Travel Tips : Tips for Traveling to India

March 5, 2014

Before I get into our day by day posts for India (and to give Nick a little more time to finish up his photo edits), I wanted to do a post offering some tips that I would have liked to have read before we traveled there. India is a magical place but it also is a place foreign to many of us and with some hard truths, if you will, within the country. I would whole heartedly promote traveling to India to everyone but it’s also a difficult country to travel through in some ways and I think it’s helpful to be aware of a few things before going. So here are a few things I would have liked to know before going, lessons we learned along the way and general tips for those of you thinking about traveling to India.

India is like no where else in the world and honestly is so different in many respects from the rest of Asia and the Middle East, two areas of the world that sit on either side of the sub-continent. India is India, it won’t be like any place else, so don’t compare it, don’t try to fit it into a category. When you can just embrace the country for what it is, take in its sights and culture as it is, that’s when you’ll see the true India. Just let it be what it’s meant to be, if you do that, India will steal your heart.

India is a mix of contradictions and while much of its population lives in poverty, the country is also one that does luxury insanely well. The service, the gorgeous architecture and landscapes, India is a country that you should splurge on luxury even if for a short time while you’re there. I have family connections to the Oberoi hotels, so we stayed in their hotels during our trip and I was blown away by the beauty, by the staff, by the magic of the luxury hotels of India.

We made the choice before our trip to splurge on this trip on incredible hotels and food, for a number of reasons. First, as I mentioned I have family connections in the country and it was simply easier and more helpful for me to go through them while traveling to their home country. Second, knowing we were going on to other places on our trip after India, we really didn’t want to end up getting sick while in the country (which is an often occurrence with Westerners traveling to India), so we made the conscience effort to eat mainly at the hotels to be safe. We were not disappointed and had some incredible meals.

And finally, luxury in India can be incredibly magical. The luxury hotels and restaurants add an aura to ancient India, taking you back in time and offering an incredible experience. We had some amazing moments at our hotels and though they are a splurge, they are worth every penny for what they provide, from a view of the Taj Mahal from your hotel room to 5-star service, to being showered with rose petals upon arrival. If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t change a thing on where we chose to stay during our trip, we were totally blown away!

India has a ton going on and as a tourist, it can be an overwhelming sense of emotion. There are dogs roaming the streets, cows wandering around all over, people everywhere and sounds and smells all around. It’s really important while traveling through India to be aware of your surroundings, especially because so much is happening all around you. It’s easy to become distracted but I would advise to keep your awareness around you as much as you can.

There are many things that are common in India such as wild animals roaming wild, begging children (many times small children holding small babies) and shopkeepers trying to get you to buy something, seeming to incessantly say “lady, come here, buy this.” The most important word you’ll say in India is “No.” We found that saying no firmly once was most of the time enough, then if they keep bothering you, saying it again and walking away without saying anything more was helpful. Even Indians will tell you not to give money to the begging children, they’ll tell you it’s a real problem in their country. Don’t enforce it. If you want to donate, there are good charities out there that help with the issue.

India is a country that is very foreign to those of us from the West and it can often be daunting for travelers to know how to stay safe in this country, as it’s so different traveling here than other places in the world. It’s important to be safe when walking around, stay in the flow of other pedestrians so you don’t get hurt by the traffic that seems to flow on every surface, in no order or lanes and you want to make sure to stay clear of the hurtling cars and motorcycles.

Another thing to be aware of when in India is eating safe and drinking safe water. Tap water isn’t safe there to drink unless you’re staying at a hotel that filters their water (many of ours did), so be aware of that and only drink bottled water. Also, be careful with what you eat. We chose to eat mainly at our hotels just to be safe, but even then you want to be safe and prepared. Make sure to bring medication in case you get sick.

There are other things that are common in India that it’s important to be aware of like women being safe in public places. There are instances of groping or men asking to have their pictures taken with Western women, you should be safe and aware of things like this happening and say no immediately if it happens to you and hold your ground. It’s also important to dress conservatively as a woman traveling through India and not to wear lots of expensive jewelry as that might be a red flag for pick pockets or make you stand out. Many of the safety features I travel with through Arab countries, I applied to our trip through India. Be conservative, be polite and be courteous and that will get you a long way.

India, as I’ve said before, is a mass of contradictions, it’s both amazing and horrifically sad at the same time. But that’s what the country is, that’s what makes India, India and has for many many years. It’s important as tourists there traveling through the country to remember that, to know that while we’d like to feed every starving child or adopt every wild dog, it’s not our culture and we can’t pretend to know what’s best or how people should live. We must take the good with the bad and do what we can, experience the country and see the beauty of a place that has an incredibly rich tapestry of culture and landscape. We must take the good with the bad and see the beauty in a country so different than our own.

Traveling to India?

See all of my posts on the country here!

India, I Love You

March 4, 2014

I wrote this post laying poolside at our gorgeous hotel in Udaipur, India, looking out over the incredible landscape in front of me, Lake Pichola glimmering and the mountains in the distance seeming to fade in and out of the blue sky horizon, completely in the moment, taking it all in. There are some moments in our lives when you look around and are completely overwhelmed by beauty, this was one of those moments and the words seemed to want to flow from me, wanting to tell the world how incredible this country is and how much beauty it holds.

I wasn’t sure before our trip how I would feel abut my return to India, I wasn’t sure if I would like it, if it would just be overwhelming, if it would just be chaotic. And now after experiencing it, India is for sure all of those things but at the same time, it’s incredibly peaceful, immaculately beautiful and just plain interesting. It’s a land steeped in culture and contradictions, hillside palaces and tuk tuks, luxury hotels and falling down houses with roofs covered in monkeys. It’s a land of patience and chaos, of unspeakable natural beauty and skies full of choking smog. Our time in India was full of every contradiction possible, but at the same time, that is what makes India, India.

The beautiful Lodi Gardens in Delhi.

For anyone that says that India is all chaos, they would be wrong. Sit on the shores of Lake Pichola in Udaipur and watch the sun set beyond the lush mountains and you’ll know real peace or stand in front of the Taj Mahal at sunrise as the fog lifts itself in a hug around the immaculate building, as prayer call rings out and monkeys roam around you and you’ll know true awe. Sip a cup of masala chai or enjoy a trip through the many markets and you’ll see what makes India so endearing, both the luxuries and the lowliest of India, they in themselves make this country what it is.

The gorgeous Udaivilas in Udaipur.

On the streets of Agra.

It’s safe to say that I fell in love with India, from the flat, dirty and chaotic streets of Delhi to the peaceful and serene shores of Udaipur, from the majesty of the Taj Mahal to the poor streets of Agra. Each and every moment for me during our time in India showcased what this country is, both the good and the bad, the high end and the very lowest of the lows. India is both streets filled with gaunt cows and dogs roaming free as well as the luxury five star hotels that are modern palaces in themselves. India is both the smoggy skies and trash littered everywhere as well as the immaculate landscapes of Rajasthan. It is both touched and untouched at the at the same time. It is both in the present and the past.

On the streets of Udaipur.

The immaculate City Palace of Udiapur.

In the end, India is India. It’s not meant to be compared to other places, it’s not meant to be fully understood by those of us not from there, it’s not meant to be taken one side or the other. India is meant to capture you, to see the beauty in a country that might be thought of differently by many around the world. It’s seeing the beauty in the chaos and the peace in the incredible culture. India for me was about embracing the moment, whether that be in the back of a tuk tuk riding through an ancient city full of buildings falling apart or in the back of an Audi being whisked along the Expressway to the Taj Mahal.

Udaipur, India.

The Jagdish Temple in Udaipur.

India made me feel alive, it made me feel deeply spiritual, it inspired me, it nestled itself into my soul. It’s a country I’ve always had ties to through family connections, a country that I visited many times as a child, and yet still it wasn’t until this time that I found how much the country speaks to me in a way that I still can’t entirely put into words.

So I guess in the end, I will end with a simple phrase that expresses everything about this place that has touched me so very deeply: India, I love you.

Traveling to India?

See all of my posts on the country here!

India : Moments to Remember

March 3, 2014

We’re back from our incredible trip through Asia and I’m jumping right in with posts from our trip! I can’t wait to share all the amazing things we saw and did in the weeks to come, but today I wanted to start with some of the incredible moments we had, the memories that will stick with me forever and some of the ways that each amazing place inspired us. I’m breaking these posts up per country because we had so many amazing moments in each place that I think they deserve their own words to describe the moments we encountered in each place. First up, the first stop on our trip, the incredible country of India.

There were so many moments in India that literally took my breath away, that moved me, that I was so blown away by how hard I fell for the country. From the moment we arrived until the moment we left, India captured me in a way I never thought it would. There is no doubt we will be back and I’ll be counting the days until we are. But until our next time in this ancient land, I’ll remember some of the most amazing moments I’ve had in all of my travels, moments that I’ll truly never forget.

We were met with the sincerest kindness in India from everyone we met and our hotels led the way with hospitality. We were met our first night in Delhi with the most magical welcome and after a very long 25+ hour travel day, we walked into an oasis of calm and beauty at the Trident Hotel in Gurgaon. Upon arrival, we were given champagne glasses filled with fresh watermelon juice, dots painted on our foreheads and a tour of the beautiful hotel and grounds. We were also so graciously offered a bottle of champagne upon arrival in our room and shortly before going to bed, we stood at our floor to ceiling windows watching the full moon outside, sipping champagne and watching a fireworks show from a nearby building. It was our first memories in India that were sure not to be our last.

The Taj Mahal itself is a majestic ode to architecture, but it’s not just the structure that makes it so well known world-wide. The Taj is an ode to love, to beauty, to faith and to acceptance. For me, our sunrise visit to one of the world’s most famous landmarks was a spiritual experience. We watched as the morning fog lifted around the monument, making it seem to lift off the ground, floating in front of your very eyes. With prayer call resounding in the background from a nearby mosque, people all around staring at the majestic building and the sounds of birds and monkeys all around you, viewing the Taj Mahal is a moving experience to say the least.

The story behind the monument makes viewing it even more special, knowing that the king built this tomb for the love of his life, the woman that died too young and that left him with a permanent longing for the woman he loved. It’s a story of a king that built his beloved wife a place for her to rest for all eternity, a paradise for all faiths: Muslim, Hindu and Christian. It’s a monument connecting faiths, showcasing the power of love and the beauty of art. Our sunrise visit to the Taj was incredible for so many reasons, but seeing the intricacy of it up close, feeling it with my own hands and feet and taking in the stunning views will be something I’ll never forget.

Upon arrival in our final destination in India, we immediately fell in love with the landscape on the drive to our incredible hotel, but it wasn’t until our magical boat ride to the hotel grounds that left us knowing that beautiful Udaipur will forever leave a mark on our hearts. It was on that boat floating on Lake Pichola that Udaipur became one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in my travels, a land of lakes with mountains rising in the distance, lush green land and sparkling blue water contrasted by the immaculate white palaces that line it’s shores. It was that night as twilight began to set that Udaipur became one of my favorite places I’ve ever been.

Upon arriving at our hotel in Udaipur (the incredible Oberoi Udaivilas which I’ll have much more to come on soon), we settled into our gorgeous room by watching the sun set over the mountains from our room’s patio. Peacocks and Indian spotted deer roamed in the animal sanctuary behind the hotel, colorful birds flew into the rainbow sky and for a while, it was such a perfect moment filled to the brim with beauty.

Our first encounter with the Tuk Tuk in the Old City of Udaipur was a memory that I’ll never forget for so many reasons, but as we hurdled through the tiny streets of this ancient city, Hindi music blaring from the speakers and our driver narrowly missing oncoming obstacles, it was a rush of energy like nothing else. The city whirled past us, women in bright colored sari’s, men pushing carts of produce and grains and donkeys and cows roaming freely, it was one of those moments when you realize, “wow, this is India.”

Traveling to India?

See all of my posts on the country here!

Travel Tips : Driving in the UK

February 11, 2014

This post has been a long time coming and originally, I wanted to post it back in December after our trip through the United Kingdom and Ireland in November. But life and blog schedules got in the way, so here we are 2 months on and I’m going to talk about tips for driving in the UK today, on the “wrong” side of the road and the “wrong” side of the car and how to make the transition a little easier.

When we were traveling in November, we knew early on that there would be days we would want a car to take in the gorgeous scenery in Ireland and Scotland, so we planned a few days of our trip to rent a car and make the drives ourself. For Nick and I, it has been our experience in the past that it works out better if I drive and Nick navigates, so that’s what we did and I got to drive all over the Northern Irish and Scottish countrysides. After driving 3 out of 7 days on the trip, I definitely got a good hang of driving abroad and it’s not as nerve-wracking experience as I had anticipated.

Over the course of the few days we drove, including both in cities (Belfast and Edinburgh) and countryside, I came up with a few tips that might help you get over the challenges that might arise.

Driving on the right side of the car and the left side of the road can be incredibly disorienting if you’re not used to it and you will be really disoriented at first. But I would suggest sitting for a bit in the car before you get going, getting yourself set up and oriented in the right direction. Once on the road, follow the other cars and stay back in the slow lane until you get yourself going. I started off in the slow lane, but soon after I was oriented, felt comfortable to start passing on highways.

This one is what I wish I would have done more research on before leaving on our trip. Let me give you an example of why and what happened to us. In Northern Ireland on our first driving experience to drive from Belfast to the Northern Coast and Giants’ Causeway, when we got in our car after picking it up from the airport, I started the car and started to leave the car rental parking lot, when we had to stop at a gate before leaving. Upon my foot hitting the break, the car engine turned off. Unfamiliar with this, we immediately thought something was wrong. I turned the keys, turned the car off and restarted it. Come to quickly find out, many of the cars in the UK are built with this system to have the engine turn off when stopped in an effort to save gas. When you put your foot back on the gas, the engine starts right back up, so it’s not a big deal, just something to get used to.

When renting a car anywhere, you want to make sure and drive it carefully so not to incur fees and charges if you damage it, however in the UK, that is even more vitally important. First and foremost, Ireland (North & South) is one of 3 countries in the world that none of your credit card rental car insurance coverage will work, therefore you need to buy the insurance from the rental car company. For us, it was only about $40 to cover us completely in case anything happened, so not bad, but totally worth it if something were to happen.

In terms of driving in the UK, lanes in the country are very small and often don’t have any space between the oncoming traffic, not to mention the non-existent space on the side of the lane off the road. Especially when trucks are coming your way, it’s very important to be driving safely and in your lane, to make sure you don’t side-swipe someone. Once I got the hang of it, it got easier, but at first, the narrow lanes made me really nervous.

Another important factor when renting a car in the UK is knowing what kind of gas you’ll be putting in the car. In Northern Ireland we had a VW Golf that took unleaded fuel, in Scotland we had the same exact car but in a Diesel version. When we filled up with gas before returning the car, both kinds of fuel are very clearly marked at the stations, just be sure to know which you’re pumping in before you start.

Traffic patterns and ways of driving are definitely different in the UK. For one, the stop lights don’t go from Red to Green like they do in the States, instead, they give you a Red-Yellow-Green order, which I actually really liked, but it’s something to be aware of.

I also found that people really only pass when needed. In the States, many times, the passing lane ends up being just another lane filled with people, in the UK, most of the time, people only used the passing lane when they were actually passing and then got right back into the slower lane afterwards. This really helped with the flow of traffic.

Roundabouts are another huge part of driving in the UK. At first, they really threw me for a loop (pun intended), but after a few of them, I felt more confident. The trick is to know ahead of time which lane you need to be in. For me, usually I was taking one of the first exits, so I tried to stay on the inside lane, though signage is actually pretty good at most roundabouts we encountered so just be aware and be ready to exit at any time.

And finally, speed limits. It took us a while in Northern Ireland to figure out what the actual speed limit was because there are no signs. Luckily, we had data plans on our phones and while I was driving out of Belfast, Nick looked it up. In the UK (I’m assuming this is throughout the UK, as it was true in Northern Ireland and Scotland), there are 3 basic speed limits: a speed limit for highways, freeways and country roads. This system actually makes it super easy to follow and made it really easy for me as a driver as you never have to check for signs, you just know the limit based on the type of road you’re driving on.

One thing to note, when you are coming in and out of small villages, you’ll see signs at the beginning and end of the town noting when to slow down and when you can speed up again. At these signs are also speed cameras, so be aware of what speed you’re going at all times.

I Never Felt Like an Expat

February 7, 2014

It’s the end of the week and it’s been a while since I’ve posted on my childhood growing up as an expat kid in the Middle East and in the last few days, a few different things have come up that have made me look back at how I grew up. (For any new readers that aren’t caught up on my expat story, you can read more about that here.)

My childhood wasn’t one that I think most people would call “average,” though to me, that’s exactly how it felt. We had a wonderful house with maroon carpet, albeit with Date Palms in the front yard and our yard covered in rocks, no grass in sight, albeit we lived steps from the Persian Gulf and made frequent trips into Rahima (a nearby Saudi town) to indulge in Schwarmas, Orangina and Arab sweet bread straight from the outdoor ovens. But for me, this was normal, it was life, it was what held steady for me for 12 years.

While I was an expat for almost half my life, I never really considered myself as such. Yes, we used the terms “Expats” and “repat” in daily life in Saudi, but my parents always seemed to embrace our life there as just that, not a stop on the way to somewhere else, it was home and I give them a lot of credit for that because I can only imagine how hard it must have been for them, especially in the beginning, in a very foreign place.

It caught my attention as I started thinking about this the other day and how much an “expat kid” is so different than being an expat as an adult. My whole life was in Saudi, my friends, my school, we spent our weekends snorkeling in the Persian Gulf and traveling around the world on holidays. I thought that was normal, I embraced it as just life, not a foreign place that we ultimately didn’t truly belong, but just home, plain and simple. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could embrace other cultures like children do? If we could be expats as adults with that same frame of mind, embracing another country as just home, plain and simple, with no preconceived notions of what home should be?

In short, I never felt like an Expat and if anything, it was my first years back in the States as a teenager where I felt more like a fish out of water, trying to fit in with peers that had no idea of the kind of life I had lived. If I ever felt like an expat, it was feeling like no one quite understood me in the States, like the rest of the world was living on without me, like I didn’t belong in that 6th grade class in little Medford, Oregon when the world was out there waiting for me.

My parents always talk about how Saudi was sort of a “Mayberry” if you will, we were safe on our compound and never had any problems traveling through Saudi cities, my mom could stay home with my brother and I, we spent weekends at the beach and we had good schools. We got to see the world and we experienced another culture that many Westerners never do. And though not without sacrifices, I know Saudi Arabia was a place that will forever be thought of with lovely thoughts in my family, a place that changed all of our lives in the best way possible.

For me now, I’ll forever be excited whenever I can find Orangina here in the States in the little glass bottle we used to consume regularly in Saudi (believe me, it’s not easy to find!) and I’m delighted whenever I find a Middle Eastern restaurant that tastes similar to those schwarmas we used to get, the meat cut off the spit on the side of the street. My expat childhood has created in me this life that I think was always meant for me, it’s what has made me into who I am and as I was born into a “not-average” life in a Saudi hospital, I have grown into an adult craving a “not-average” life, bound to travel the world and smile every time I see Orangina in those little glass bottles.

Off the Beaten Path in Europe

January 16, 2014

I’m in Hawaii currently for work and catching up with my parents here for the few days I’m here, but while I’m away I got to thinking about some of the “off the beaten path” places we’ve experienced, those places that aren’t as advertised as say, Paris and London.

Many of our travels have been to major cities around the world or within our own country, but often it’s the lesser known places that have a different impact on you when you travel. Many times, it’s the smaller, less known locations that truly show off the best qualities of that country. It’s something I’d like to do more of this year as well, to trek outside of the major cities and see more of the rest of the country. But so far, here are some of my favorite places we’ve visited in Europe, places that are a bit off the beaten path.

While Bushmills might be famous for its Whiskey, it’s definitely not a huge tourist destination in Northern Ireland. The town of Bushmills is still a small little town with old buildings and cobblestone streets. We stopped and had lunch here on our way back from the Giants’ Causeway as we headed to Belfast and thoroughly enjoyed the old-world feel of this Northern Irish town.

While Cannes and St. Tropez seem to get most of the credit as the famous towns on the French Riviera, Nice (while not entirely off the beaten path) isn’t credited enough for the beauty that it is. While you may get the celebrities in Cannes and the gorgeous beaches in St. Tropez, Nice will offer the old feel of France with a little more reserve.

When I say St. Andrews, I’m not talking about the golf course which most people visit the town for. I’m talking about the town of St. Andrews itself, the little winding side roads, the colorful buildings and the magic of Scotland bottled into a landmark on the coast. To get here you wind through gorgeous Scottish countryside and through small country towns until you spill out onto roads lined with stone buildings and chimneys. Explore the town itself and you’ll never want to leave.

Iceland is a country where the “off the beaten path” locations really mean just that. The vast expanses of land and gorgeous countryside are what make Iceland. So while you might base yourself in Reykjavik, there is nothing more compelling as the countryside and Thingvellir is a spot that will take your breath away. Take it in at sunrise before the tourists arrive to take in the site of the first Viking parliament and note the cracks in the earth’s surface here where the North American and Eurasion plates meet.

While I’ve talked before about my lack of affinity for Italy, Verona at least tugged at me a bit more than the larger Italian cities. Verona is a charming spot, complete with it’s own colosseum, a medieval castle and of course the home of the famous Romeo and Juliet. Complete with Italian charm, colorful buildings and cyprus trees, Verona is definitely a location not to be missed in Italy.

What to Wear in Europe in Winter

January 8, 2014

More What to Wear posts for more destinations here!

Europe in the Winter can be a great time to travel, there are far less crowds than in peak times and you really get the Christmas spirit if you travel during November and December. But traveling during the coldest time of year can prove difficult for packing, especially packing only carry-ons like we do when we travel.

Some tips for packing for Winter climates in a carry-on to still make sure and have different outfits and a variety in what you wear:

-Choose 1 great coat for the trip and style it differently each day while there with different scarves and pants. Wear this coat on the flight, so it doesn’t take up space in your suitcase.

-Bring multiple scarves to change up your outfits. I chose an assortment in different colors to keep me from getting bored.

-Pack warm shoes. I brought 3 pairs: 1 pair of tall boots, 1 pair of Converse low tops and 1 pair of low suede booties.

-Pack gloves. I brought 3 pairs so I didn’t get bored and I could pick daily which ones went best with my outfit.

-Pack 1 pair of denim and then another “special” pair of pants. I chose a pair of green denim to brighten up my outfits when I got tired of my dark denim.

-Leave room for souvenirs. I bought a few things while on our trip, so I made sure to leave room in my suitcase for a few items that I knew we’d probably end up bringing back with us.