A Traveller’s Ultimate Guide to India
(Things people rarely tell you.)
Before this trip, I liked to think I was reasonably well-travelled.
My first international experience was a school trip to China, which was one of the highlights of my entire schooling. At age 14, it gave me a strong foundation for worldly travel. To this day, I struggle to put into words what it did for me, and how much it made me grow up. But it also taught me valuable travel wisdom very early on: wear your backpack on your front in busy markets and streets; wear your passport around your neck in airports if you’re a nervous nellie; always brush your teeth with water from a new bottle; and prior preparation (really does) prevent piss-poor performance.
But more than that, it exposed me to a vastly different culture, and a different way of living. I had to smarten up pretty quickly – but I was also cocooned by the safety of over 40 other kids, a team of staff, plus excellent transportation and accommodation.
Since then, I’ve also visited Fiji, the United Kingdom, Italy, Austria and Germany. Like I said; reasonably well travelled.
So I hung my hat on the fact that I’d travelled before, and felt I could (semi) confidently navigate my way through one of India’s largest cities.
Spoiler alert: pretty much everything I thought I knew, was mostly irrelevant or went out the window.
Photo by Aditya Kunwar Singh
Exchanging AUD to Rupees:
Persuasion and negotiation are inherent in India. So it should have come as no surprise to me that it was a negotiation straight out of the gate. But I was slightly naive, in thinking it would be similar to China, and that I’d only have to start negotiating at markets. Ha!
I was fleeced right at the baggage claim, exchanging my currency with the teller.
When I tried to change currency over at an exchange in Australia, a kind Indian woman warned me not to accept 2000 rupee notes because they were going out of circulation; and secondly, that I would get a much better deal when I arrived in India.
That is the case (as I quickly learnt) if you’re prepared to negotiate.
I lost nearly 2000₹ (the equivalent to about $40) when the currency exchange fellas brought out their calculator and confused my jet-lagged brain. (And I still negotiated up to that point!) Much like smarting from a smack, I left the airport with my tail between my legs, feeling like I’d failed straight away – and vowing not to tell anyone I had. (But here we are, and now you know!)
Just for a point of reference, at time of writing, $1 AUD = 55.7 Indian rupees (it was nearly 57 when we visited). I transferred $300 cash, which should have equalled 16,700₹ – but I received just 14,500₹ (which I hard to work hard for). Tricky thing is … they knew we didn’t have another option, and that at that point, fresh off the plane, we were too naive to know any different. There were lots of other exchanges in the airport, but they were all the same. So here are my biggest takeaways from that whole experience:
Tips for Fair Exchanges:
→ If you’re worried about the conversion at all, exchange in your home country, or a layover airport like Singapore (I would have done this if we didn’t run out of time). There’s no smoke and mirrors or ulterior motives, and you’ll be able to understand the person serving you, so there’s no opportunity to be taken advantage of.
→ Most hotels also offer currency exchange, and many will do it for no fee. Our hotel in South Mumbai, Hotel Residency, very kindly did this for us and gave us the best deal possible.
→ Where you can, use your nominated bank card or travel card, as your banks will give you the fairest currency exchange every time. In addition to our regular bank (which offered complimentary travel insurance), we also got a Revolut card which was absolutely fantastic. We could exchange right from our phones, and add money in seconds with Apple Pay. It’s free to create an account and get a card, look into them here.
You’re going to get an upset tummy, it’s just a matter of when:
In our case, it was in the first 24 hours. We did absolutely everything we could to avoid it; did all the right things, sanitised the sh*t out of our hands! But we got food poisoning on our first night, from our room service in an equivalent 5-star hotel.
Haavard’s uncle had prophetically told us that we needed to ‘get Delhi belly’ immediately so we could cope with the rest of the trip. Which is essentially what happened.
No matter what you do, your gut bacteria will be thrown into chaos because everything is different.
In my case, as a majority gluten-free, lactose-free person – this wasn’t the place for food intolerances, so I had to toughen up. Almost all of the advice below came from our doctors and family who had visited India before, and this is what we personally implemented:
Things we did to help our tummies:
→ A Salmonella vaccination prior to leaving Australia (included with Hep-A – more on this below!)
→ Probiotics
→ Electrolyte dissolving tablets
→ Green vitamin supplement powder (which we mixed in with juice, water or almond milk)
→ Digestive biscuits
→ Avoided meat and fish, and street food
→ Avoided salads, raw fruits and vegetables, as they wash these in water
→ Bottled water, always (make sure you hear the ‘crack’ as they open the seal in restaurants, or open it yourself), brush your teeth in bottled water, and we never opened our mouth in the shower
→ Asked for ‘no ice’ when ordering a drink in a restaurant
→ On days where we our tummies were too upset to cope, we asked for ‘no-spice’ at restaurants (hot = temperature, spice = spicy)
Make sure you’re up to date on your vaccinations!
Depending on where you go in India or what you’re doing, you might need more vaccinations. Prior to leaving, we had updates on the following:
→ Tetanus
→ Whooping Cough
→ Diphtheria
→ Typhoid
→ Salmonella
→ Hep A
→ Hep B
→ Polio (this was incidental, and we didn’t need it – although India is technically free of polio, and has been for 12 years, if you’re travelling to rural areas or to volunteer in medical fields, many doctors will recommend this)
Optional: C*VID, the flu, and rabies – with the latter, you have up until 48 hours after getting bitten to get a shot. By the time we left for the trip, we felt like pin-cushions, so sometimes you can’t do everything!
We’re also on malaria medication, which we have to take for another four weeks after our trip – and I’m so relieved our doctors made us do this! On the last night at an event, there were mozzies everywhere and we were bitten.
Chat to your doctor well before going, and see what you need to be covered for (in many cases, if you haven’t had some of the shots within 3 years, you’ll need to get them again).
The traffic is mad, but don’t be afraid of it:
While at first it will feel like complete chaos, it’s something you’ll become desensitised to. Horns are used differently in India, as our local friend explained to us; they are more used to say, ‘I’m coming up behind/beside you’, ‘look out’, ‘make room for me’, or ‘don’t go’. They all somehow innately know what it means, and there’s a method to it all. On our final car ride, I’d become so unfazed that at one point, I heard a honk (the old busses sound like geese!) and I realised a bus had come up alongside our car within an inch of hitting the body, just centimetres from me. This was something that would have terrified me on day one, but made me shrug on the last day, because there were near misses every drive, every day. (Sorry to both our Mums and Grandmothers for giving you a small heart-attack when you read this!)
Don’t get taxis, get Uber:
We were advised by locals to only use Uber, and I’m SO glad we did: with Uber, everything is tracked and paid for through the app, and there are safety measures in place (our Mumbai-local friend asked us to share our trips with her, so she knew where we were). By paying for something with cash and without that safety net, you risk avoidable issues.
In Mumbai, there were essentially three different types of taxis through Uber.
UberGO were the black and yellow little hatchbacks (above) that had no air-conditioning and were dented within an inch of their life. They’re much cheaper (around 80-100₹ per a standard 20-30 minute trip, so $1.40 – $2.00 AUD per trip). The drivers are notoriously a bit more … adventurous, so it’s worth paying a bit extra for your safety.
UberPREMIER were safer drivers, better cars with air-conditioning. These were also taxis (white with a reflective yellow strip across the body), and generally a Suzuki Xcent. For the same length of trip, we generally paid between 200-400₹ ($3.50 – $7.20) and it was very worth it every time.
UberXL were much the same as PREMIER, but the SUV version – generally a Suzuki Ertiga. And it’s important to note that if you have luggage, you MUST book one of these!
When we departed our first hotel in the suburbs for South Mumbai, because most of these cars are hybrids or electric, a canister or battery (I’m not quite sure what) mostly fills the boot – so they didn’t have any room for suitcases! While our medium case was stuffed in the front seat, I watched in horror as they hurled my large suitcase on the roof and tied it down with a strip of fabric from the boot.
“The … suitcase,” I stuttered. “Will it be okay up there? It won’t fall?”
The driver grinned and laughed. As if that was meant to put me at ease.
My suitcase and all she held, braved chaotic traffic for an hour and a half, held by nothing more than the top handle and a scrap of material. I gripped Haavard’s hand until my knuckles were white and said many silent prayers, every time we swerved and I heard her shift above us.
“At least it’s a story!” Haavard laughed, when we arrived with it in tact.
Now that I’m removed from that moment, I can chuckle at the visual of my thumping red suitcase, with its Hope & Co. ribbons and glitter tag flapping in the heat; at the mercy of gravity, atop a little white car, zig-zagging through one of the busiest cities in the world.
But it taught me a valuable lesson: from that point onwards, whenever we travelled anywhere with our luggage, we always booked UberXL.
When to NOT use Uber:
Sometimes we waited up to an hour for an Uber driver to accept our ride, and we were often accepted much more quickly under Haavard’s name instead of mine. As smiley and friendly as I was to my Uber drivers, I still had some who rated me badly (bugger, there went my five-star passenger score!). As with any city, in any country, you’ll get good ones and bad ones.
If you’re needing to be somewhere important (for example, the airport) and you have the budget, pay for a professional shuttle service.
Our last car ride to the airport was booked 24 hours in advance through Airports Taxi Transfers (airporttaxitransfers.com) and even though it was more expensive than Uber (by about $20-$30) at that point, I was happy to pay for the peace of mind that someone would arrive on time, not cancel on us, and had a safe car. It was a super easy process, and I highly recommend. Our driver was also kind enough to park his car in the airport, and guide us to the airport hotel; the fact that he showed us where to go, when we were exhausted and confused, is something so valuable we couldn’t put a price on it.
And generally, it’s indicative of something on a larger level:
Here, spending more = a more seamless experience. If you go in with the mindset that India is ‘cheap’, you’ll pay for it in another way. Which leads me to my next point …
Invest in a private tour guide:
This was the BEST way for us to see Mumbai! My uncle had suggested this, and I’m so glad we did this. For a whole half day, we had a seasoned local driving us around the city to all the biggest attractions. He spoke excellent English, had a cool, air-conditioned car, and was super knowledgable about everything. We felt very safe with him, and he helped us navigate through busy crowds. More on this whole experience to come in an article of its own!
Don’t forget that everything costs money, especially food and drink:
This was definitely something I had a huge misconception about. Yes, lots of things are a lot cheaper – but travel itself is always going to be expensive, because everything adds up.
When we went out for a meal, Haavard and I would often order one or two starters, and one main course to share between the two of us, sometimes a dessert to share, plus a 1L bottle of chilled water to share. Depending on where we were, this would cost between 1500–3500₹ ($26 – $62 AUD). In addition to the listed prices, you’re not aware of what the tax will be until you ask for the bill (generally an extra 200-400₹).
Yep, not that different to eating out in Australia, which surprised us a lot. It is not as ‘cheap’ as YouTube and movies would have you believe! In many cases, a less expensive meal looked a bit like this:
Starter: 300-400₹
Main: 400-700₹
Side: (i.e. steamed rice) 200-400₹
Bottle of water: 160-200₹
Dessert: 300-400₹
Plus TAX: around 200₹
In the end, we tried to find equivalent supermarkets or stores where we could to buy some of our own food, and that’s where things were a bit more affordable. But again, not as much as you’d think! For example, in Australia, you can buy a 1kg bag of porridge oats for under $2, but we bought one in India, a quarter of the size, for $6 (330₹). (But the grain industry is one of Australia’s calling cards, so don’t think I wasn’t aware of supply, demand and importing costs.)
A Tesco-TATA owned company, Star Market, was the closest thing we found to a typical supermarket, and here we bought muesli, almond milk (called ‘almond beverage’ over there), more digestives, crackers, and a few other things I’ve since forgotten. But this food fed us for days up until dinner, for about $25 AUD.
Bear in mind, even if something is a couple of kilometres away, it’s going to take you at least 30 minutes to get there via Uber – because walking isn’t an option (especially with food in the extreme heat) and again, as a Westerner, be prepared for long wait-times for Ubers. So all up, the day we visited Star Market, a 20-minute visit took us 2 hours logistically all up, due to travel and wait times.
Side note: another way we also saved money, was doing our own washing in the bathroom sink. It generally costs $1-4 per garment (80₹ – 200₹) to get something washed at hotels, and although I found visiting Mumbai’s Laundry very insightful (post on that coming soon) I’m very glad my clothes were never washed there (as that’s where most hotels send their laundry services!).
Avoid alcohol, or purchase sparingly:
I learnt the hard way, after buying a couple of drinks; alcohol was still expensive here (as it is anywhere)! A Gin + Tonic set me back around 500-800₹ ($9-$14) plus the alcohol tariff. So I ended up paying cocktail prices for a drink that normally would have cost $6-10 total at home.
ALWAYS opt for the hotel breakfast:
We had breakfast at our second and last hotel, and it was such a lifesaver and comforting to know we were going to get a good, square meal to start us off for the day. Otherwise, we were mixing porridge and hot water in a mug, with a coffee stirrer. On many days, we would eat a big breakfast, then an early dinner, aside from when we attending wedding events (where we were very kindly fed and very well taken care of!).
Relatively speaking, you save a lot of money and hassle getting an inclusive breakfast. And you might reach a point where you just want to have some cereal, or an omelette on toast, which is absolutely okay. (In my case as GF gal, just the omelette, as GF bread pretty much doesn’t exist there). But they always had an amazing selection of Indian-style breakfast food too, which I really enjoyed! Our best breakfast by far was at Hotel Residency, where they had someone making fresh omelettes and waffles!
Exercise patience, wherever you go:
Although the world around you will feel like a constant rush, with people and vehicles bustling in every direction, everything takes so much longer. No matter how well you plan, or how organised you are, be prepared to wait; in traffic, in a store, in a queue, or at a restaurant.
In restaurants, we often waited over 30 minutes to an hour for food. The quickest service we had was a lovely restaurant our friends took us to on our first day, and the airport hotel we stayed at for the last couple of nights. Everything else in between took a very long time to reach us. One restaurant in particular, we waited almost an hour between our main course and desert, before deciding to leave. (When Haavard asked staff whether they’d forgotten, he discovered they hadn’t started putting the plate together yet, and they asked us to wait another 25 minutes … )
Ultimately, the moral of the story is to not attach expectation to anything. I went in, having watched all the seasoned travel YouTubers, read all the blogs – and really just had to learn for myself, because our own experience was completely unique. (As yours would be to you!) But this trip certainly taught us so much. And the most exciting aspect of the trip – the fabulous wedding we attended – created memories for life!
More on that soon …
Thanks for reading!
