My First Solo Trip to India

Welcome to "the club"!Got giardia my very first trip more than 20 years ago & although I got better it left me with a residual irritable bowel. Funnily I'd not believed a doctor friend who'd been to India who said his bowels had never been the same since his only trip!! Anyway, on 3 subsequent trips have never come down with anything else, and if I had my time over again would I still would have gone the first ( and second, third and fourth) time?...of course I would! Just the price you have to pay.

Have enjoyed your postings immensely. Thanks.

One fascinating thing about reading your postings and those who have followed your travels and thoughts is the love of the small things which make one nostalgic.

We have friends who have travelled to India, and we trade horror stories of things that have happened to us, which make us long to return. Strangers to India who hear these conversations think us bonkers, as one might imagine. But somehow, the awful things which happen (illness, stupidity, the contradictions that are India, the noise, etc., etc.) are the tangible things which remind us of the intangible things, such as that certain feeling of the immanent presence of the next world, the mystery of infinite possibilities, and the opening of the mind to itself—not always pleasant, but necessary for growth and understanding.

To some, India is a horror story (not so much now as decades ago when things were infinitely more difficult), to some it is a mystical experience waiting to happen, and to some it is both at the same time. I remember standing on the bridge leading from Hardwar to Kankhal which bridges the Ganga canal, and writing a letter to my mother while gazing northward to the Himalayas in the hazy distance. I wrote that I had dysentery, was feeling feverish and miserable, and had never been so happy and content . This was because of the opening to spiritual realities which could not have been imagined in the America of the '70's, but which India glories in.

I think the reason many have such a fondness for India is that they are expatriots, that is to say, they are at heart Indians who for whatever reason chose to be born in far-flung lands, and upon returning to India sense that eternal part of themselves which cannot be separated from India.

This may not be the experience of many, but I am surprised at how many do have similar feelings for India.

I hope you continue to have good and expanding experiences.

Hello - glad to read your posts. I will be taking my first trip to India, alone, in September this year. I am busy planning and researching accommodation and lots of other things. It feels very exciting. Glad you are having a good time. Deanna.

Welcome to IndiaMike, Reddy Kilowatt and Deanna!

I found planning the trip to be an adventure in itself. Getting there is definitely half the fun. Enjoy your trip.

I am glad to see you happy being here in India. you might be meet some interesting people over here in New Delhi. Enjoy the night life of Delhi.

Reading this gets me so excited for my trip. I'm leaving to India for the first time (and alone) December or January. Staying there until the money's gone so hopefully that will be 3 or 4 months.

Sounds like a great plan. It will be the trip of a lifetime.

I'm busy putting pen to paper planning my second trip. Looks like another 5 weeks and a 8 city sweep of India mostly in the south.

Great experience! Looks like you had a fantastic time! Thanks for sharing your wonderful stay at India.

I can't stop laughing.....tooo goood

Hello my friend,

India is a great country here are lots of religious but the people have most respect to all the religious.
We have this is the great things.

I am glad and surprised to see that you enjoyed and explored my country more than I did!!

emm.. are you sure that this is exactly what you tried to say

There is SO much to see in India.

Easy remedy, jump on a train and GO.

tell me the best thing about india...

... umm...