Away from the mundane daily life, a foreign vacation comes as a welcome break. It is also the time to strengthen the bond between family members and discover new things. For instance, a husband discovers the inclination of his wife towards adventurous activities, like bungee jumping, scuba diving, etc. Little wonders, every family member looks forward to going out on a holiday for creating memorable moments.
Increase in number of Indians travelling abroad
Indians love to travel overseas. Over the last five years, the number of people travelling abroad has witnessed a rise of about 10.7%. As per the estimates of World Bank, Indians spent around Rs 91,593 crore overseas in 2013 as compared to Rs 70,746 crore in 2007. Besides Singapore and Thailand, some of the new destinations which have caught the fancy of Indians are Seychelles, Maldives, Oman and Vietnam. Besides this, there has been a rise in the number of solo women travelling overseas.
Dismal state of Travel insurance
While the number of people taking foreign vacations has increased, the statistics is not that good when it comes to buying travel insurance. According to one of the surveys conducted, only 2%-5% of people travelling abroad purchase travel insurance.
But what if an unforeseen event or accident disturbs the tranquility of travel? Imagine after reaching Singapore, you take a cab to a hotel and forget your travel bags inside it! Similarly, there are hundreds of things, like illness, accident, which can go wrong and ruin your entire holiday mood. There are several reasons due to which your flight can get cancelled. Wouldn’t it be great if there is someone who can lend a helping hand, take all the responsibility and bring you out of the difficult situation? Well, there is indeed a solution in the form of travel insurance policy. It ensures that fun in a vacation remains uninterrupted whatever is the situation.
Top reasons to buy travel insurance policy
Loss of baggage or passport: What happens in case you lose your baggage or passport? Instead of pressing the panic button and contacting the embassy, you can simply call the travel insurer to sort out things. The insurer would not only help in getting a duplicate passport, but all the related expenses incurred in the process will also be taken care by the insurer. There can be nothing daunting than losing one’s passport in a foreign land. Moreover, if you can’t speak the local language, it becomes difficult to communicate. In such a situation, the insurer would pay you a pre-determined sum in case you lose your passport/baggage, along with related expenses.
Health coverage: Medical emergencies can strike anytime and anywhere. Imagine the situation when your daughter or wife falls sick or meets with an accident in a country like the USA where medical costs are high. It is important to note, your health insurance policies will not offer coverage once you cross the country. Here, travel insurance comes into the picture. In the case of medical emergency, the insurer would cover diagnostic tests, evacuation charges, hospitalization costs along with transportation costs. Most importantly, travel insurance plans can give you cashless facility in a foreign country.
Cancellation of the trip: Imagine a situation when you have booked a flight ticket to attend a friend’s wedding in London and at the last minute, you met with an accident and your trip gets cancelled. Considering the financial loss, your friend won’t be the only person who gets heartache. Any last minute personal emergency, death in a family or illness could result in cancellation of the planned trip. It results in monetary losses as booking amount in most of the cases is non-refundable. A travel insurance policy with cancellation coverage will reimburse your trip cancellation charges. Further, cancellation compensation is also applicable when a trip is cancelled due to terrorism, riots and weather related events.
Emergency evacuation: Earthquakes, terrorist attacks, volcanic ash clouds and Tsunamis are such situations where emergency evacuation requires. Unfortunately, one can never predict when and where a natural calamity may strike. What happens if you are caught in a similar situation on your vacation? Fortunately, a travel insurer evacuates the insured out from a distress situation and gives the required medical care.
Burglary/theft at home: An empty house becomes an easy target for thieves. While you are on a vacation having the time of your life, a theft might happen in your house. A travel insurance policy can take care of this as well.
Humanitarian ground: If due to medical reasons, you get hospitalized, you might want your family members besides you. If your family member travels to visit you, travel insurance policies cover their stay and travel expenses.
Most of the travel insurance companies have 24×7 customer support in foreign locations also where you can call in case of medical and non-medical emergency while travelling. Further, in case you lose your policy document, you can give your policy document number and the insurer will settle your claim on the basis of it. In case you don’t remember your policy document number, your name or mobile number will help in claim settlement.
Remember, it’s very easy to create a travel itinerary, but to travel safe and comfortable, its worth to buy a travel insurance policy!
If you are coming to India from the States or Europe, you are in for a shock. Unlike the West, we Indians are not allowed to show affection at least in public. In fact, there’s a law that prevents obscenity in the open. The “Indian Penal Code Section” 294 (a) states: Whoever, to the annoyance of others does any obscene act in any public place, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine, or with both.
Basically what’s happening is that touch is somehow perceived as interlinked with sex in India? For example, we Indians think that mouth-to-mouth kissing is a western concept and therefore not really something that we should be doing in public. But many of us do not know the origins of kissing were first mentioned in the Mahabharata. Historians have found the earliest references to the practice of lip kissing in the Mahabharata dated 1500 B.C. and the reference continued with the Kama Sutra with many descriptive verities of kissing and having sex. Another interesting point is that the conquering armies of Alexander and his army learnt the art of kissing from the Indians. This doesn’t mean Indians were the first to invent kissing; it simply means that it was first mentioned in texts where people appeared to be kissing.
Funny thing is that if you have been to India before, you probably have seen two men holding hands. This doesn’t mean they are gay, they just happen to be friends. But on the other hand if a boy and a girl hold hands in public – this is frowned upon. Boys do not shy away from showing this intimacy. However, show of affection and intimacy between men and women is frowned upon throughout India.
So what is allowed and not allowed
Kissing in public
Kissing may be the universal language of love but kissing on the lips is a definitely a no go area in India. This is dangerous territory. However, an innocent goodbye kiss at the International airport would probably be fine but not at the railway station while smooching at a restaurant is definitely not a good idea.
Holding hands
Holding hands in most areas of India would be acceptable. It may seem strange but even men do it (this might seem bizarre to the western eye but there is nothing sexual about it). If you wanted to hold hands or wanted to put your arms around your partner’s shoulders, feel free to do so as that would be fine and is not a public offence.
Hugging
Hugging is quite a new concept in India different to the traditional Namaste where the hands are folded together and the head is bowed. I see more and more people hugging to show affection. There’s even a saint called, “Mata Amritanandamayi Devi” from Kerala popularly known as Amma, the hugging saint. Hugging is acceptable.
This is certainly one of the many paradoxes of India. In a country where rape is common, groping is considered almost acceptable, there are erotic and sensuous sculptures on temples expressing love in its unique forms, men peeing on the side of the road, street animals openly copulating – human intimacy is a curious contradiction. Here’s more on how to stay safe in India.
Hope this article was useful and if you have any questions relating to your travels to India, you can ask here or send me a message.
If you are travelling to India this monsoon then you might wish to take some of these essentials with you. Although it’s not necessary and you will be able to buy all these items when you get to India but nonetheless, you might wish to take your own.
Mosquito bands or repellents
These are essential as mosquitoes breed in large numbers during the monsoons so you might wish to take some mosquito bands. Good thing about them is that you can wear them on your clothing or you can attach them to your bag. It creates a protective halo around you which will help you against malaria and dengue fever (Delhi is famous for this).
Rain coat or jacket and Umbrella
A rain coat or jacket is going to be essential if you are visiting India during the monsoons. But do make sure they are light and thin as most parts of India are still warm even during the rainy seasons.
This goes without saying but bring a small one so that you can fold it away in your bag.
Sunscreen
If you have a sensitive skin then you bring a bottle of your favourite sunscreen.
Waterproof shoes
When it rains in India – it rains like crazy. So bring a pair of waterproof shoes. If you can, try to avoid slippers during the rainy season in India.
Don’t let the rains let you down. In many parts of the world rain is a nuisance but in India it’s a welcome change. Here’s a comprehensive packing list for India.
Let’s be honest, flying to India isn’t going to be cheap, especially from the United Kingdom. But if you want a cheap holiday then you will need to get cheap tickets to India. The trick is to book your trip as soon as you possibly can. Generally speaking, the earlier you book, the cheaper the flight is going to end up being. Of course, there are still many other ways to get cheap tickets to India from the UK, and in this article I want to highlight some of the best possible websites and tricks to get cheap tickets to India. Let’s see what we have?
Where to buy cheap tickets to India from the UK
LastMinute.com
This website is right at the top of the list, although it does contradict what I said earlier about booking as early as you possibly can. Here, quite often, those that book very late can end up netting themselves a hotel and a flight for a price that is far cheaper than the flight would cost on its own, which is rather nifty. This is the ideal website for those that are literally leaving it to the last minute to book. However, I wouldn’t take the risk. You can try and book early, but quite often the prices are fairly expensive.
CheapFlights.co.uk
It is all in the name here. This is probably one of my favorite websites for searching for cheap flights when I want to travel somewhere other than Europe. There is a lot on offer here, and all of the main carriers are represented. Do bear in mind though that quite often the prices are going to be a couple of pounds higher than if you went directly to the airline. So do check this out (it isn’t always going to be the case, and it won’t be much, but hey, every penny counts right?). Travel agents and airlines are represented here. One of the best features of this site is the ability to select flexible dates, and option which isn’t immediately apparent in the other sites on this list. Flexible rates often increase the chance you will end up with very cheap flights to India.
SkyScanner.net
This site is perfect for those who are going to be heading from the UK to India with more than one person in tow. This is because right off the bat you are able to select how many people will be travelling with you. In my experience, this tends to be buried rather deeply within the CheapFlights.co.uk, which can be a little bit tricky. Both of them search exactly the same airlines and travel agents for cheap flights, so just go with whatever one you like the feel of.
TravelSupermarket.com
There are lots of airports in the United Kingdom, and as you know, flying from each of the airports will have a different price attached to it. For instance flying from Bristol airport is going to be slightly more expensive than from Heathrow. Now, on most websites you will need to carry out a search for each of the different airports separately, but not with TravelSupermarket.com. Here you can search for multiple airports all at the same time (of your choice) ensuring that you get the best possible deal.
Southalltravel.co.uk
This is a good website for buying cheap tickets to India. In fact, they specialise in holidays and tickets to India. As their name suggests, their office is based in Southall (West London) known for its large Punjabi population. One good thing about this site is that you can speak to an agent and they will book your tickets to any destination and you can even choose a different airport to fly back to the UK. I had a chat with some of my relatives and friends in the UK; this one seems to be their preferred site for buying tickets to India – perhaps because many of the travel agents on the phone are Indians who can speak in their language.
Expedia.co.uk
Expedia UK, operated by Expedia is one of the world’s largest travel website. According to their site, they offer good cheap flights to India on several different airline carriers going to many popular destinations in India. I did a quick search and I found that they do have good offers; although the results that I got was slightly more than what I had expected. However, just phone them up and tell them that you are getting cheaper tickets to India elsewhere and they might offer you better prices.
Of course, there is a plethora of websites out there offering fantastic prices on travel, but in my opinion, these are some of the best to choose from. So why not start looking at these ones? I am sure you will be able to find cheap tickets to India from the UK rather quickly!
Also don’t forget to go to your local travel agent; you never know they might have a good offer for you. It’s all about shopping around. There are numerous travel agents in London, Birmingham and Leicester – cities with sizable Indian population that offer tickets to India.
Cheap tickets to India: Most flights to India will serve Indian food.
Tips to finding cheap flight tickets to India
Whilst global flight tickets have dropped down drastically in price over the past couple of years, you have to be honest; some of them are still incredibly expensive. I want to take a little look at how you will be able to secure yourself the best prices on airfares. Please bear in mind that this is a general guide, and if you are travelling to certain countries then you may have slightly more options available to you (air passes and the like which allow cheap travel throughout the same country).
Let’s take a little look at some of the ways to buy cheap flight tickets to India
Firstly, buy your tickets early!
This is particularly important if you are planning to head away during peak times. Quite often, the prices are released incredibly cheap with the prices slowly creeping up. The peak time for high prices tends to be around two weeks before the date of travel. My suggestion is to book at least six months in advance. If you have your children’s school holidays or half terms coming up and buying tickets early might be a good idea. It’s during these times, that prices go up. So buy tickets early.
Buy your tickets late!
Is this contradictory? Well, most airlines don’t want to leave with empty planes. Which means if you book a couple of days before you could save a considerable amount of money. Now, this is not something for people who love plans. When you book last minute you are going to need to be flexible about where you are travelling to, and even when you leave. This is a fantastic way to save money though, and there are plenty of websites out there dedicated to it.
Always shop around for the best airfares!
Different carriers will offer different prices. In fact, you may find that it is considerably cheaper to travel from one airport over another. Use as many of the travel comparison search engines as you possibly can. You will be surprised at just how much money you can save. Don’t forget to go direct to the airlines too; often this will shave a bit off the price as they won’t be needing to pay out commissions to the search engines.
You need to be flexible!
This means being able to travel from multiple airports, or even be able to play about with your dates. In fact, travelling a couple of days before may be able to shave a couple of hundred pounds off your travel price! My suggestion is to head out on Saturdays, Wednesdays, or Tuesdays. The prices are generally cheaper then. In addition, try to avoid the peak season of the place you are travelling to if possible. For India, this is usually when the temperatures are cooler from the month of November to February.
Indira Gandhi International Airport
Check the airlines directly!
Many people don’t do this, and thus fail to realise that the best possible prices can often be found on these websites. You will be surprised at just how much you will be able to save on the price of your holiday. Sometimes that has good offers. For instance, KML sometimes have good offers literally at throw away prices of around £250 for return tickets to India. Although the tickets will be cheap they will fixed prices which means that you only fly and come back on fixed dates. Another point to remember with KLM is that they land in Delhi late at night; perhaps this may not be a good idea if you are travelling to India alone. By the time you get out of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, it will be around 1am. Perhaps that is why they are able to offer cheap tickets to India. Nonetheless, it’s worth checking all the individual airlines such as British Airways, Indian Airlines, Emirates, Air France, Virgin Atlantic, Jet Airways, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways and so on. However this can take a lot of your time. But if you start planning ahead then you get really get cheap tickets to India.
Consider stopovers and connecting flights!
Flights to India take about 9 hours from most airports in the UK. If you have small children flying with you then it makes sense to consider flying directly to India. However if you no children then you could consider taking a connecting flight that will reduce the price of your tickets to India significantly. Some good stopovers are Amsterdam, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Both these airports have good duty free shops which you can spend some of your time. Dubai airport has excellent restaurants serving Indian food. British citizens can also leave the airports of Amsterdam (part of European Union at least from now) and Dubai (visa upon arrival to the UAE airports). Great thing about stopovers is that this gives you the opportunity to experience other places as well.
Another trick is to visit market places where there is high Indian population.
These would be Southall (West London), Green Street in Newham (London), Solihull in Birmingham, Belgrave Road in Leicester and Cemetery Road in Bradford. Just go walking around some of the Asian stores picking up travel leaflets from the counter and phone the numbers around to see what they have on offer.
Consider going for package deals.
Not many holiday makers to India realise this – but package holidays can be good deals. If you try booking everything on your own then not only you end up paying more but at the same time consume a lot of your time. So why not buy a package holiday deal to India. However one of the major draw backs is that you have to do and go exactly as in the deal giving you less freedom to do what you want in India. Another word of caution is that you must buy these deals with popular dealers. Better still, buy last minute holidays! Some package holidays to India can be bought from Thomson Holidays, Thomas Cook, Virgin Holidays, Teletext Holidays and so on. Why not compare holiday prices using the price comparison site Travel Supermarket.
Try this trick!
When you type “cheap tickets to India” then you will be presented a list of websites both natural search engine results and paid ones as well. The ads are from sites that are using Google Adwords to be seen to customers looking for air tickets all depending on their locations. I have highlighted the ones you could try. In this particular image, a website called eDreams seems to be advertising flights to India from £289.
Ask the agents for cheap tickets.
You can always ask the travel agents if you can have your tickets to India for cheaper. This work! When you phone them up, tell them that you are need tickets to India and when they give you the prices, just ask them if you can have them for cheaper. If they do lower the prices, well and good, if not then tell them you’ll be back.
Fly to and from major airports.
The four metros of India include Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata (Calcutta) and Chennai (Madras). Flights are usually cheaper to the four older metros compared to other international airports in India such as newer metros such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Jaipur or Ahmedabad. Similarly, flights to India from the UK are slightly cheaper from major international UK airports such as Heathrow and Gatwick. However you must weigh out travel costs to getting to the Heathrow and Gatwick. For example, additional coach and rails tickets might add up to the entire travel cost not to mention the time it takes to get to the airport. Don’t forget that if drive to these airports then you will need to park your car in long term parking close to Heathrow or Gatwick.
Of course, these are just a few hints on how you can save money on your flight tickets to India. I promise you though, if you put just a couple of these into practice, you will be able to save a lot of money and finding your cheapest tickets to India.
If you have your own tricks on buying cheap air tickets to India from the UK, then feel free to share them here.
When you travel, your routine gets thrown off – and constipation may be one of the consequences. People are creatures of habit, including when it comes to going to the bathroom. Everyone has a time when they do this, and when the schedule is thrown off, it can be disruptive. Other gastrointestinal problems, such as bloating, diarrhea and indigestion, are even more likely to develop while you are traveling. However, the risk of travel constipation may be increased by certain factors such as dehydration resulting from air travel, traveling across time zones, nit drinking sufficient water or drinking more alcohol than usual.
The good news is that there are many remedies that you can use to treat travel constipation. Maintaining your regular eating and drinking habits as well as you can while traveling is the best way to ensure regular bowel movement.
Drink plenty of water and clear fluids – Have you been drinking less water than usual during your trip? Make sure that this does not happen. Dehydration is one of the causes of constipation. Drinking plenty of water and clear fluids can help keep you regular while you are away from home. While it may not completely relieve the problem, it can help in softening stool so that you do not experience pain and discomfort while passing them. Also, make sure that you avoid drinking caffeinated or alcoholic beverages as they can cause dehydration.
Make sure that you eat enough fiber – When you travel, you obviously do not get home-cooked meals. However, you should make sure that you eat fiber-rich foods such as cereals, fresh vegetables, dried and fresh fruit, beans, whole grain crackers and bread. Keep in mind that the recommended amounts are 2 cups of fruit and 2 ½ cups of vegetables daily. You can carry breakfast foods such as high-fiber cereals and flaxseeds so that you get plenty of fiber and a healthy breakfast even when you are traveling.
Avoid low-fiber foods –Your meals will be from restaurants and your hotel when you travel. However, you should make it a point to avoid low-fiber foods in excess if possible. You should try to avoid foods like pizza, cheese, chips, candy, ice cream and processed foods, to name a few. They can worsen your constipation. It can be difficult to maintain your dietary routine when you are away from home – you will probably not eat the healthiest foods and you may eat on the go a lot more, resulting in constipation. But avoiding certain foods can help you prevent or relieve the problem.
Stay active – Even when you are traveling, it is important to exercise or doing yoga and make sure that you stay physically active. Your body needs to move constantly so that your digestive system also keeps moving. You should schedule stretching breaks, especially if you are in a plane, train, bus or car for long periods. Make it a point to swim, bike or hike when you can. This will help immensely in treating travel constipation.
As you can see, it does not take much to treat travel constipation. It is all about making sure that you eat right and keep your body physically active. Remember that traveling is a time to watch what you eat and other routines even more rather than less.
Most of us go on holidays for the kids. They are the ones who have the most fun. I have therefore decided to create a travel diary and journal for kids so that kids can write about their experiences while they are on holiday. Travel diaries are great things as it allows them to write down what they will be doing, what they expect, what they will be eating, what they want to do and so on. In this travel diary for kids, there are pre-filled questions (one of its kind) for them to write in the lines provided and I have included plenty of spaces for them to draw what they see and even paste photos if they wish. My travel diary/journal for kids is now available on all Amazon stores.
Here are some of the things kids can do in their kids travel journal:
Personalise their diary
Think of safety
Prepare and plan ahead
Write down contact and emergency phones numbers
Write in the prefilled travel and holiday related questions
Express themselves
Be creative
Draw images and paste photos, snaps, etc
Take the capital quiz
Read travel fun facts
Increase general knowledge
Play the alphabet game
I am really excited about this travel diary for my kids as they will be using it to do things while we travelling somewhere. Much of the time is wasted but this travel journal and diary will keep them engaged.
The monsoon in India depends on two seasonal winds; the Southwest Monsoon known as Summer Monsoon and Northeast monsoon popularly known as Winter Monsoon. The Summer Monsoon starts from June and is through till Mid-October; the Winter Monsoon is from October to December. The south-west monsoon brings most of the rainfall during the year in the country.
Mawsynram and Cherrapunji; wettest place on the earth
India is one such country in the world which is blessed with adequate rainfall. The amount of rainfall is different in different parts of the country. The place that receives the highest rainfall not only in the country but in the world is in the north-Eastern part of India, Mawsynram. It is a village in the East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya. It receives an annual rainfall of 11,872 millimetres. The second wettest land in the world is Cherrapunji which is almost in the same region close to Mawsynram. Travel to this region should definitely be avoided during monsoon time.
Cherrapunji – one of wettest place in the world
Although people from across the world travel to India throughout the year, the months from October to March is the season where the country experiences the maximum tourists visit. Normally the months of summer are too hot and the months of winter are pleasant except for the places in plains. However there are places in India which would be best visited during monsoon season like Goa, Ladhak and Leh, Parts of places in South India like Mysore, etc.
Some major cities like, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad receive comparatively less rain during summer monsoon. The states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala get most of its rainfall from the winter monsoon, from October to December.
What to expect during monsoon in India?
India is a developing country and the actual India is not what it looks like in metros. Most of the places in India are under developed and lacks good infrastructure. Some of the things that can be mentioned are bad roads, pedestrian paths (footpaths), bad quality of restaurants or shelters in remote places and villages, good commutation facilities.
The unmade mud packed roads sometimes get so much worse that it becomes impossible to drive your way through it. Some of the tourists’ places lack even the basic essentials like toilets or motels. Since you cannot expect to stop your vehicle at the doorstep of your destination, getting drenched and falling sick with cold and fever becomes part of your travel. The situation becomes even worse if you are planning to take public transport since most of the tourist places are remotely situated and the transport facilities are not all that great.
Maintaining hygiene becomes much more difficult in the rainy season. The food you opt to eat on streets or open restaurants can get easily contaminated with water splashes or the flies population that increases during monsoon season due to stagnant water pits serving as open homes for the growth of infectious insects and flies. This is also one of the reasons for the growth of mosquitoes thereby increasing the chances of diseases like dengue, malaria, typhoid, cholera among other diseases.
Kanchipuram South India during the monsoon. Source: mckaysavage’s photostream
With the heavens pouring in on some of the major cities, drainage becomes a problem causing flooding in the cities and bringing the routine life to halt. The traffic gets still and the routes get blocked forcing to take diversions, especially Mumbai is infamous for heavy rains and flooded roads. If you need to catch a flight or take a bus then it is good idea to plan and start a head of time.
If you plan to visit India and travel in the monsoon season then there are several things that need to be worked on before you hit the roads.
• Make your research on the places you plan to visit in India. Your research must be water oriented – how much rains to expect in the place, when to expect it, what is the place like, the facilities and infrastructures of the place, is the place travellers friendly, about the local people, where are you going to stay, what special things to be packed for that place, etc.
• If you have already not planned for any places then it would be a good idea to choose the places that receive less or no rainfall to avoid adventure while you travel!
• Do not be overwhelmed with the unpredictable rains that hit the place without warnings and also the amount of rainfall. Just be prepared with your monsoon gear and you are done with fun without worries.
• You need to be extremely cautious with drinking water in India especially when you visit India in the monsoon seasons.
• Be prepared with ‘plan b’ in case of delayed or cancelled trains or planes or other public transports especially during monsoons (which is very possible in India).
India southwest summer monsoon onset map. Source: Wikimedia Commons
You can experience some day-to-day problems that can become horrifying if you are not all that used to such circumstances. Keeping clothes dry becomes difficult which soon starts smelling damp. Power cuts and failures happen almost every day and can last for hours.
The good news is that visiting India in monsoon is still possible. You are sure to see the other side of colourful India during monsoon and also avail the low air fares and costs of stay during this season.
