Budget for 10 month-ish trip?

w1314

hello
In September I will leave on a one way ticket to Delhi and see where I end up. I imagine spending around ten months in India altogether. I feel more drawn to the North so I will explore around there first. I am trying to picture a realistic budget for this trip. I know this is dependent on my lifestyle and choices and my schedule is undecided mostly at this point but this is what I know: For the first month at least I plan to volunteer on a farm in exchange for food and lodging so I don't expect to have many expenses during that portion. I am comfortable with very sparse accomodations and don't expect to have many special expenses.

Basically, I suppose I am asking what the minimum is I can expect to spend over the course of ten months or so in Northern India, living as cheaply as possible?

machadinha

No idea, like you say it does depend on too many variables, but some recent travelers here could hopefully give you a low-down. You do realize you'll have to get out of there after 180 days right? Although for Americans if you can get the 10-year visa this seems to be a mere formality. It still involves you leaving and re-entering the country though.

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zoltan

Is this something akin to WOOF'ing ? (working on organic farm)

Aside from them, I don't know how you'd go about getting work on someones farm for food & lodging.

As for ongoing costs, budgets vary depending on personal tastes and whether you are in main cities or rural areas.

What I tend to spend daily is around $10 (food & lodging). But another person going to the same cities as me may spend $30 per day.

It will differ depending on the individual concerned.

Cheers
Zoltan

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ananda2193

Agree that $10 a day is possible in most places. Some places like Mumbai are high priced for rooms, so plan on around $10 for a room only. $3000 or more should be adequate for a shoestring budget.
And is it possible to buy a one-way ticket to India? I thought you had to have a ticket out also.

GoanCanuck

If you are not of Indian origin I will advise you not to try this. A foreign national staying and working on a farm is going to raise eyebrows and you are going to most certainly be interrogated by the police and the intelligence bureau.

costaguana

GoanCanuck makes a good point, although I have met a few travellers who have successfully volunteered (hassle free) at organic farms and research fields in India, albeit largely in a management capacity. So if you have some expertise, you may be able to find opportunities in this area. If you are just an extra pair of hands, then probably not...

On the more general question of cost, I hear the "$10 a day" mantra quite a bit, and while I agree this is possible outside of the metros, I want to emphasis that you have to be very flexible to get by on so little. Having this target will mean you will have to dedicate time to bargain hunting, which is worthwhile if you are short on funds and have lots of time, but may not such a good trade off if you can afford to be a little less price-sensitive.

capt_mahajan

And, for a ten month trip (no visa hassles?), there should be some emergency money budgeted.


10 usd a day mentioned by others is possible (but difficult, I would say, except that experienced travellers here are doing it ), however, it requires a fair knowledge of India to accomplish that from day 1.
I think you will spend more in the first few weeks, specially landing in a big city and moving from there.

It would also take staying put in one place awhile before you can fine tune the budget.

costaguana

Too true. Chances are you'll end up paying close to $10 just to get to your hotel from the airport when you first arrive

w1314

Thanks for the replies.
The farm work is through WWOOF and I have several friends who have done this in the last few years, so I am not too worried about being hassled.
I don't know about the one way ticket; I just don't seem to be able to buy a round-trip ticket with arrival and departure spaced that far apart.

machadinha

To my knowledge this was never the case no, however Australians have reported here of late that it was required at least for them.

W13, do be aware that if this is a requirement, it's not optional. You'll be refused entry, and you'd better look into this.

There exist year-long return tickets. Or if worst comes to worst, you may have to ditch the return part. Or speak to your agent or airline company to see if you can get it re-scheduled later, of course.

Again, I'm not aware this is a concern to most nationalities though, but regulations change, and you'd better enquire with your airline company or embassy or so.

zoltan

A safer option (regarding the ticket), is to either:
1) shop around with different travel agents (I always use my Indian travel agent and see if they can get you a 1-year ticket.

2) purchase a return ticket and when you get there, cancel the return leg - you may pay a penalty for the refund but it will give you more cash. Then, when you're ready to fly out, purchase a one-way ticket for yourself.

Cheers
Zoltan

waving monkey

question about one way:
cant remember where but i thought i read on another thread
that people reported they were never asked for onward bound ticket.
so i suppose if asked,they take you to ticket counter to buy
outbound ticket?
how would that work. im in the same situation of not knowing
when i leave india

thanx

wm

katcalls

I can't report on the situation elsewhere, but here in Sydney Australia you have to show a copy of your confirmed and paid for itinerary with a flight out of India. No way around it. They won't take your passport unless they have the photocopy.

I got around it by buying a very cheap Kolkatta - Bangkok flight off Air India Express - but it can be cancelled with minimum charges. I'm sure this will be good enough to satisfy the consulate - or at least I hope! Should get my passport back this coming week.

I fear that this may be applied worldwide soon as VFS have taken over many of the Indian visa services. One can only hope I'm wrong.

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waving monkey

thanx katcalls,

this seems like a way to go.

wm

kalbarri

i am going to buy a ticket out of india with tiger airways, to singapore, very cheap, so i can make ongoing decisions after a few months in india, will probaly want to stay longer.
i could live easily on $10 australian dollars a day, in kerala, in 2006. if you stay long term in places, you will be able to get rent even cheaper than short stays. in one place, in the mountains, my rent was $3.50 a night.