Traveling alone?

Maheswara_shishya

I know this is probably in the wrong forum, but I was curious how safe it is to travel alone through India and is it feasible? I will be with some friends from the states for 2 weeks but after that I will probably be alone for 5 or so weeks or however much longer I’d like to stay. I will initially be in the Uttaranchal/Uttarpradesh area and to blow time might want to travel down to the south (Tamil Nadu or Kerala) to view and send prayers at some Shiva temples.

The question is, will I be able to get by? I’m not to privy when it comes to the local dialect(aka I only speak English  ) and is it just safe in general?

Thank you kindly!
Guru Om
Love
-Daniel

machadinha

Many of us have gone before you so you should be alright, just don't take our word for it. Speaking just English isn't a problem although you might go without anything like a sensible conversation for a bit sometimes, depending on where you're going and what you're doing. Temple keepers in village X might not typically be your most fluent English-speakers for instance (this is an understatement). I'm saying this because I've noticed many people seem to get frustrated with people not speaking English as well as they had expected, in other words they get frustrated with their own expectations mostly & for some reason seem to think Indians are stupid because of it. Just don't expect everyone to speak your language and when they do not to speak it like you're used to and you should be fine.

Should be OK, really. India is a very safe country for traveling all in all and everyday occurrences like violent robbery and stuff are exceedingly rare, at least where tourists are involved.

You've got a while to go still I think, it's really not necessary but doing a basic course in conversational Hindi or Tamil might go some way to make you feel better & would probably be most appreciated by the people you meet. Don't expect either language to get you very far in Kerala though.

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thirdreel

I'm traveling alone. I haven't gone yet (two weeks!), so I can't vouch for anything, but this page seems to have good advice, or at least something to think about:

http://www.moxon.net/travel_tips/solo_travel.html

lotus blossom

i've traveled to india on my own three times and can honestly say that i never felt threatened. in fact, i prefer it because it seems to open up the possibility of meeting people.

i only speak english and have never found that to be much of a problem either. in can get a bit lonely when you're hanging out with a group of indians and they're speaking amongst themselves in their mother tongue, which could be any number of languages in india!

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Not all who wander are lost

Maheswara_shishya

Thank you for the kind replies. Being alone i'm quite content with, heheh its in my teachings. I feel quite reassured now though.

Many thanks.

om shanti
Love
-Daniel