UNCOVER INDIA – DEHLI TO GOA (15 DAYS)

We were both apprehensive about joining a tour in India. It was the start of our first big travel adventure and knew we needed to get off to a good start for us to fully enjoy our next 10 months. I was pretty sure that a G Adventures tour was the best way to begin. Yes there is an idea that you loose your independence when you join an organised group but in hindsight, India is definitely the place to have a helping hand.

We booked our trip through STA which were great in helping us pick out the best trip. Obviously as a budget backpacker your initial instinct is to make sure you get the most for your money and of course a tour is always going to be more expensive then if you did it all yourself. There is a bunch of tours on offer for India, we opted for Uncover India which is a 15 day tour starting in Delhi and ending in Goa. It seemed to cover all the things we wanted to do with a few extra bits you wouldn’t really get to do if you went solo. It depends what you are looking to do in India to what tour you pick.

Day 1 we met with the whole group, we were in a group that was at maximum capacity. There were a total of 18 backpackers including a mix of couples and solo travellers. The group was made up of mostly English with a few Australian and Norwegian. We didn’t feel too weird about meeting such a large group as we had each other but of course everyone was friendly.

Our tour guide was really good. He was a native Indian so was well able to answer any questions we had about the culture and language. He also helped a lot of us out when we needed advice about India or travelling in general

The tour we opted for was a YOLO experience, which means budget hotels. We were warned not to expect too much from the accommodation however everywhere we stayed was great. Each hotel seemed clean and always had access to wifi which is a big plus in the 21st century. All accommodation is included in the tour price.

Transport was a mix of tuk tuks, buses and an overnight train. Our tour also included a flight from Mumbai to Goa. It is definitely a luxury to have transport on call and not have to worry about how we are getting to each place. Transport to and from organised activities is included, you have to pay extra for the odd tuk tuk to and from dinner and any optional activities you choose to do.

You are given a breakdown of what meals are included when you book the tour. You can opt to go on tours that include all food but at the same time are more expensive. Our tour include a meal here and there but definitely was not all inclusive. This is where you have to remember to bring spending money and yes G Adventures do suggest a budget to bring but just keep an open mind. I think this may be the only criticism I have for this tour was that the places that we were brought to or recommended for dinner and lunch all seemed to have a pricey bill. Comparing a lunch time street food meal we picked up before our tour started for 30 rupees which is about 40p to our average bill of 1,400 rupees (approx. £17) when we were on the tour it can get expectantly expensive. Obviously it is completely adaptable and you don’t have to eat with the rest of the group, but nobody wants to be that person.

On a similar note, optional activities are an additional cost. There are days throughout the tour when there is no included activity but plenty of optional things to choose from. Again, it is your complete preference if you opt to do these and can pass if you are on a strict budget but we didn’t want to just sit around when we were in such an amazing country. Our guide was quiet good at giving his honest opinion on whether it was worth paying for the extra activities. You can rack up quiet a bill once you start doing the odd thing here and there. Also any transport that is required for these activities are extra so little by little it can creep up.

Another thing to keep in mind when travelling through India if you are on a tour or not, tipping is a massive thing over here. If you are from the UK or Australia you will take a couple days to adjust to when to tip and how much. Our tour guide was helpful at suggesting appropriate amounts to tip. The average tip is about 80 rupees which is about a £1 but just be careful as this slowly amounts to a small fortune when you are tipping everyone who carries your bag or brings you food.

The tour itself included day trips to the Taj Mahal and Amber Fort in Jaipur. All the locations we visited seemed to get better and better. I would recommend to anyone wanting to travel through India to go from North to South, just for the simple reason that it gets nicer and more relaxed as you go. The other way around would just be wrong.

More specifically to the tour we did with G Adventures there are a couple of highlights that made everyone who was part of the group appreciate that we were on an organised tour. One of the places we stayed was a rural village that I know we wouldn’t of had the chance to see if we did India by ourselves. Another activity that was arranged was an optional camel ride into the dessert to visit a gypsy town to watch them preform and they also served us dinner there. That was an amazing night but there would be no way of organising that if we hadn’t gone with this tour.

During our time in India, it was Holi Festival – the famous festival of colour. It was soon realised that the day Holi fell on was the day we had a full day of travel. Our tour guide was amazing at trying to organise the best way for us to enjoy the festival even organising for private transfers so we could enjoy the morning of Holi. It was really appreciated within the group that our guide went above and beyond for us.

Of course with a large group there is going to be ups and downs and trying to please everyone becomes near impossible but at the end of the day we were all there to have a good time and experience new things. It was definitely an agreed thought throughout our group that we would not have been able to do India alone. It was a great way to start off our trip and really get us into the travelling mood without being too overwhelming.