Airports in India

Airports in India are largely organized like all airports worldwide. They have restaurants, cafés and shopping. In the meantime, this is usually works quite well. Domestic flights have extreme high growth rates. New airports are being built everywhere; yet domestic flight travel has only just begun in India. The market will continue to grow even more. Staff and guest are becoming more professional and more accustomed to flying every day.

Before Takeoff: Entrance Control in Front of the Airport and Restrictions

In front of India airports, there are always gatherings: many people just standing or sitting there. I have never seen it any different.

At the airport’s entrance, there are very strict controls. You have to show your ticket, your passport and you are only allowed to enter the building if your flight is scheduled for the next four hours. In Goa, we were on a midnight flight, on the course of the day; the waiting line has become very long. We had to stand in that line for 30 minutes just to be able to enter the airport.

In Mumbai we had to wait several hours in front of the building. We arrived at the national terminal, had to change terminals and it was too soon (more than four hours before departure) to enter the terminal. We had no choice but to wait in front of the airport. If you are lucky, you can go sit in a café but even that did not work for us, the café was closed.

If you have entered the terminal building once, there is no way out. There is no exit, all the entrance has a security guy standing there who does not let you out. Some smokers did not like this at all. You also cannot say goodbye to anyone outside the building who is not on a flight.

Luggage Check Before the Check-In and a Compulsory Hand Luggage Tag

Check-In Luggage (everything except hand luggage) is checked for the first time even before the Check-In. You need to go to your airlines luggage scan (looks like the hand luggage scan) where they scan you bags and put a kind of seal on it. In fact, it’s a plastic hook with the airline’s button around it. But you would definitely see if someone opened it, your luggage is sealed.

This is the only way they accept your luggage at the counter. Booking with a foreign credit card does not allow an online check-in. You have to show your credit card at the counter. During check-in you get another airline tag for your hand-luggage (similar to a name tag) that you definitely need to carry visibly at your hand-luggage.

Security Check and Hand-Luggage Check: Have Your Boarding Pass Ready

Hand-luggage check and security check has separate lines for men and women. There are two lines, the men’s line is usually longer the women’s line shorter. Women are taken in cabin where female employees do the check. These cabins are closed, no visibility from outside, including a curtain. Men are not in cabin. The security people stamp the boarding pass. Definitely have your boarding pass in your hand and not in your hand-luggage, you need it.

After a successful hand-luggage check, they also stamp your hand-luggage tag. That is why you absolutely need this tag: without it, there is no complete hand-luggage check.
Before entering the plane, there is another check for that stamped tag. Definitely make sure you don’t lose the tag on your bag.

During boarding, there is another regular boarding pass check, but it’s even possible that your boarding pass is checked a second time for example after landing. Make sure to keep your boarding pass as long as you are in the plane or at the airport (even after landing), every now and then someone wants to see it.

Everything takes a loooong time!

Flying always requires patience, everywhere and always. But definitely more in India! There is always another security check, another control point or a person who is there to check something (e.g. boarding pass, stamped hand-luggage tag). One example: the boarding pass is read by a machine. Less the 10 meters from there, another person is standing to check everyones boarding pass manually.

Always consider that while planning flights. Nothing is fast, you always need some more time. There can be another line, waiting for some check around every corner. No matter how many people waiting, nothing is done any faster. It’s always slow.

We had two very unexpected lines: one in Goa (in front of the airport) and one in Mumbai at immigration. We only had 3 people in front of us but had to wait in that line for more than one hour. I would never book a tight-scheduled connecting flight in India

Der Beitrag Airports and Flights in India erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

Different Culture in India

India has a different culture, different rules than Germany. Quite often, these things are not the same everywhere or valid for the entire country. It’s important to adjust to that culture and accept the rules.

Information Overload: Take a Break

India is huge overload of information and overstimulation of all senses. There is a never-ending number of impressions, you get to see a kind of life totally different from everything you know in Europe or the US. Everyone has a different “melting point” but it’s definitely there. In India, at some time you do reach it, if that happens, take a break and relax. For example take an afternoon off in a Western café, a fancy restaurant or your hotel room. Time-outs are important in India, without it you reach a point of total exhaustion pretty soon. Definitely accept when you have reached your limit and take a break.

Limitations for Tourists: Clothing Rules for Men and Women

Women’s right and the kind of liberty we have in the West do not travel with you. You need to be aware of that. India is a land that is changing. Many Indian ladies and girls, in particular the younger ones who are more educated oppose these strict rules. That means, every now and then you will see locals wearing dresses, shorts, hotpants and tank tops. But that does not mean it’s ok for foreigners (mostly white people) to wear these clothes. Clothing rules are rather strict in India: clothes should be long, loose and not be too tight. How you do that is up to you. To me, it means: pants at least knee-length, no tops with showing neck cuts, t-shirts with sleeves that cover my shoulder, never visible bra straps. I would say a typical German summer outfit including a wrap skirt, a sleeveless shirt and shorts is a no-go. Just because it is warm in India does not mean you can walk around in your summery clothes. If you are feeling too warm, sandals help to fight the heat. Replace you sneakers with sandals and you feel much better and more relaxed in long pants.

Men can wear a lot but also they need to stay dressed and not walk around without a t-shirt. Also shorts are uncommon. Guys in India tend to be dressed rather fancy, quite often wearing cloth pants and a skirt. That is why you should not look to casual. Skirts and T-shirts always work (as long as they have sleeves), pants should be knee-length. Even men can wear sandals if it’s too warm. A typical holiday or swimming outfit is definitely inappropriate.

Yet, you should always be aware of the fact that too much exposed skin in India is perceived as entirely naked. Easiest solution for both genders is: T-shirt and Jeans. You are never wrong with that.

Some Advice and Suggestions for Women

During the day, you can in my mind, walk anywhere and only need to be more careful in the night.

We all have heard news about female tourists being raped in India and sexually assaulted. There is never 100% safety but you can do some things to minimize the risk.

a) I would never walk around in a bikini, not even at the beach. I only go to the water and back to the hotel. For Indian men, a woman in a bikini is almost naked. Even though this contradicts all feminist ideas we have here in Europe, too little clothing still counts as invitation and enabling certain behavior in India. For sunbathing and walking on the beach in a bikini, India is not the right country. I have written something about Goa, Goa is more liberal and things are easier there.

b) A basic rule is always to be careful with single men who try to talk to you. In India, it’s polite to only say hello to the husband when you meet a married couple and entirely ignore the wife (the opposite in Europe). A man who addresses a woman in public for no reason is, in Indian terms extremely rude and impolite and shows no respect. Or they just give it a try because they know it from American films and TV shows, and think that is the way to do it. Anyways: never respond to that! Don’ let them start a conversation, don’t get a lift from them, don’t give them your number and never go home with them. No matter how nice the offer sounds (“I take you home on my scooter.”) Never do it!

c) Do not drink in public, don’t be drunk in public and don’t party too hard. For that kind of holiday you should better go to Mallorca, India is not the right place for that (not even Goa!). If you really want to drink, do it in your hotel among friends, never in public. The best thing would be not to drink at all. A drunken woman is in invitation for most guys in India! They will try to take advantage of you. (I know, in Europe we consider a sentence like that extremely anti-feminist.)

d) If you are lost and want to ask for directions, ask your own gender. Women ask women and men ask men. That is always the best way to do it and nothing can go wrong.

What is Polite and What is Impolite?

Most cultural misunderstandings happen because of a different understanding of what is polite and impolite. In India, saying no counts as impolite. That mean you never hear a direct no, it always comes along very indirect, very much in the background. We are almost unable to understand it at all. One example “Can we talk on skype?” “The laptop is broken.”

I Germany, you ask once, get an answer and that is how things are. In India, facts change when you ask more than once, insist and ask again. For a German understanding that would be pushy or even stupid but it is normal in India. Ask, ask even vigorously to reach you aim.

Prices are Printed on Every Item

Prices for Coke and Water are printed on every bottle. If the bottle is cooled they can charge a little extra for cooling it (1 or 2 rupees). But that’s it. Whatever they might tell you, it’s not true. All products cost the same everywhere (except in a restaurant, they charge whatever the menu says). But everything else they tell you is untrue. Water bottles have a plastic seal, if that seal is missing, it’s tap water in the bottle (bottled water is called “Bisleri”)!

Contact between Men and Women

Contact in public between men and women is a different one. Kissing and showing affections is inappropriate and should not be done. You will see couples in India who do the exact opposite. But those are Indian couple who oppose their own rules. That does not count for Germans/Europeans/American/Whites. It’s better to restrain from any public affection.

Travelling as an unmarried couple? Make your life easier and simply tell everyone you are married. India highly respects family and marriage, much more than we do. Calling yourself married will make everything easier for you.

Moving Forward in India Take a Long Time: Rickshaws, Busses and Public Transportation

You always need to consider: distances in India are long, it takes a long time to get from one place to another. In particular overland journeys are exhausting and stretch a long time. There are always many slow vehicles on the road (rickshaws, trucks, but also bikes and wooden hand carts). Never underestimate how long it takes to reach. For longer tours, there are night busses (“Sleeper Busses”) that are quite good, rather cheap and help to kill the time.

Even big cities do not have public transportation like we know it from Europe or the US. There is some construction work going on for subways (called “Metro”) but there is no big working system that covers an entire city. You can always take the bus, rickshaw or cab (Uber!). But traffic is a huge mess. It simply takes a lot of time to move forward.

If you happen to have an airport nearby, you can book a flight. There are some cheap Indian airlines (Spicejet, Indigo, Air Asia, etc.). This is the best way to do longer distances. Flying has improved a lot and now works quite fine. More and more Indian airports are built and you can reach many places like that.

Taking Pictures of You

People do take pics of you. Sometimes they ask, sometimes they don’t. They like to take group pictures with you. You can always so no of course. I have never liked it; it made me feel very uncomfortable. I don’t want to be interesting only because of my skin color and I prefer not to take any group pics with strangers. But that decision is up to you.

Der Beitrag Travel Tips India erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

Tolerance and Happiness in Total Chaos

India is a very tolerant country. People are always friendly and in a good mood. Chaos always rules everywhere but in the end everything, somehow, works. We need plan and a daily structure. India does not have any of that. For us, this is a lesson to let things loose, be relaxed and to wait and see what’s happening in the end. It is not possible to control everything, rather the opposite. You feel that very strongly in India.

Land of Opposites

India is a land of opposites: poor vs. rich (also very poor vs. very rich), different religions (Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jain, Parsi and Sikhs), different identities (different languages in every federal state) and different lifestyles. India’s ad campaign is called “united in diversity”. You can only imagine what that really means after spending some time in India. There is a, largely, peaceful togetherness of entirely different lifestyles and concepts of life.

Humbleness and Modesty

India makes everyone humble and you learn many lessons for your own life. I became aware of the fact how decadent we partly life. In India, people are happy about running water, we consider a cold shower a catastrophe. Indians are often more happy than we are, even though they have less. Material things are not as important to be happy.

Colonialisation as One of the Biggest Crimes in Human History

We get to see what colonialisation, the biggest crime of the West to the rest of the world, has done. Indians were forced to speak a new language (English), they were told what is right and what is wrong. The only right thing is of course, whatever the West decides, everything else is wrong. Yet, India has its own ways of doing things, we can learn something there. Not everything is better in the west and worse in the East, it’s quite often the other way.

Poverty

A theoretical construct that is clear: the West is only rich because others are not. This more theoretical understanding become more alive and vivid here: there are extremely rich Indians but also poverty and beggars both to certain extend that we don’t know in Europe. Germans have forgotten what poverty, real poverty is and means. India helps to learn that.

How To Handle Emotions

In Germany, there is only one way to handle emotions: swallow them and don’t show them at all. If, in work life, you responded emotionally, for example crying in public, no one ever takes you seriously again. We channel emotions at sports (mostly football), most commonly in the audience or during big public parties (things like Oktoberfest), not any other time. There are no more socially accepted ways to show emotions. Emotional is a negative word for us.

Efficiency and Slowness

“Discovering Slowness”: Things in India are slower, in general but also in particular. Germans are made for Efficiency, being fast and having “no time”. Slow is bad, inefficient is annoying. India is a chance to think about that, to try and live a different life.

The country runs slower, even literally: everyone walks slower on the sidewalk. If you try to walk in “German pace” it becomes exhausting, unnecessarily annoying and does not lead anywhere. Better do things slowly, act in the same pace as the rest of the country. It’s not bad when things take longer and are done much slower. It even becomes convenient to have more time, less hectic and not be under time pressure all the time. You need to lose a big load of impatience for that!

Joy of Life and Patience

There is a lifestyle outside western norms and ideas. This lifestyle can teach us a lot, for example high spirits and vitality but also being satisfied and patient. We have almost lost these abilities in the West.

India has a joy of life that is unbelievable. This becomes most obvious during dancing. In India, there are no Non-Dancers. Everyone storms to the dance floor, no one is thinking about whether it looks embarrassing and everyone just dances however it feels right. In a club, I did hear some singing louder than the music from the speakers. This is not possible in Germany. Everyone always waits until the dance floor opens . That’s

Der Beitrag A new Passage to India: Why Should I Go To India? erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

Choosing a Place of Interest: Less is More

India is a huge country and you can really only move very slowly. The best thing is to pick a place you like and do everything you are interested in around that area. Traveling to too many different places is exhausting and quite often not even doable. One thing for sure: less is more. Choose one or two corners of the country, stay there and better come back some other time for further travelling elsewhere.

Booking: Leave Some Space, Even No Bookings at All Is Possible

We Germans like to make plans. I fact, we prefer to have everything planed and ready before we start for our holiday trip. But India is a good opportunity to be less rigid, less uptight and more easygoing. You can, at least partly travel with advance booking at all. It’s entirely normal to walk into any hotel, ask for a room and even let them show you the room first. You can then decide to stay or leave, that is fine for everyone. The only time this does not work is in very high (or peak) season, for example Goa around Christmas/New Year’s. Any other time, there is always vacancy; you always find a place to stay. I have found the best and cheapest hotels that way. I recommend only doing some booking when you arrive very early or very late, when you are too tired after arrival or when you really want to stay at a certain hotel.

Domestic Flights and Airports

You can book all domestic flights online, it’s very simple. Usually cost little money and are working quite alright (Spicejet, Indigo, Air Asia, Air India).

Airports in India are largely organizes like any other airport worldwide. They have restaurants, cafés and shopping. It’s all working but fine but there are some characteristics and special rules.

Online Booking: Makemytrip and Yatra

The big booking portals (booking.com, hrs.com) are of course always an option. But there are some Indian websites that are quite often cheaper and have more offers (makemytrip.com, yatra.com). I do all my booking on these two websites. I got some great discounts several times and can only say positive things about these two booking portals. Everything has always worked.

Driving a Car in India: Better Refrain From That

Driving yourself in India is for sure not a good idea. You quite simply cannot do it, it’s not possible. Traffic is too thick and to chaotic. Whoever likes to be independent can think about renting a driver and a car. Drivers are waiting at the airport for tourists to take them around for several days. It’s not quite cheap; you need to calculate around 120 Euro for 3 days. But it’s very convenient, less stressful because you don’t have to wait for the bus and the local driver can take you around, show you sights and landmarks. In the mountains of the North, I definitely recommend a driver; only locals can handle these kinds of streets.

Public Transportation: Rikschas and Busses

India is largely with no Subway or Underground Railroad system (cannot be compared to everything we have in Europe or the US). In some cities, a lot is happening (Pune, Delhi), in Delhi for example some construction work for a metro (an elevated railway) is done. Mumbai has trains for commuters from North to South. Yet, those are exceptions. Don’t expect to find local public transport.

Rickshaws are always an option for short distances. You should do that at least once while you are in India. The best thing is to fix a price in advance, try to find some agreement with the driver and you avoid trouble afterwards. Rickshaws in India are everywhere, sometime you even find a few bicycle rickshaws. But most are motorizes vehicles and drive around at least acceptable speed. Even though they make these loud engine roaring noises. In the night, the bus is safe. Single travelers should take the bus in the night.
Busses can be found everywhere and are very cheap. There are city busses but also cross-country busses. Busses have very different standards, the best ones have an Air Conditioning (“AC”), below that every kind of bus exists. In some cases, a bus can be very crowded, overly crowded. Sometimes people are standing in the door, on the bumper or sit on the roof. For long cross-country rides, there are Sleeper Busses that are quite convenient and not expensive at all.

Book Trains for Longer Distances in Advance

Trains go everywhere but are sometimes fully booked. Book your trains tickets in advance (see booking portal previous paragraph). Very long train rides (for example from Delhi to Mumbai in 20 hours, 1500 km) have never been my thing. I would prefer to fly. The smaller local trains are fun though. You can sit in the open door and look outside. That creates a feeling of freedom and liberty that you cannot have like that in Germany. But you still are not moving fast. The trains from Mumbai (North Mumbai to South Mumbai) are a commuter’s route and incredibly crowded. There are womens’ compartment and compartments for everyone.

Things You Will be Experiencing in India:

• It’s loud! All vehicles honk all the time. Indians are also rather loud. It’s not something to achieve to be quiet. Loud is joy of life, loud is good, loud is normal. I always need ear plugs for the night, to me the most important utensil in India.
• It’s dirty! Trash is everywhere, littering is common. No matter where you are, you just drop your litter and like that, dirt is everywhere.
• It’s hot! Anywhere off the mountains, India is hot. Indians go home on midday or stay in the shade. A long lunch break is common. But as compensation, everyone is awake early in the morning and late in the evening. Never underestimate how hot it is. That means, drink enough water, bring sun glasses and sun screen and walk slowly and patiently.
• Indians don’t wait in a line. They push and jostle past each other. Waiting patiently until it is your turn is uncommon and nobody does it. There are also separate lines and counters for ladies. At first, I thought that’s unnecessary. But that’s not the case. It’s very inconvenient to stand in a line tightly and squeezed in between several male Indians. Ladies lines are much better in that context.

If all of that sound too negative for you, it’s not. These are just some things you need to know. Reason to come to India can be found here.

Der Beitrag Booking an India Tour Yourself erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.