India On A Shoe String

chillibreeze writer — Aditya Nain

Need an editable PowerPoint map of India

If you’re from the west, you do have the exchange rate working in your favor. That’s a great advantage first up. Having said that, a lot of people end up spending a lot more than they budgeted for, in India. This is largely because India is not the easiest place to find your way around, especially for someone to whom everything in India seems alien.

There are a few basic categories of expenditure that you must look to cut down on. You’d rather focus your attention on trying to cut down on the large expenses, rather than striving to spend less on things that aren’t too expensive in the first place. This strategy will save you time and money both.

The three aspects of your travel that you’d expect to spend the most amount of money on are your accommodation, travel and food. If you can manage to cut down your expenses in these three domains, India is bound to be a lot cheaper than you expected. If you’re backpacking on a shoestring budget you really aren’t looking to stay at 5 star hotels, travel first class or even eat at the top restaurants in any case. What you want is a memorable raw experience that you can look back on with delight.

Accommodation: Do your homework
Don’t decide to land up at your destination and then look for a place to stay. What you really want to do is short list a few select locations that seem comfortable yet reasonably priced, before you actually get to your destination. You can do this with the help of a good travel guidebook. There are plenty of guidebooks available these days, especially about India. India can be a horrid place if you’re new to it and are not prepared. This is because you’ll get to your destination tired and needing rest. The last thing you want to do is spend the night at the first cheap joint you find. The fatigue level you’ll experience while traveling is tremendous so it’s important for you to do your homework so you don’t end up staying at a shady lodge out of sheer exhaustion! There is a lot of good inexpensive accommodation available if you bother to look for it.

Don’t travel by air
If you really want to experience India, you shouldn’t be traveling by air within India anyway. Half the fun of making a trip around India is the train and bus rides. Also, you’d be surprised how much money you can save if you forget about air travel and stick to the good old train rides. Of course, you must take care to reserve your seats, and consult a reliable book or travel agent before you book your train tickets because you don’t want to end up getting mugged during your travel. Since some trains and sectors see more crime than others, it really is advisable that you don’t get too adventurous and that you contact a travel agent before booking your tickets.

Buses are also an experience in themselves. Yes, they’re usually crowded, but if a little discomfort is not something that bothers you, go for it! Buses are extremely cheap and traveling by bus allows you to see India in a more intimate manner and also allows you access to the interiors of the country.

Eat good, but cheap
Food in India can get really expensive but can also be eaten really cheap if that’s what you want. The idea though, is to hover around somewhere in the middle. This is simply because expensive meals everyday will forge a massive hole in your pocket and dirt cheap meals will mean you’d spend more money on diarrhea pills than you’d want to! Guidebooks again will be very helpful. Remember that street food in India is amazing and so you won’t regret eating cheap at all.

On the whole, India can be slightly expensive if you don’t watch where you step. This is because you could end up spending a lot of money on things that you ought not to have spent on. A lot of visitors complain about being cheated in India, but you can avoid this by reading up about the place and the kind of money you should shell out for specific goods and services. As mentioned above, do your homework well and cut down on your accommodation, travel and food expenses in order to keep your expenditure at the minimum.

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Aditya writes for chillibreeze.

India On A Shoe String

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