india airfare?

[Elizabeth]

sunnyxmoon's post about goa to karachi has inspired me...I am thinking about going to india in december or january...india experts...what should I expect to pay for airfare from the east coast? I did a search on the current sales and its coming up approx $700-800...could this be the same for dec-jan?

[space virgin]

December-January is prime tourist season, so 700-800 would be pretty damn cheap-- I'd expect more like 1100 honestly. From the west coast I've never paid less than $1400 for all of my trips.

When you go guidebook shopping, FYI the current issue of Lonely Planet (it has the Taj Mahal framed by two ladies' sari-clad legs on the cover) is pretty much outdated rubbish. I'm not saying Lonely Planet is rubbish, but that book has been out since Sept 2007 and things change incredibly fast on the subcontinent. There's a more-current Rough Guide and Footprint Guide out, and they're both good, solid guides.

Where do you think you'll go and for how long?

And remember that the tourist visa is good for 6 months from date of issue, not date of entry-- so give yourself enough time to get it before you leave, but not TOO much time! Visa processing is outsourced through Travisa now; if there's an Indian Embassy in your city you can't just go there to apply for it, you have to go to Travisa. Or just Fed-Ex everything in, that's what I did last time and it was fine.

[Elizabeth]

Don't worry - not much of a Lonely Planet fan anyway.

I'm thinking about going for maybe three months, possibly spending the last month up north or in Tibet because I read it starts to get hot in March.

I'm not sure where I want to go yet, but I've been reading your + other people's India posts and I'm generally in the research phase. Its kind of intimidating because I know like everything about backpacking Europe but nothing about India. It seems like this epic, totally different animal. But I am sure I can do it (with many bumps along the way hehe).

Also trying to recruit a travel partner so if he agrees then need his input as well.

[space virgin]

Awesome! 3 months would be perfect. It does start getting hot towards the end-ish of March but it's not too bad (I was in the hottest part of the country around that time and didn't suffer too much). April, May and June are the real beasts heat-wise.

You're right, traveling around India is absolutely 110% NOTHING like traveling around Europe-- with the possible exception of Goa just because of the sheer number of westerners. So if you go in with the attitude of expecting to not know what the hell you're doing, you'll be just fine!

If photos help for destination inspiration, I have lots more than what are on here. The first three trips' worth of sets are located at flickr:

November 2006 trip HERE (it's really only a couple of shots, not nearly all of them, I've gotten lazy)

February - March 2008 HERE

and Summer 2008 HERE.

I'm slowly getting around to geotagging them.

If I may make one suggestion when you're looking at airfare: try not to fly into Delhi. It's a pain in the ass for SO many reasons, just save it for later in your trip. I'd recommend flying into Mumbai or Bangalore; of the two Bangalore has a slight edge as it's a really nice, low-key, close-to-SO-many-awesome-places introduction to the country. The Mumbai airport is way the fucking hell and gone from the main part of the city but it's certainly worth it if you do decide to go there.

Let me know if you have any more questions. My blog, linked in the signature, has lots of stories from the road.