart from North America. If you're planning to visit the subcontinent, these travel tips can help make your passage to India that much more comfortable and rewarding.
DO...
- Travel light. You don’t want to drag heavy bags in this climate. India is about cultural immersion, not wardrobe changes.
- Pack only unlined cotton, linen, rayon, or thin silk clothes for mid- or southern India. Anything synthetic or heavier, and you will drip sweat. Leave jeans home.
- Bring a cotton-knit cardigan or light shoulder-wrap for frostily air-conditioned hotels and restaurants.
- An enveloping but compact pareo or oversized pashmina can serve as a shawl, beach wrap, and bus or train blanket.
- You must take off your shoes to enter temples, so pack a pair of socks if you have hygienic concerns.
- Bring antibacterial gel and/or wipes and use them constantly.
- Facial wipes are a good idea.
- Tote a tissue packet or small roll of toilet paper. Most public bathrooms are BYOTP.
- Bring a zippered backpack or tote bag when you’re touring or walking around. You’ll be making a lot of impulse purchases and don’t want to carry around a bunch of plastic shopping bags.
- Do not drink tap water. Carry water everywhere or buy on the fly.
- Forget about perfect grooming. You’ll soon get used to the heat, humidity, and dirty air.
- Be aware that Indian pharmacies are excellent, with supercheap toiletries, supplies, and generic drugs, which don’t require a prescription.
- Drink India’s excellent Kingfisher lager beer instead of an overpriced import.
- Learn to thank Indians by saying “namaste” as you give a small bow with your hands clasped in prayer.
- Bring or buy a good (but lightweight) guidebook or at least city street maps. Towns have no grid system, and it’s easy to get lost.
- If you’re traveling on the cheap, bring an airline pillow for your comfort on crowded buses and trains and for overnights in less-than-deluxe digs.
- Do talk to your doctor before undergoing “recommended” inoculations and taking malaria pills. Many of these are unnecessary for city visits, uncovered by most medical plans, and shockingly costly.
- Do get your Indian currency from ATM machines linked to your bank network. You’ll avoid credit card companies’ foreign transaction charge and in-bank commissions.
DON'T...
- Don’t feel you have to tip as at home. Five or 10 rupees (a rupee is worth just under 4 cents) is fine for carrying your bag. In restaurants, a 5 to 10 percent tip is customary.
- Don’t avoid taking cabs. They are cheap. No in-town trip should cost over 50 rupees. If your cab doesn’t have a meter, negotiate the price beforehand. Cabdrivers appreciate even a negligible tip.
- Don’t pack shoes or anything with heels. Streets and attractions lack surfaces flat enough to handle any kind of heel. Even in nice restaurants, fancy shoes are overkill. Indians wear flip-flops or go barefoot. Jeweled flipflops are as dressy as you need. Sneakers are fine for touring.
- Don’t expect fitness facilties except at high-end hotels. But you’ll get plenty of exercise walking around and climbing temple steps.
- Don’t bring expensive jewelry, bags or sunglasses. Not only is India very casual, you don’t want to call attention to yourself or worry about your stuff. And you’ll be stocking up on jewelry anyway.
- Don’t show too much skin. Kama Sutra aside, this is a modest culture.
SHOPPING INDIA
Tchotchkes till You Drop
- Bring or buy an extra suitcase or tote for your purchases. A thin nylon duffel is ideal. You’ll need it to carry home all the irresistibly cheap and colorful baubles, scarves, and summer clothes you’ll purchase.
- Buy from vendors in street stalls and outside temples instead of touristy handicraft markets or shops. The merch is the same, but the shops have tourist-trap prices.
- Bargain shamelessly with vendors. They expect it and will typically go down to about two-thirds of their asking price. It helps to have an idea of the going price first, so you’re not getting an inflated tourist tab to start with. See shopping list below for price guidelines.
- Ask your concierge or cabbie to direct you to “Fashion Street,” the usual phrase for the shopping strip where you’ll find the cheap, cool stuff in the list below.
What it Costs
- Wool-and-silk pashminas, $4-$8; all-wool $8-12
- Long glossy silk scarves, $4; two-tone silk mufflers, about $12
- Hand-strung garnet bead necklaces, about $5
- Hand-linked silver-metal chokers, earrings and bracelets, $4-6
- Hammered brass bangles and chokers, $1-$3
- Yarn bracelets/anklets strung with tiny temple bells, 8-20 cents
- Thin glass or metal bangle bracelets meant to match saris, sold in stacks of a dozen, about $1
- Beaded hanging cords with little cloth elephants or birds, and bells at the end (about $3)
- Small posters of Hindu gods, about 50 cents (if you don’t know which to buy, ask for the god or goddess for the day of the week you were born on)
- Lightweight cotton pulloveer tops, skirts, drawstring pants, about $3
- Cotton T-shirts imprinted with Hindu gods, about $3
- Very cute baby-sized Indian tunics, about $3
- Ayurvedic (herbal) soaps, about 25 cents
- Incense, about 15 cents a box
- Henna dye for DIY mehndi tattoos, about 15 cents a tube
- Thin, handmade leather huaraches and slippers (But only for strong feet; this footwear is so basic, it doesn’t even come in left and right)
