in India. i plan to travel from Bombay to Delhi via
Madras,Calcutta,Nepal. I am a little worried about all the
travel that this involves. I calculated about 190 hours of
bus/train travel. Do you think this is too much to handle?
Also, are the main train routes (tourist) particularly
dangerous for a young woman travelling by herself? Mainly
Madras-Calcutta and Varanasi-Delhi and Delhi-Agra. Is it
possible to do the Taj in one day, and leave your pack at
the hotel? I will try to hook up and travel with others as
much as possible, but i guess this will not always be an
option. any advice welcome.
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Don't sweat it. For 5 months worth of travel, that is
definitely not too much. Many fairly long train rides, like
from Varanasi to Delhi are done easily by bording the train
in the evening and then alighting in the morning at your
destination. You hardly notice the journey at all.
(although if you go by bus on a long journey, you will
notice the trip!)
Trains tend to be safe -- you may get some minor hassles,
and there is a fairly high risk of theft - but if you stay
with your lugguage, or ask someone nice to watch it for you
if you get up, then no problem. Trains are filled with
commuting workers, families going places, students, and many
other good people.
Typically too on many train rides, western tourists are all
put together, so it is likely you will be with at least one
other foriegner on more popular trains.
(One trick is to wait for the other foriegners to run around
like chickens with their heads cut off finding the right
compartment, wait for the inevitable jam of people in the
first 5 minutes (although trains almost always stop for a
half hour or more at bigger stations), and then go in where
the other foriegeners went in a comfortably assume your
seat.
Hope this is helpful, good trip!
We did 6 weeks of actual travlling in India, and out of
that, 180 hours (or one week) was spent actually in buses or
trians. That was rather a lot, but it really shouldn't be a
problem spread over 5 months! As for theft, I never had a
proble, you learn to sleep with your hand on your stuff, and
the rest padlocked under the seat. It's propbaly best to
travel by sleeper (2nd class) - not only economical, but
quite comfy too. If you do, I recommend you book either the
middle or top bunk, as these are probably slightly safer, as
people cant just walk by and take your stuff. As for the
Taj, it's probably best to stay for a couple of days - once
you've seen it, you'll want to keep going back! It's also
best to see it in different lights. That way, you can also
see the Fort, but it has to be said that Agra itself is a
bit of a dump, and you should be wary of scams. Mumbai
(Bombay) is a wonderful place, but it will probably take
you at least a few days to get used to it, so don't form
your impressions too readily. A lot of people only stay in
Mumbai for a couple of days, and leave hating it, but if you
stay for longer, it definitely grows on you. It's not so
much that there are a lot of tourist attractions, but there
is an amazing atmosphere about the place. While you're
there, try a sev puri, or a bhel puri, it's Mumbai's fave
snack, and it's delicious! Hope you have a good trip!
I travelled in India for 1 month alone as a single female and got no hassle whatsoever. I found it easy to travel alone and you inevitably meet up with other travellers. People tend to leave you alone. The only unwelcome thing might be a few stares. I encountered this on a long train journery between Agra and Calcutta. As for theft, I didn't experience this at all. Just have to stay sharp when buying travel tickets and buying things. Always have spare change to pay the auto rickshaw. Shouldn't have to pay more than 20 rupees to cross town.
Sure, India is a big country, and the train rides can be
pretty tough - long, warm, crammed...but you can still
pretty much get from the North of India all the way down to
the south in 48 hours, so if you're staying for 5 months,
travelling long distances should not be a problem. However,
make sure you don't plan too much ahead, you will want to
still have the possibility to change your mind and to stay
longer (or shorter) in one place than you anticipated. I did
not have any problems with thefts, but probably only because
I was very careful the whole time. I met a lot of
backpackers who lost all their luggage on the more popular
trainrides. Be sure to padlock it, and never leave it on the
train. I actually slept better using my back pack as a
pillow than having to wake up all the time making sure it
was still there. I'd recommend you to try to get a topbunk,
then you can remain seated up there even when it's
completely crowded on the lower one. If you get the lower
bunk, there's a big risk that you'll have to share it with
at least ten other people...
Enjoy wonderful India!
Don't try to take control of your trip within India, let the
trip take you and everything will work out fine. With 5
months of traveling you will find out soon enough that the
big cities are best seen with large intervals in between.
Plan on getting out of Agra as soon as you can, one day is
enough as the touts here are worse than anywhere...good luck
All of the above are perfect advice and pretty much what I
would have said. However - no one has warned you to avoid -
at all cost - the Women's Bunks on the train. What happens
here is that there are 6 bunks in a tiny room and the
Indian wives are left with all the
babies/kids/luggage/coconuts/boxes/bicycles etc, etc. And,
they hate to have the window open because some soot might
come in. You are far better off to take - as someone above
has suggested - an upper in the main coach. In nine months
of travelling I was never robbed, but I did hear a lot of
stories. I'm going back to do it all over again....
Have fun.