Will you be cancelling your coming holidays to India?

paakhipardesi

I am scheduled to fly into Mumbai on Jan.10th and will be staying there 2 days before taking off touring. My hotel is much more modest than the Taj or the Oberoi, but it is unnervingly close to the action. However, I have been planning this trip for almost 2 years and if I wait much longer, I may be too decrepit, so I am going.

As others have ponted out, there is always a period of heightened security after a major incident, and Mumbai may well be the safest city on earth at that point. I remember travelling with my youngest daughter, then a baby in arms, after the Lockerbie tragedy - we were checked so thoroughly at Heathrow they even looked inside her diaper!

ptmurph

Long time lurker with a deep appreciation for the good people and valuable information on this forum.

We are leaving December 8th for a three week holiday. First time to India. I would be lying if I said that the attacks didn't make me a little apprehensive. After reading these posts, however, any fear has subsided, and I am more resolute than ever to explore and celebrate India.

Thanks, everyone, for taking the time to share your thoughts.

livinhimalayas

It is heartening for us to see the enthusiasm of all the travellers due to come to India. If I were you I would do the same.

vicki278

I also am apprehensive. Like an earlier poster, we are flying in to Delhi, Rajasthan circuit, and eventually over to Varanasi. Next week. It's true that there's a risk to anything in life - even stepping out of bed in the morning - but what would be great is to get RELIABLE media information to help make an informed decision about specific ongoing risks associated with the current tragic events.

Vicki

captainpinky

no, we thought we may have to cancel, because we have our son and we don't want to put him at risk.. but we are definitely going ( just hope the foreign office change their advice- otherwise this renders our insurance invalid) we are not going until jan , so hope it will be ok ! In the uk we are used to threats from all sorts of terrorists from when I was little in the 70's so nothing new to us !!

gobbledegeek

You want to stay back and risk a serious road accident? Whats the probability of a 2nd terror strike in the next 3 months in the same country ? Esp with heightened security?

Regards

captainpinky

yes yes ! I totally agree !

machadinha

I'm sure it would be, but as I guess we'll all realize there can exist no such thing. Last Tuesday it was unknown this would happen on Wednesday. Etc.

Yes, perfectly understandable, I would be too. It's everyone's own call isn't it, no one can decide for you. There's nothing wrong or shameful about deciding to cancel a trip; as I'm not so terribly impressed with this notion of bravery or defiance in pushing on with a holiday. That's mostly just, well, pushing on with your holiday, isn't it. (Not dismissing people's good intentions and heart-felt sympathies btw.)

As noted before though, Delhi is some thousand miles away, and that whole area is nowhere near to Mumbai. It would be like skipping on Madrid because something happened in Rome (or possibly further away). That is however not to say nothing can happen in another place, it has before.

Likewise, January's a long way away, I see no reason to assume this event will still be an issue or even noticeable in any way to a visitor then. A new event may have erupted of course, again, no one can foretell.

I've said it often before but the first time I went to India a major earthquake had just struck, and going by the international media the entire country had just been obliterated. Enquiring about it on the ground most people didn't know what I was on about, Oh, you mean that place in state X, yes, I think I read something about it in the papers... To them it was just another far-away place.

(And then to top it all off a coup occurred in Moscow where I had a layover, with pictures of tanks in the streets and whatnot. Boy, was I a little nervous about the whole thing. Of course nothing amiss nor even noticeable at that airport, I mean that's not where coups normally take place or make themselves felt I guess.)

That didn't make said earthquake any less real or dramatic of course, but it's a matter of perspective in such a vast country as India, roughly the size of Western Europe.

Nor is it meant to draw you over any lines, again, everyone will have to decide for themselves, and if it doesn't feel right, just trust your instincts I guess (and as many other posters will often sensibly say, the apprehension alone if it's that strong might ruin your holiday). But this is still the same India that it was last week, and it does have its ongoing and sometimes violent struggles including terrorist attacks whether domestic or international yes, it has from its founding days as a nation in its present form.

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machadinha

ps A previous and similar discussion after another attack not that long ago (last May), maybe some people will find it useful: Bombings in Jaipur .

I should add I do see a difference this time, and so I might not repeat word-for-word what my reply has been before on such occasions regarding travel concerns; I'm not sure if it's a matter of scale as such as some now claim, but as I've said elsewhere it sure seems to be one of a new modus operandi. And I don't think either financial targets (the heart of Mumbai is symbolic enough of that in itself) nor tourists have been as directly targeted before.

So only time can tell what the future will bring.

Penultimate Buddha

5 pages of responses and NOT A SINGLE YES IN FAVOUR OF CANCELLATION. WOW. guys i must say i am moved by all the support shown by everybody here. truely truely amazing.
I really hope all of you have a wonderful trip. God bless
cheers
pen

PS: Puchoo lets have a few IM meets here in delhi for all these wonderful people. what say?

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I met a lot of people when i travelled. I even encountered myself.

spike

Penultimate Buddha,

I just finished a whiskey. My next whiskey that I'll have will be at Leopolds as soon as they are open again !

bsd_tector

So right.
Hubby and I are from Canada. (He is American) We are planning to continue with our 3 week holiday starting Dec. 16. We have ammended our itinerary just a bit. More time in Hampi.
P.S. My heart goes out to all all those who have lost love ones.
This is truly disturbing to us all.

~S

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Bless us one and all.

pompeymatt

Hey everyone , Ive been to India once before 3 years ago and have been waiting to go back ever since . Now , as luck would have it Im due to land in Mumbai Sun evening ... I thought f*** em Im still going but the airline have diverted us to Delhi .

Messes with my plans a bit and Im pissed that theyve won ( a little bit ) but am over the moon to still be going .

Oh , and Ive been reading this site for 3 years and never posted till now !

Good luck and best wishes to anyone caught up in all this .

Matt ...

machadinha

Well... welcome to IndiaMike then!

(Not the happiest of occasions, but so it goes. I think many new members and perhaps former lurkers have found the site this way, a good thing in itself. I mean it has once again proven itself to be a real community.)

Hope your trip works out well with the re-route and all.

maddogmary

I'm also a lurker for the past few months as our plans for a trip to Indian have firmed up.

We are going the middle of Dec for 3 weeks arriving and departing from Mumbai. Luckily we will be with friends and spending part of our time in their village and part will be spent in Mumbai. We will be alert and try (think blonde & white) to fit in but terrorists will not force us to change our plans.

I'm looking forward to enjoying the 3 s's of India - the sights, sounds, and smells.