Maybe this post is not so much about where to go in India as a first timer, because you probably know your wishes, but is more about sharing what we did, what I think were our mistakes, speaking from a distant time and what you could do, especially if you are having planning mindset.
Disclaimer: In India you know when you start, but not when you arrive.
The purpose of our trip to India was wedding, and not one, but two. November is the wedding season in India and we were invited to two. The issue was that one was on the 23rd and the other one on 24th, little did we know that the execution of this agenda was not really possible, especially because the weddings were happening in different states.
Before starting the trip I was exploring google maps and for distances of 100km I would get 3 hours drive, considering myself a kid then, I was thinking this must be wrong, Turns out it wasn’t.
We flew into New Delhi Indira Ghandi International Ariport, to enter India we needed an e-visa that was around 50eur and the process was super simple.
The first overwhelming moment was when I saw the amount of cars and drivers, waiting for passengers. Our car was fixed by our groom host, and it took us during the night to Jaipur.
I would not mention the driving style, the honking and all, glad that I was asleep, later during the trip we’ve got used to this.
Our hotel in Jaipur was a modest one with breakfast Jai Niwas – Garden Hotel in the central part of the Pink City.
The first mistake we encounter we thought we could walk. Luckily we took a tuk-tuk for the day after one hour and then everything got much more sense. But we only had 24 hours in the city so we couldn’t see everything that was on our list.
Thing we saw in Jaipur: The Gates of the city, Hawa Mahal – Wind Palace, Chandra Mahal, The City Palace, Nahargarh Fort, Jal Mahal
Things we wanted to see in Jaipur: Patrika Gate, Albert Hall Museum, Jantar Mantar, Jaigarh Fort, Fort Amber, Amer Stepwell, local supermarket.
We had a dinner at Peacock Restaurant, where we’ve dried the kulfi ice cream for the first time and ever since that is my favorite ice cream flavour.
And if you are looking for hotels on the higher end Jaipur, I think these two are great: Villa Palladio Jaipur,
The Oberoi Rajvilas, Jaipur.
Then the car took us in direction Nohar, a place where the groom lives, we attended the male side of the party, bought sari and enjoyed the full ceremony the next day.
After the ceremony was finished we continued towards Pilani, famous university town in the state of Rajastan, for the official “meetup” with the bride and the whole family. First there was the party, and then the holy ritual, in the early morning hours, which we had to leave around 3AM because we had a transport to New Delhi and then we thought we are reaching the other wedding in Allahabad (todays Prayagraj). Unfortunately, we didn’t make it there.
When we’ve realised there was no way that we are getting to the other wedding, we’ve decided to find a car that will take us to see Taj Mahal. At that point in life this was my first overseas trip (apart from the USA) we were paying everything cash, so I wasn’t really noting down costs and now I do not have an idea how much we paid for anything.
I just remember that I was romanticising train ride then, but the majority of our group of 4 was interested in a car ride to Agra. The only price related thing I remember was the entrance ticket to Taj Mahal was 1000 INR or around 11 euros. In most of the monuments in India you could get a discount if you have a student card.
After this blink of an eye trip to Agra, we’ve returned to New Delhi Airport where we last minute booked trip to Goa.
Our initially booked tickets were with IndiGo Airlines and the itinerary looked like this: Varanasi – Mumbai – Goa. We’ve landed in Goa and since one traveler of our group was a local, he took us to Malavan to his summer house. We’ve spent one day there, had amazing time at the beach but somehow we wanted to se “the real Goa”.
The next day after the home made breakfast we made a detour to Goa, met another friend in Calangute and danced the night away in the bars.
Our plan was to spend the rest of the days in Goa, explore and party, but we needed to end our trip earlier and this part is left off to be explored some other time.
It seemed that we’ve visited so many places, reality is that we have visited maybe 1% of India even though we went to four states: Rajastan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharastra and Goa. Also I didn’t write too much about food and restaurants, but we were 90% of the time in locals home and we only ate at restaurant twice.
So I think I am ready to visit India again, as an adult this time, and everyone should too, with a bit different setup of expectations, not only what you see online and a bit in a less rush, only!
CONCRETE COLLAGE 