If you can travel India together, you can survive anything!

Not all of our travels through India were as peaceful as the moment captured in this photo. In fact, I think it is safe to say that this photo is an anomaly when discussing a trip to India. Yet somehow the magic of that country won us over forever and even managed to get us back for a second trip within a year! There were a few other serene experiences, but let's talk about some of the funny experiences first....

Our first trip to India was in December 2009. We were quite ambitious and planned a 16-day trip, not realizing that we would love India so much that we would return frequently. Our trip began in New Delhi with a two-day tour of the city's famous temples, forts, and Ghandi's Eternal Flame. Next we drove to Agra (and by drove, I mean that our driver drove because the roads in India are CRA-ZY!). In Agra spent an afternoon at the Taj Mahal, learned about marble-making, and visited the Red Fort at Sunrise.

We then drove to Ranthambore, which is when we came across our first, ummm, unique experience. Ranthambore is a well-known location for taking a safari to view the tigers, and we had two safaris scheduled, each 3-4 hours long. Our first safari was beautiful and we felt as though we had entered the set of The Lion King. We stumbled across fresh tiger paw prints in the mud, but did not see any actual tigers. We retired to our hotel for dinner and a good night's sleep so that we would be energized for an early morning safari before our drive to Jaipur.

Now let's talk about our hotel. What we did not know before our first trip to India is that there are three classes of hotels in India: 5-star, 4-star, and 3-star (which includes everything 3-star and below!). We had selected a mix of hotels based on reviews from TripAdvisor, thinking that we are safe. That was our second lesson about hotels in India: do not trust TripAdvisor. Hotels have friends write positive reviews about their hotels so they are not as reliable.

Our hotel in Ranthambore was one of the 3-star options as that was all that existed in the town at the time. When we checked in we looked at each other with concern, but figured it couldn't be too bad for just one night. During our dinner at the hotel restaurant Jay spotted a rat running on across the wall behind me. We did not finish eating our meals. We saw bugs in our room and didn't sleep all night. We woke up our driver at 5:30 am, told him we were skipping our morning safari, and drove to Jaipur 6 hours earlier than scheduled. And during the drive we booked a Starwood hotel so we could avoid the potential terror of another 3-star "boutique" hotel.

Jaipur, the pink city, turned out to be an amazing, (not unhurt by the fact that our hotel was phenomenal). We highly recommend the Sheraton as it is close to the main city and palace area, and yet still close to the Amber Fort, the main attraction of Jaipur. We spent hours exploring the Fort, I had a purple sari made in town, and we ate our weight in Khadai Paneer and sweets at LMB Restaurant.

Jaipur was also where we learned about another local trick: kickbacks for tour guides. We specifically asked to be brought to LMB Restaurant, but our tour guide and driver took us somewhere else. We asked them to bring us to LMB and they fought us on it, but eventually gave in. The driver later told us that if we go to specific restaurants where they have connections, the drivers or guides are given free meals in exchange for bringing tourists that will pay (and pay a lot more than it is worth). There is the same situation with the shops. We took a recommendation from one larger shop owner to visit a smaller handicrafts shop and called the shop directly to coordinate a ride. Because we did not come with a tour guide that they would have to pay a commission to, we were able to negotiate prices 40% less than what he would normally charge tourists. We wished we would have known this before making some purchases earlier in the trip, but it was important to know for the future.

Our last activity in Jaipur was attending the early morning showing of the deity at Govinda-ji Temple on our way out of town on the third day, which was the highlight of Jaipur. The deity is over 1,400 years old and it is shown only 3 times a day. It was such a special experience and really set the tone for the rest of our trip.

Our next stop was Jodphur. This is called the blue city and is known for its spices. We visited the fort and loaded up on saffron and hing. We spent the nightly in a dingy Heritage hotel, but I stopped complaining as soon as I located Golden Girls on TV!

After our night in Jodphur we drove to Jaisalmer. This drive brought us close to the border of India and Pakistan, which was noted by the military vehicles we passed along the way. Little did we know that Jaisalmer would become one of our favorite cities in India (personally, my favorite city in India). With only 200,000 people, it is relatively small compared to its big brothers Mumbai and Delhi. There is a fort perched atop a hill, and our boutique hotel, which had come highly recommended from a friend, had a direct view from its rooftop restaurant. On our first night we shared Khadai Paneer and Kingfishers while staring at the lit-up fort.

Our first day included a tour of the city, which was pretty quick. We walked the lanes to visit some temples, and spent a few hours wandering through the fort. That night was Christmas Eve, and we were invited to join the family on their trek to the desert, along with a few other guests. We drove into the middle of the desert, hopped on some camels, and rode 30 minutes across sand dunes to our camping spot. The family built two big bonfires: one for cooking and one for sitting around. We watched them make a full Indian meal, including rice and sauces, using three large iron dishes/bowls and simple knives. It was phenomenal. After a big meal, a few kingfishers, and some dessert, we drove back to the hotel around midnight and went to sleep. After spending Christmas Day reading at the rooftop restaurant, we were off to Jodphur on Boxing Day for a flight to Goa.

The flight to Goa was....interesting. The flight attendants were extremely friendly, but our flight was seriously delayed and the staff did not seem to be bothered (nor did any of the other passengers, which was odd). We had a layover in Mumbai, and by the time we arrived in Mumbai we had missed our connecting flight to Goa. The staff of the airline were not willing to help us out, did not offer us hotel vouchers, and recommended that we try the Airport Orchid Hotel. After further investigation, we discovered that they get a % kickback from all guests they send there, so we decided to cash in some Starwood points and pop into the Le Meridien by the airport instead.

This proved to be an excellent decision! The hotel was very well-designed, the staff was extremely friendly, and there was an amazing Chinese restaurant in the hotel (which was perfect as we needed a break from Indian food after 9 days of eating paneer and aloo gobi). And even better, we were seated at a table next to an Emirates Airlines pilot for dinner, who told me all sorts of stories and gave me inside info on the aerospace engineering. Our flight to Goa was very early in the morning, before the Robuchon restaurant opened, yet the staff happily gave us croissants and coffees for the road.

We spent the next three nights at a B&B in the Calangute area of Goa. There was no air conditioning and our bed was covered in a mosquito net, yet we enjoyed our stay. There was a spa around the corner, which we frequented daily, and this fabulous Italian couple owned a delicious restaurant along our alleyway (we ate there three times!). We likely would not go back to Goa as it was a bit of a overplayed hippie down that did not have much to do, but we are happy that we explored the area.

So our first trip to India was a success, mostly because we decided that we wanted to come back and explore Mumbai and the areas we hadn't seen on this trip. The only surprise was that we had not gotten sick at all. We had actually expected to get a stomach illness of some sort, so we ate and ate and ate the first half of the trip expecting that we would be so sick we would lose any weight we gained. But that did not happen so we returned from India a little bit heavier than when we arrived (and I returned with a Sari that did not fit only a week after having it made!).

We started planning our December 2020 trip just a few months after returning from our first trip. The second trip included 4 days in Mumbai and 5 days in Kerala, which is on the southernmost tip of India. We learned from our first trip and only stayed in large chain hotels. We also used only recommendations when booking a tour guide, selecting restaurants, and going shopping.

We had two days of touring planned for Mumbai. The first day was a great success. He took us through one of the slums, where he had friends, and we were able to learn a lot about the culture and the development projects that are planned for the area. We also visited Ghandi's house and went to the beach for a beautiful Sunset.

The second day started great with a visit to the Gate of India across from the Taj Hotel, and a one-hour ferry ride to Elephant Island. And that is when I made my first mistake: I drank tea that wasn't boiling hot. The rule in India is to only eat food that has been boiled or fried so that it kills any bacteria, and only drink bottled water from the hotel or water that has been boiled for tea. Our tour guide insisted that we were at a reputable cafe, so I drank a sip of the masala chai he ordered for us. As soon as I finished that first sip and discovered it was only lukewarm, I stopped Jay from drinking any of his and crossed my fingers. Unfortunately the bacteria gods won and less than an hour later I was struggling to make it through our tour. We headed back to the ferry and then back to the hotel. The next day we flew to Kerala, a flight I barely survived, and checked into the beautiful Leela Kempinski hotel on a cliff. The hotel's beach was beautiful and restaurants were delicious. And the staff was so friendly! For the next 5 days I would wake-up for an early morning private yoga lesson on the grass terrace outside our room, have a piece of toast for breakfast, and then lay by the pool until the antibiotics kicked in, making me so sick I would lay in bed for the rest of the day. I realize that must sound like an awful trip, yet I have only great memories. I slept a lot, read a few books that I had been itching to get to, and caught up on my iTunes queue. Outside of the day I got stung by a bee at the pool, I had a blast.

So India Part 2 had its own problems, yet we survived and are still interested in seeing the rest of India. There is so much left to see!

The lesson we learned in India is that if you can travel India together, you can survive anything. There was so much potential for disaster on both of our trips, yet we made it through laughing and with a lot of inside jokes.