In Route for India

Casey and I will be spending Christmas in India! After much planning and anticipation, our backpacking trip through India is almost here.

On the itinerary:

A couple days in Delhi

Four days at Jim Corbett National Park (wwooo Tigers!)

A day in Agra to see the Taj Mahal

A couple days in Varanasi, one of India's holiest Hindu cities (also right outside of Varanasi is a sacred Buddist site, where the Buddha gave his first lesson.)

And to end our trip, a couple of days in Mumbai

So much to see.. so little time.

From one novice traveler to the other or anyone who may be considering planning their own trip to India a bit about our own planning processes... 

Figuring out what you want to see in India is the first thing to figure out, or at least a general idea. India is sooo big with so much to see; one could spend months there without seeing everything. For us, seeing the wildlife of India was one of the main reasons we chose to come here, with the hope of seeing some of the last remaining tigers left in the wild. If it were up to Casey, we could be spending our whole trip on the back of a jeep, trudging through the jungle searching for a glimpse of a tiger. After much negotiation and compromising we've settled for a four day excursion in the foothills of the Himalayas, leaving us time to couple of India's cities, sites and culture.

Once you know where you want to go in India, you can buy your plane tickets and train tickets. Although you can buy your tickets in India at the train station, we decided to buy them online since you can book them up to three months in advance, not wanting to risk the trains being overbooked.   

Other things to note, you need a travel entry visa to get into India. There are also some vaccinations you'll want to get before you go. Depending on what part of India and time of year (or other places you might be traveling to) you may need malaria pills. Although some choose not to take them due to side effects.... This will be our first time taking them... we'll update with how that goes. 

Until next time..