Posted on by Daniel Holbach

Only 27 days to go…

…and we’ll be off into our holidays again. Guess where we’re headed:

Right! India it is!

I’ve been looking forward to this for ages and we prepared for the trip by:

  • having lots Indian food (always the best way to prepare ;-))
  • watching Indian movies
  • reading Indian books
  • checking the map
  • etc etc etc

I know this is going to to be awesome and I’m quite sure that this won’t have been the last time, we’ve been to India. It’s a shame we can only go for 2,5 weeks.

Right now our plan is to do roughly this tour, so if you have

  • advice
  • recommendations
  • places to definitely see
  • detour plans we should consider
  • crazy ideas
  • etc, etc.

post a comment below.

  • ronak

    Hi,

    Nice to hear that 🙂

    1. Your are going mostly in Northern part of India, which is pretty good. Try out some of southern part such as Kerala, its a heaven. 😀 (you might prefer a plane to go to southern states, driving wouldn’t be a good option.

    ronak

  • Have fun. India is culturally quite diverse country. You are covering a small part of India, so you won’t be able to see the all aspect of diversity. Each part of India is different culturally. You can’t cover much in couple of weeks. As you might know, New Delhi is the capital of India. There are lots of places to see there. Shimla is a beautiful hill resort. Dharmasala is more famous for Monasteries. Amristar is famous for Golden Temple.

    Some advices. Careful with drinking water. Always buy a bottled water (known brand). Careful with your bags and wallet. If you are taking a guide, take one from reputed company. You might meet some strangers bugging you for guiding or something. Beware. Buy tickets from authorized sellers.

  • mathew

    Yes try Southern part of India, specially Kerala. Do not forget July-August is monsoon season. Most part of the India will be under water. 🙁

  • Roshan

    Places to Visit:

    New Delhi / Delhi Area:
    1. India Gate
    2. Red Fort (called Lal Quila in Hindi)
    3. Qutub Minar

    The Indian Linux User Group of Delhi is (very) an active community and may you could meet them for a change 😉 (An ex-member of the board of OSI also is located at Delhi / New Delhi area).

    Agra:
    1. Taj Mahal

    Recommendations:
    * Monsoons have reached Delhi earlier this year, so you need to carry raincoat / umbrella.
    * You could carry a hindi-to-english vice-versa dictionary, just for signboards (they are written in English and Hindi)
    * Intra-city bus might not be a good mode of transport.

    Try these Food items
    * Golgappa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gol_Gappa) – Might be a bit spicy
    * Bhelpuri

  • hello

    hey i have sent u a detailed mail on ur mail id of danile at holba.ch.

    did u get that?

  • Zenny

    Hey,

    Good 2 c u visiting india. A great place to see and learn :D. Well just would save beware of theifs, cheaters and wrong information givers. And happy journey. Its bad 2 see that ur not visting one of the famous city of India so called Silicon City (Bangalore) Where i live ;). Well yes Bangalore got good places 2 c and enjoy 2. You can visit other great cities like Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, etc. They r great too.

    Have fun and safe journey….

  • andres

    GOA! i dont really know if it is near where you are going, but man! greatest trance parties ever!

  • mama

    Hallo Daniel,

    toll, euer Foto. Das hat aber nicht Thomas bearbeitet?! Oder warst du mit dem Gesicht nicht in der Sonne? Trotzdem – steht euch beiden sehr gut!

    Mama

  • shirish

    Hi Daniel,
    This is personal bias but there is just no place like Pune. Dharamshala or especially Mcleodganj and the whole of Upper Dharamshala, Dharamkhot come second.
    We also have PLUG (www.plug.org) if you have time could visit. We also have a current OSI member who’s there in PLUG .

    Touche Roshan 😉

  • Daniel Holbach

    Thanks everybody for the great suggestions. The southern parts (and the places at the coast) of India definitely look interesting and I’ll definitely bear them in mind for one of the next trips, it’s just that July/August probably is not a good timing for those regions.

  • Hey Daniel! I am a student at Manipal University which is in Southern India.

    Firstly welcome to India. We have a tradition – “Adithi devo bhava” which means “Guest is God”. Just be careful of cheaters, esp. some people who disguise as guides. Dont get afraid, its just an advice.

    I would surely advise you to visit the Western Ghats which is along the western strip of the sub-continent. Who says we have only one Switzerland, Western Ghats is also one of them. I can say confidently coz my college is in this area.

    Plus India is known for its spicy food. I heard that you people don’t like such dishes, but why not give a try? You sill surely relish such dishes once you get hold of it.

    And just now subscribed to your feeds, so that I can keep in touch with your blog.

  • Daniel Holbach

    Manish: thanks for the advice.

    Regarding Indian food: you’re preaching to the choir. We ♥ Indian food!

  • Maybe am preaching.. But still, that’s the thing you wont find anywhere in the world. Spicy foods! 🙂

    And sorry for the typos in my last comment. Was half asleep at that time. Can I request you to correct it?

  • Daniel Holbach

    Manish: we have lots of great Indian restaurant in Berlin and we absolutely enjoy being there and getting good food. I’ll let you know how we liked the food in India itself. 🙂

    (Fixed typos.)

  • Daniel,

    We from Ubuntu India Team welcome you to India. Don’t mind too much about the weather warnings, there can’t be a better time than rainy season to escape from extremes (as per Indian standards) of summer and winter.

    Be careful about the spicy food, as people not used to it may take sometime (and some hours spent in restroom) to get used to it. If you want to have something spicy, suggest you have to have a sample of it, wait for a day to see if you are ok with it 😉 and then go again for the dish.

    As you land down here in rainy season, be careful about the water you drink. Suggest carrying a mineral water (some really good brand even if you have to spend extra bucks) always. Something available in the restaurants, in the same place you stay, should be quite good.

    Enjoy Indian food. Try to have different kinds of dishes, especially the special items in each place you visit, both the sweets and main dishes.

    Have a great time in India and if you need any help or further suggestions feel free to poke us anytime @ #ubuntu-in. 🙂

  • Daniel Holbach

    Thanks a lot Parthan – you can not imagine how much I look forward to finally landing in India. 🙂

    Thanks a lot for the good tips you gave me and I’ll try to come to #ubuntu-in soon.

    I just discovered that your blog is not on planet.ubuntu.com – why? Use https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PlanetUbuntu to add it there! 🙂

  • Daniel,

    My blog is not there because the wiki says “””To add your feed to [WWW] Planet Ubuntu, you must be an Ubuntu Member””” which am unfortunately not yet. 🙂

  • Daniel Holbach

    Parthan: emphasis on “not yet” – I hope to see you there soon!

  • Foto Leinwand

    Loved your tips, it’s going to make my trip easier when I go to India!!