The main reason I did not want to do this trip alone is India. Being on a solo trip in India is tough!
India because it has a really bad reputation regarding Indian treatment of girls/women. Did you know that they still kill babies if they find out during pregnancy that it’s a baby girl? Did you know that some people still treat women below cows (cows are holly for Hindus). Did you know there are more men in India than women? This is where I find my explanation for barely having seen women in the 1st hours of my stay in Delhi.
For all those reasons I was scared, so I start seeing many videos about the subject. They did not help at all. All videos I saw had women stating they do not feel safe in their country and that they can’t go out at night, or at least avoid doing it. I don’t feel like being in a solo trip in India at all. Being that, I needed to find a solution to this problem I had in hands. That’s why I planned to volunteer almost every single day of my trip to India. Volunteering means I will have company for sure and will not feel unsafe in the country.
I planned my trip starting in Delhi, the 2nd most populated city in India with more than 10M people. Well, that’s just like my whole country was a city … I was starting with the worst scenario, so I told myself that after this I’m ready for anything. And so it was. When people were telling me back in Bangkok that the city was dirty I was like: WHAT? B * please, I’m sure you have never been to India. And it’s true, most of Thai’s travelers have not put India in their route. 90% of travelers are traveling to: Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and many times Laos. India and Myanmar were not countries many people have visited. So, many people were curious about my solo trip in India. And of course, after feeling the country vibe I always recommended. But this feeling about India is the same in every person I met during the trip.
Anyway, I planned to start in Delhi and get a train the same day to Agra. I had a 2h scale of time between my arrival and the departure of the train (as I searched on the internet). That was not a good plan at all, as you can see in my post from the 1st hours in Delhi. In Agra, I was planning to Volunteer in a hostel near Taj Mahal (this was the only part of the plan I was able to fulfill) and then get back to Delhi, spend some days volunteering at a hostel too. After that, I planned to head Guwahati, because I was initially thinking to cross India to Myanmar by land. I’m glad I didn’t.
I had already bought a plane ticket from Delhi to this city. In Guwahati, I would volunteer for an art project, and after that, I was going to Kolkata to catch a flight to Myanmar. I have been told that Kolkata is the cheapest city in India to fly to Myanmar. (Can you believe that I bought this India- Myanmar flight for the wrong month? Yeah, that was silly.) Kolkata was the only city I had not plan to volunteer as I would only stay 1 night.
I was really excited about this volunteer in Guhawatti and I was already talking to the person who would receive me for a while. He gave me many advice and help. I thank him for that and I’m sorry I could never have the chance to visit him. I was very excited because they have these wonderful cascades in Shillong and Cherrapunji, that is close to Guwahati.
The main reason I selected India as a destination has been the Taj Mahal. I have a fascination with that masterpiece. I had already been to Morocco and I thought the feeling would not be much different, but it certainly is. – I like India the most-
So, this was my plan for my solo trip in India. I would not be alone and everything would be ok. You can check how all the plan was useless, as I described this nerve wracking day on the post.
Just don’t plan your trip please. Live it the way your heart commands.
