The Ultimate First-Timers Guide to India

Incredible India! No matter how many times you read about what India is like, nothing, and I mean nothing, can prepare you for the sights, sounds and yes smells of this incredible country.

From the moment you take your first step out of the airport, India is a true assault on every single sense.  The one thing that you can never be prepared for is how loud India is, I was warned and I thought I was prepared but nothing can prepare you for The constant blasting horns that initially overwhelms, then begins to wear you down eventually, until bit by bit it fades away to become the soundtrack of your journey through India.

The following is my advice for those of you thinking about travelling to India. Maybe you are a little bit scared, maybe a little unsure if this is the right destination for you, hopefully the below can shed some light on the highs and lows of travelling in this magnificent country.

First of all let me start by saying that India is not for the faint of heart!!

This country literally broke me in so many Ways I hadn’t even imagined, but the greatest challenges often lead to the best pay off’s and that is certainly true of this country. Whenever I am asked if I would recommend someone travel to India I always hesitate and here is why. This glorious, magnificent, mind-blowingly amazing destination is not for everyone. This is not the kind of place that is “easy” travelling, India was the 31st country I had visited and was on my bucket list for so many reasons, yet still I wrestled with many conflicting emotions while visiting.

In this article I will be focusing on Rhajastan, which encompasses North India

Varanasi had always drawn me in and I knew one day I would have to see it with my own eyes, and perhaps more importantly that see it I needed to feel it, and feel it I did.  In my time in Varanasi I felt joyousness, disbelief, amazement, shock, sadness and a sense of connection that I couldn’t possibly explain. A city where life and death are infamously intertwined, where a near constant procession of deceased bodies wrapped in brightly coloured silks are carried towards mother ganga (the Ganges) while the family stand a few meters away and watches while their loved ones are creamed and washed into the river. This was almost too much for me to bear as I stood and watched someone’s family member burnt, and as flecks of their ashes floated and landed on me, tears started and they did not stop. Nothing can prepare you for that