Travel and Transportation

Namaste, traveling in India, train, auto, tuk-tuk, cycle rickshaw, elephant, camel, even boat. There are so many modes of transportation and will you get to use them all? And if you do, how do you use them? Here are some suggestions from my experience on how to use these varied modes of transportation and feel good about it. The trains in India are famous.

They carry millions of people every day and take them where they need to go. It's the most popular form of transportation in India to get anywhere. And since India is such a big country, the train rides are long. You get to step on a train headed from Jaipur to Delhi and it will take you at least six to eight hours, if not longer. The schedule of trains in India is accurate, but there are always, almost always delays.

In the winter time, a train can be delayed for up to 10 hours or more if there's fog since they're trying to keep everybody safe along the way. When you get onto the trains in India, you might be wondering, A, how do I get there? And B, once I'm on, how do I get comfortable? And what's the etiquette of sitting on the train in India since from the photos you see, everyone is smashed together? Well, it's not like that all the time anymore, although sometimes it often is.

The first step to arriving at the train station in India is to locate the kulis. The kulis are these men who wear red linen kind of shirts and they have an arm band which is made of brass and tied up with a piece of rope. The kulis carry bags for hundreds of people a day. And yes, those are the guys that you see in those photos that have two, three, four suitcases stacked on their head and maybe even some carried on their shoulders as well. They're amazingly strong and they do a very tough but very much needed job.

The kulis are an incredible resource when you head to the train station in India because they're honest and they will take you to where you need to go. So when you arrive at the train station, look around for a kuli. If they see you carrying your bag, you can be almost certain that kulis will run up to you and offer to help you for a certain price. My suggestion after a little bit of bargaining is to pay the kulis what they ask because they won't mislead you. A lot of times in North India, I've had experiences or experience with friends that others will try to approach you and help you.

Don't listen to them. Only listen to the kulis who are wearing this brass plate on their arm that shows that they're a government of India Railways employee. They are who you should listen to. It's important to remember that when you get to the train station and you start to make your way towards the train, that you only listen to someone who works at the train station to find where you need to go, how you get there, and once you get on the train that it's the right one. This can be very confusing because the train stations are often huge and sometimes even at the last minute, there will be a platform change.

And you'll hear an announcement that says, oh, we're sorry to announce that extreme inconvenience, the platform has just been changed from number 12 to number three, and then you'll grab all your things and you'll run to platform number three to get on your train. When you get to the station and you meet up with the kulis, the first thing you need to do is show them your ticket. They will almost immediately tell you, number one, what platform your train is on, and number two, where your bogey or your car will arrive. This is a great advantage of asking the kulis for help because they will almost certainly take you to the place exactly to the spot where your car will arrive. The trains in India are super long and there are many classes.

They go from first class to general class. My suggestion as a Western traveler is that you almost always book yourself a seat in the third AC or the second AC class. This means that you'll have a little bit more space and you won't have to necessarily negotiate your spot with anybody else. When you get to your platform and you get on your train, you'll get on the train and notice that there are lots of people, everyone searching for their spot and a place to put their baggage. If you arrive at your seat and you notice that someone has already taken up the lower bottom of the berth with their bags, they will almost certainly be generous enough to offer you space for yours, either in front or just to the side.

The etiquette on the train is that you're traveling with a very big family. You'll notice that everyone will sit together and sometimes people will come and even sit on your seat. Well, as a Westerner, it's our tendency to feel like, well, that's my seat, don't sit there. So try to remember that you're traveling with your Indian brothers and sisters and uncles and aunties and then when it comes time to go to bed, they'll go back to their spot too and you will have yours. If you have an experience where you feel someone is a little too close to you or you start to feel uncomfortable, it's completely within your rights to say, this is my seat, could you please return to yours?

On every train in India, there are a set of rules posted near the restroom that talk about harassment and that it's not okay. And when the TT, the train conductor, comes to check your ticket, you can always ask him to help you. On most Indian trains, there's almost certainly a set of police officers who will come through and show you a paper with a list of suggestions for foreign travelers. This is just to help protect you. You might get a little bit scared because the police officers in India almost always carry guns.

This was one of the things that I noticed the first time that I rode a train in India for two days. And when the police came through every time, I felt like, oh, you know, you're coming through with a gun, they won't use the gun and they're just there to protect you and to scare off anyone who would come on the train and try to steal people's baggage. So look at the suggestions and if they ask you to sign your name, it's no problem or say where you're going, it's no big deal. The train trips in India tend to be long. If you're traveling from north to south, you can expect to be on the train for at least 12 hours, if not more.

When you travel on the train, you want to have some things easily accessible for you like your sleep sack or your snacks and you can make yourself a nice little bed on your birth and just feel comfortable and settle in. You'll probably be approached by your fellow travelers who will ask you where you're from and they'll want to strike up a conversation. And as the Chaiwala comes through, always take advantage and drink plenty of chai. The auto rickshaws or tuk-tuks of India are a really popular way to travel within the cities. Imagine hopping in and being on the teacups or the Mr. Toad's wild ride at Disneyland.

It's bumpy, it's fast, it's jerky and you might even get some really good Bollywood dance tunes along the way. The auto rickshaws drive with intuition, so you'll hear them beeping their horn a lot to let them know, I'm here, I'm here, don't pass. When you go to negotiate your first trip, say from Varanasi to Sarnath, just know that the auto rickshaws are hard-nosed businessmen. They will try to get the most that they can out of you, so they will quote, hi. So it's important to know that bartering is the biggest piece to you getting around.

They might say, for that trip from Varanasi to Sarnath and back, I went 450 rupees, madam. And that's because it takes all day. It's your job to bargain them down as much as you can and get yourself a price that you feel good about. Riding on boats in India is a beautiful and magical experience. You can sit in some sense of quiet and take in the sights.

If you get to ride on the Ganges, it's magical to just lay back and soak in her current. Negotiating with boatmen can be a little bit less than magical sometimes. If you're walking on the bank of a river, you'll notice that the offers come left and right from here and there, and you'll constantly have someone running after you saying, madam, boat, sir, would you like a boat? Know that you have lots of room for negotiating with the boatmen, and most of the time they will ask you for double or more than what you should actually pay. So bargain, feel good about what you pay, and then step on the boat, be quiet, and soak it in.

As Westerners, sometimes it might be difficult to conceive that riding in a cycle rickshaw could actually be a pleasant experience. It's hard not to feel guilty about letting a man pull you on a bicycle, even up a hill or on a bumpy road. It's important to know that the cycle rickshaws in India are very undervalued and underestimated. If you meet one that speaks English, it's a great idea to ask him about his life because they have incredible stories to tell. They are also great bargainers, but whatever you bargain with your cycle rickshaw driver, it's best to just pay it to him because he's got a tough job and you're doing him a favor by giving him a fare.

We've talked about all these modes of transportation, but you might be wondering, what about elephants? That's what India is famous for. Every now and then, if you're lucky enough or if you're in India for a festival, you might see an elephant or a camel or maybe even a horse and buggy to ride on. Whatever you're asked, just negotiate a little bit, pay the price that you feel good about, hop on, and enjoy. Traveling with children.

Well, you might be thinking, my kids would love to see all of this color of India. It's such a magical and beautiful place. What are some of the things you should consider? In my years of living with India, I've seen a lot of children traveling with their parents from around the world, and the truth is that India is a very children-geared place to visit. People love kids wherever you go, and especially they love to see families traveling since India is such a family-orientated culture.

What are some things to consider as you think about taking a trip with your kids? The first thing to consider about traveling with your children to India is, are they immunized? Will they be protected on this journey in that way? My personal choice was to immunize my son based on the fact that he would be exposed to many things that he wouldn't in the West. Starting in rural India, I've seen children that have polio and other diseases that haven't happened for 50 years in the West, so this is a personal choice, but really consider it because the conditions in India are something that you can't anticipate.

The real picture of traveling with kids. In India, there's no stroller or car seat. How will you move from here to there? You are your baby's Sherpa in India. You will carry them wherever you go.

Women in India traditionally carry their children for two to three, sometimes four years, so just know that wherever you go, your stroller will be hard to transport, and most of the time you will be holding your child. So consider this as you think towards making a trip with your baby or with your small child. Traveling with older children can be perhaps easier because you aren't toting them everywhere, but just consider the questions that your child will ask about making such a journey. Are you ready to answer all of their questions? Are you ready to talk about death, life, poverty, sadness, joy, all the beautiful things and the sad things that you'll see on such a trip?

Traveling with your children and sharing your experience together can be beautiful and wonderful. I can't tell you how much joy I experience showing temples and all the beauty to my son. He's 11 months old now, and I've seen the changes over time as he starts to take in people, take in cows, take in all the sites. This is in his DNA as a half Indian, but I think it's making a great impression on him. But traveling with him is challenging, and you have to be brave.

It takes a lot of courage to move with your child and to go through all of these fluctuations. And in a lot of ways, it's a lot more work than it is in the West. How do I deal with my trash in India? I'll never forget the lesson that my auto driver, Santosh, told me. When I asked him what to do with my 12-ounce water bottle, he said to me, oh, madam, you just throw.

And this was such a foreign thing for me to think that I had just throw that water bottle wherever. So how do you travel in India and be responsible about your waste? It's important to remember that almost everything in India is reused. A friend of mine who visited India many times said, just imagine, 20 years ago, there was no plastic. And so these piles of plastic have accumulated as the society tries to come to terms with how to deal with their garbage.

So how do you do this responsibly? My suggestion to you in how to manage your trash is to always throw your things away in the receptacle in your room, to put your water bottles outside of the door to the place that you stay and allow someone to collect them. This is actually money for someone. So if you leave your water bottles there, someone will earn something from recycling them. As you travel around and you notice that you have food waste from fruits that you eat, know that you can feed them to a cow on the street.

Or you can put them into a pile where a goat will come by and eat them. So don't worry too much about these piles of waste that you see in trash because someone is taking care of them. We've talked a lot about where you travel, how to travel, and what to do with your waste. So you might be wondering, where do I go to the bathroom? You've heard a lot of stories about India and the bathroom situation.

That's just a fact. Here's some basic suggestions for how to move and how to travel and how to be comfortable. I'll never forget when I arrived in India for the first time and I left the airport and I noticed a string of police officers peeing on the side of the road. This was quite shocking for me as a woman because I didn't anticipate to see such a thing. But this is just a fact of life in India, that open defecation is just the way of life in many places.

In the village where I now work, you could say that at least 60% of the people that live there don't have bathrooms in their homes. This is shocking for Westerners to consider, that people don't have bathrooms. So what do they do? Well, they go out in the field. That's just how it is.

So how do you be safe? How do you keep yourself safe? And how do you use the restroom along the way as you travel? In India, there are very few places that have Western style toilets. They're all squat toilets.

So it's very, very important as you prepare for your journey to practice squatting and to get comfortable doing it. Another important part to your dress and how to pack and how to prepare for these different conditions is that it's not good to wear long pants. You do not want long pants dragging around your ankles as you squat in a toilet outside of a temple or in a restaurant. So pack with this in mind that you will be doing a lot of squatting and you'll be getting comfortable doing it. And you'll notice that Indian people can squat for an hour on the side of the road and have a conversation.

So getting used to doing that malasana squat pose is really important to making your pilgrimage comfortable. So traveling to India, how do I book my visa? What do I need in my passport? Traveling to India, you will need a visa. And doing the visa can sometimes be a bit confusing.

A lot of times we take the simplicity of traveling to Europe from the US for granted. But if you're from somewhere else or if you're taking such a big trip for the first time, you might be wondering, how do I do this? I suggest to my friends and my guests to get a little bit of help. There's a website called Trevisa, T-R-A-V-I-S-A, and Trevisa will help you oversee all of the documents that you need to send to the Indian Embassy. They'll give you some help along the way so that if you make a mistake, your documents won't be sent back because delays along the way are stressful as you prepare.

The Indian Embassy requires that no visa happen until three months before your journey. So don't leave it to the last minute, but make sure that you have everything prepared so that when you do, it can happen smoothly. And if you have any doubts, call them and ask for help. So as you put your trip together and you consider all of these modes of transportation and the joyful and frustrating differences that you'll encounter along the way, just make sure to give yourself lots of time. The timing in India is something of its own.

So give yourself lots of space so that you can be grounded and breathe and be open to whatever wants to happen.