Over Sixty in age and traveling to India

paintbusters

Hello! In one year, my Social Security benefits start, and wife and I leave USA with 10 year visas. I cannot begin to describe the anticipation. Forty years ago, i was able to rent little houses for a couple of months in places, and kind of get semi domestic. We want to do more of that , Hire a cook, for instance, arrange for a dhobi,see the local sights, and maybe make some friends.
I hope to learn more about the 180 day stay, restriction, How long must a departure last? Where do other long termers go, Nepal, Shri Lanka? Bangladesh? Passenger ship from Calcutta to another city in India? Thanks for listening.

Aishah

paintbusters - take a look in the Passport and Visas Forum - http://www.indiamike.com/india/india...-questions-f9/
for some of the answers to your last questions. And if you can't find them, then post a thread there.

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"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards."

vonkla

My wife and I where forty when we first visited India, for different kind off reasons we did not return before 2005 when we were in our sixties.

Now we are ready for our next trip, the third in less then four years. We start in December for something more then 3 months.

We mostly stay three days in each city so we have a relaxed journey as far as that is possible.
In spite of that we were mentally exhausted at the end of our previous trip, due to all the impressions you get. So the last days we stayed, mostly talking and reading, on the inner court of our hotel.

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See our travel journals Mumbai-Dehli in three months; From Kochi to Delhi

Aishah

Way to go, Vonkla! I certainly dislike rushing from one place to another - I like peaceful times as well as out there in the busy market etc. Staying several nights in each place gives this to you. Even before I was 60, when I first went to South India quite a while ago now, the best times for me were staying 10 days each time up in Ooty and Kodaikanal. I had 7 days in Hampi with my daughter, and that was nice too.

robinsparrow

GREAT...sorry to shout but its so nice to know there's some other elders among the bunch here on IM.


Will be back in India for my 60th.......and yes I am ready to stay in India for good except leave every 6 months to see other areas of the world.

But as most of you know once in India it gets in your blood , and you just can't get enough. I am very happy in India getting away from the rat race of America... I do love to work, I really really do---but its time.

Anytime any of you are in the area it would be nice to
meet up and share experiences.....I never talk about India to my co-workers BECAUSE I find I never shut up afterwards.Ha.

E-mail me if ever interested......we won't always be in Delhi, but maybe. We have plans to go off to Goa where the weather is very favorable towards my husband's arthritis....then at some point go up to Simla for a shorter stay.

Have fun everyone.

robinsparrow

Aishah

Congrats for your 60th this month robinsparrow! And enjoy Goa.
I will never forget my 60th birthday, it was a pack up everything and move with Mr K from the room we had been living in for nearly 2 and a half years, to another a few streets away, all in the space of around 4 hours. My nephews who helped, virtually lifted sets of shelves with their contents and flung them into the jeep! Not funny at the time, but is now. (Family dispute precipitated the move which we had been planning for a while.)

camelgirl

Drew, thanks for starting this thread. You've flushed us geezers out into the bright lights. Some of us are like bookends on India Mike with posts & pics from the early days--60s &70s-- of the "hippy trail" --now we are at the other end still going to India & looking forward to more journeys there & elsewhere!

I'd have to say the biggest change for me is going more upscale & bringing more "stuff" & spending more money on Indian arts, crafts & jewelry & and like Wonderwoman having to carry prescription meds! I just like more comfort now. No more backpacks, thank you inventor of wheeled bags!

I knowI could never sleep on the floor of a train again (& fortunately only had to do that once anyway).

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Drews60

And you no longer have too. With the IR Senior Discount, you can go first class!

wonderwomanusa

Oh, 'way cool! I'll probably still go 2AC, but nice to know that 1st class is actually within reach!

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The map is not the territory. --Alfred Korzybski

wonderwomanusa

Since -- with the 10-year visa -- you don't need a new visa, so you can go and sightsee in any of those countries, or farther away if you wish.

There are lots of discussions about where to apply for a new visa for those who want to spend a lot of time in India, but that will not be your problem.

Aishah

Camelgirl - I'm now into the 'wheelie bags' too but I don't have the walking frame yet!!! I must say the wheelie bag with handle extended is very handy for holding your overstuffed, overweight cabin/shoulder bag as well.
Friend of mine came (with another friend) a couple of years back to India, having had a knee replacement only about 3 months prior to travelling. She was an example to all of us, absolutely marvellous getting out and about. She even managed those terribly high stone steps, taking it slowly.

brishti

Aishah; camelgirl; Drews60; freenote; New-South-Welshman; [?] paintbusters; robinsparrow; vonkla; wonderwomanusa;

this has got to be one of my best threads EVER on IM.
when i grow up - i want to be just like you


:brishti
[ names in alphabetical order ]

wonderwomanusa

Brishti, by the time you grow up, there may be even better ways to be!

snowcrab

My first trip to India I was 59, I've done two more since, I'm 63 and trying hard for another. India is very handy for people who don't want to walk as far or carry as much as they did when they were younger. There are people who will perform small services for you for small amounts of money, like porters. Small boys will carry bags home from the store for you and up your stairs for a couple of rupees. Dobies will wash and iron your clothes. Rickshaws are everywhere, even if for only a couple of blocks, and they will carry your bags for you, unlike taxi drivers in this country. You can keep your wits sharp arguing about fares with them. The seniors discount on trains is a treat.

Personal services like haircare, massage and skin care are plentiful and inexpensive. Even the expensive brands of cosmetics are cheap compared to what you would pay at home. Chemists can fill your prescription for a fraction of what you pay at home. Ditto for dentists.

The thing I like best is that intangible called respect. Indians respect age and treat older people much better, with more gentleness and concern than young and middle aged people in my country treat older individuals.

Unfortunately India doesn't have much in the way of handicap access for people with disabilities. The streets are rocky, lots of high curbs and ditches, there are lots of steps and stairs everywhere and very few ramps. I take it easy, not interested in whirlwind tours of eight cities in a week and like my comfort enough to go for mid range hotels.

The worst part of the trip is when I get back home and have to schlep my own bags around again. Getting my big bags off the carousel in Vancouver was like trying to bulldog a steer. I'm getting too old for that. A close second is seeing all those dreadful television advertisements for products to hide those panic inducing "signs of aging" that seem to dominate the advertising market.

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obione980

Sixty was a few years back now - but I still feel just as good as I did at 40; only difference is that I've now got the time to follow my interests and travel.