Insider Tips: Backpacking Through India
by Katya Kruglak
It is often said that the trip is as much about the journey as it is
about the destination. When it comes to backpacking through India this
probably holds doubly true. At a certain point all the planning and research
stops to matter: the train just isn't going to come, the guesthouse your
guide book spoke so highly of closed a month ago, or the monsoon season is
lasting late this year. However it doesn't hurt to have some insider tips
before heading off.
Top ten things I learned backpacking through India:
1) Learn to let go. Learning patience and learning that I can't control
everything around me was hard, but I soon found those things made the
difference between being miserable and enjoying my time. I set off to
India with a notebook full of carefully researched information ranging from
train schedules to restaurants I should go to. Within a few days I realized
that most of these notes were completely useless; the train schedules were
more of a suggestion that an actual time table and the lack of street
addresses in most places often made it hard to find the places I had written
down. I realized I had to embrace adventure. The whole point of backpacking
was to let go of that sense of control and routine that technology and
familiarity with my surroundings often affords me; if I wanted to be able to
Google popular restaurants and map them on my Blackberry I would have stayed
home. Likewise, I spent the first few weeks in India clutching my bottle of
hand sanitizer like a good luck charm that could ward off disease. There
comes a point when no amount of hand sanitizer will help: a late monsoon
season saw me traipsing through knee-deep water (and likely raw sewage) in
Goa and I realized I could either worry about the various pathogens I might
have been exposed to or not worry and deal with the situation if I got sick,
but otherwise not think about it. I decided to not worry, and given Given
that I didn't get sick I'm glad I didn't waste my time unnecessarily
worrying.
 2) Give yourself plenty
of downtime. My biggest mistake
 was thinking that I needed
to see everything in India, even if it meant often only spending a day or
two in each place. After about a month of this I was completely exhausted
and found that all the places were starting to blend together. I would
suggest spending at least a week each month resting in one place like a
beach or small mountain town.
3) Budget travel allows you to interact with the culture in a way that
people traveling in private cars and staying in fancy hotels never will
never be able to. Sketchy budget buses are often to start to a crazy
adventure and probably worth taking at least once. That said it helps to
keep perspective and remember that sometimes it's worth spending the extra
100 or so Rupees (about two dollars) to go in a slightly nicer bus. Remember
if you are too sleep deprived from the bus ride it's hard to enjoy the
sights the next day.
4) Don't worry if you are traveling on your own; it's easy to meet other
backpackers in India. If you are traveling on your own don't be shy; it can
feek awkward to just walk up someone and introduce yourself, but chances are
they might feeling the same thing. I would also suggest picking up a cheap
cell phone if you are on your own; I found myself frequently calling and
texting with people I met to figure out future meet-up plans.
 5) Be prepared: most
tourist sites in India will charge foreigners at least ten times as much as
locals, and even more if you want to take photos. These areas also often
have long lines to get in and clear security and you should expect to be
mobbed my beggars, touts, and scammers upon leaving. Some of the
attractions, like that Taj Mahal, are worth the hassle, but I found many
weren't. Some cities will have scores of "must see" sites; plan in advance
which ones you really want to see and go there first and then decided if you
have the energy to go elsewhere.
6) Don't try and make the weather fit your plans. If the guide book says
the monsoon will still be going on or a road might be closed believe it. It
is possible you could get lucky and the monsoons will end early, but more
than likely you'll be hanging out alone on a wet beach.
7) Check out guesthouses around the ones the guidebook recommends as
well. Many budget guesthouses let themselves slide after being included in
popular guidebooks. Cheaper, but often equally nice, guesthouses often
spring up around the ones in the guidebook in hopes of attracting overflow
visitors.
8) Bring an Ipod or something you can use to escape if it gets to be too
much. One of my most treasured possessions while traveling was my video Ipod.
On long bus rides or on particularly bad days I found it to be an invaluable
escape. If you are worried about being able to charge your Ipod look into
the chargers that work off AA batteries.
9) Booking trains in India doesn't have to be scary and you don't need to
use a travel agent. I booked all my trains myself through the Indian
Railways website and didn't have any problems.
10) You can backpack around India alone as a woman. I had some people try
and scare me off of the idea and several other people who just thought I was
insane, but with the exception of a few isolated incidents I didn't find it
to be an issue. Be prepared to firmly tell people to back off the second
they start to invade your space or ask inappropriate questions. If that
fails make a scene; I found people aren't used to women yelling back when
harassed and would immediately back off.
All photos taken by Katya Kruglak
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