freaking out about upcoming first trip . . .

fidgiegirl

I am about to make my first trip to India in one month. I'll arrive on July 24 to Mumbai, to go immediately to Pune to spend until August 4 at a Girl Scout/Guide center (that was a thread of long-ago: see "Girl Guide/Scout group headed to India"). That part I'm not worried about. What I'm worried about is the post-trip independent travel. I depart from Delhi on August 18 and will be accompanied by two other women. Several of the other people in my group are going to participate in organized tours, but that's not typically been my traveling speed (restrictive, more expensive, I'm sure many other things), so I wanted to avoid it. However, my experience traveling has been in Latin America. At the end of living two years in Mexico I was feelin' pretty darn comfortable with the whole jump-on-a-bus-and-go deal, which I was kind of planning on for India, with a rough itinerary and a huge national train system at hand. But now after doing more reading, etc., I'm worried that I might be in over my head, and I'm not sure we can book a tour at the last minute if we freak out and change our minds. The people on this board have been excellent in the past . . . what are your thoughts now? Thanks in advance . . . Kelli

Indojingai

Buenas tardes et bienvenida el forum!!
(oopsss if my spanish sucks)

It (freaky feeling) happens to a lot of first time travellers to India. So, you're normal...

But hey at least for the first few weeks, try not to jump-in-the-bus-and-go in India.

Great Travels!

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fidgiegirl

Wow, you're fast. So, make reservations in advance, book hotels, etc.? What is the most difficult stuff to just get done there? I was reading that the trains can be hard to get on or something? I hate feeling this dumb!!!

Indojingai

Travelling between cities, take the train. You can have a reservation made but allow for a lot of leeway. (The train can be late, but its genrally safer than the bus.. for say a Mumbai to Pune ride.)

The bus... i'd rather advice you (knowing you r a female travller) to substitute for a taxi.

Hotels, if not the x-star types, you can land on their door. If location and its surrounding area looks safe enough. (to find this will be your judgement call)
Go stay. (such hotels generally do not show a 'no rooms/vacancy')

fidgiegirl

We do know for sure that we have our first night's hotel booked, plus the next however-many nights at the center in Pune. We will be traveling from Mumbai to Pune via train. After that, it's open and up to us.

byronic

If you can handle Mexican busses off the beaten track, you will have India wired. Don't even worry about it.

Plus you have the big advantage that many of the signs in India (at least in the North) will be in English, including all train station boards.

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Ikuru

Avoid the reading, just go, youll be fine. Reading freaks you out. Beeing the paranoid misserable psycho that I am I was reeding the LP before my last trip to India. I had been to India before (totally carefree back then). Still this time around I found myself foccusing on my worries, the chapters in the book about, SNAKES, MALARIA, THEFT, SCAMS, Ehm yeah, well eventually I gor on the plain and the worries faded away.

There was ofcourse no reason to worry. Everything went fine and I loved the stay once again... It´s really not such a big deal, same planet other side, thats all. Fear is universal.

(great avatar Byronic!)

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machadinha

Like others have said, you should be fine. There's no reason to have everything pre-planned, instead of scrambling for an internet cafe when you're stuck try asking a hotel owner or station master or bus driver or ticket clerk etc. what to do, like you would at home. Keep a guidebook handy for general directions & little previously-overlooked gems. Get a copy of Trains At A Glance upon your arrival (available from railway kiosks), invaluable for planning train journeys.

Enjoy.

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webtraveller

Not outside cities. Taxies between cities like Mumbai/Pune would be expensive and may not be safe also.
Buses are fare more better. Also in unreserved buses, if you are a female, usually, people are considerate and provide with you a seat.
But the planning or not planning depends on the amount of time you have at your disposal.

If you have short period of time at your hand, say 1 or 2 weeks, then make a train reservations for your complete itenarary, with all the forward reservations
including your stay periods.

Even if you have longer time for these travels, a little high level planning like what area, how many days will make you more comfortable.

If you are travelling in south india, even much less worry for you.

fidgiegirl

Thanks to everyone for your help. I feel a million times better and ready to take on my trip.

SHIMLA

You will be travelling independently only for two weeks - from August 4 to August 17. That's hardly a period to be worried about! My suggestion is to avoid seeing too many places in such a short time, rather spend more time in one place. The monsoon period makes it really difficult to suggest places to visit; and you too haven't mentioned what you'd like to see; but the hill-stations of Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani will be fine to begin with. After that go to Mumbai. This will consume one week. For the next week you can either go through Rajasthan or Madhya Pradesh, before reaching Delhi.

You should book in advance for the train journeys from Mumbai to wherever and from wherever to Delhi.

All the best !

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Ikuru

now worrys! What will you be doing, where will you be going if you dont mind me asking? Funny litle avatar you got.

fidgiegirl

Where will I go? Let's see, this is good because it forces me to write it down. We will go directly from Mumbai to Pune to spend 9 days at a Girl Guide center there. At the center we will meet other Guides/Scouts, do a service project, and do some other activities about Indian culture and world Guiding. From there, I want to work my way north to Delhi. My must see is the Taj Mahal. High on the list are Udaipur, Agra, Fathepur Sikri, Jodhpur, Jaipur. I'm also interested in Diu, Ajanta Caves, and possibly Jaisalmer. I'm kind of intrigued by the camel safaris out of Jaisalmer but not sure about that. Also the prices in the LP seem amazingly cheap, or is that just how things go? Where can I ride an elephant? On my friends' tour they will be doing this in Jaipur. Thoughts? I am also on my own in Delhi for about four days after my other travelling companions move on. I should be in Delhi on August 15, so if there are special celebrations for Independence Day that would be interesting to know (and if it's safe to attend; for example, it would be darn dangerous to go to the zocalo (city center) of Mexico City during their Independence Day festivities. I'll cruise the other postings before I bring up any of my other many questions!

Kelli

crvlvr

India is generally safe if a tourists does not go looking for trouble..Your destinations are majot tourists attractions and it should be easier for you to travel between them. There is a big independance day parade in Delhi and yes, it should be safe unless there is a terrorist plot..

SHIMLA

The big parade is on Republic Day, not Independence Day. Unless, of course, things have now changed in India.