THUMB RULE 1
keep in mind, when you walk into a new city every seller is out there to extract the maximum out of you (that includes your taxi drivers, hotel bills, restaurant bills, watch out for pick pockets etc). And if you are a foreign national you’d be overcharged for everything starting with a matchbox.
THUMB RULE 2
Learn the art of bargaining and always be on guard.
Planning the financial aspects of your trip and figuring out how much money you are going to need is an important part of any backpacking experience. By crunching some numbers, you will have a better idea about how much money you need to save up to make your trip possible. A financial plan is essential for the success of your trip.
Your travel budget should be considered long before you leave. Knowing approximately how much money you will need gives you an idea about how much you will need to save. You must set a goal well in advance so that it can be reached by the time of your departure. Planning ahead for your budget isn't very difficult. Consider the following expenses:
• Airline/Railway/Bus ticket
• Transportation in and around the country
• Accommodations
• Food
• Sight-seeing and museums
• Incidental expenses
PLANNING YOUR BUDGET
To figure out how much money you will need, you must first consider where it that you are traveling to is. Most of India is inexpensive, but there are places that will be a little heavy on your pocket. Mumbai, somewhere in Delhi, and Chandigarh are some of the expensive places. On the flip side, you can live and travel in parts of Rajasthan for a couple of hundreds a day.
Next, break down your expenses into two parts the initial costs and daily costs. Initial costs include your airline ticket, your backpack, hostel card, guidebook and all other equipment that you have to purchase before leaving.
Do you already have some or all of this stuff? Can you try to borrow any of it from your friends? If so, you have started saving money already. If you are headed towards the Metropolitan cities, an ISIC pass would also be a wise initial expense for students as it can get you great discounts on your food, travel and local attractions.
The next thing to be considered is for how many days you will be away. Obviously, the longer your trip, the more money you would be needed.
Now that your initial expenses have been planned out you can look forward and figure out roughly how much will you be spending on the following each day: food, accommodation, sight seeing and transportation. A typical travel budget for one day in India might look something similar to this:
Accommodation: Rs 400
Food: Rs 100
Transportation: Rs 50
Sight-seeing: Rs 100
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Total: Rs 650
Once you have planned out your daily as well as initial costs you can now multiply your total daily budget by the number of days you will be away. For example, if you were to be gone for 5 days, your total cost would be around Rs 3250 , just for daily expenses. Then add on your initial costs to get your total travel budget:
Daily budget x Number of days + Initial costs = Total budget
Remember that these prices are only an example and that your daily budget will be an average. Obviously you won't be paying for museums everyday neither would you be incurring the same transportation cost everyday, but Rs 100/day is a good average. Prices are so variable everywhere you go that a daily budget could be half this (or double). Check our website (www.indianbackpacker.com) to get a good idea how much your accommodation might cost. And don't forget to allow for any extra/unseen expenses.
If your calculated total travel budget is higher than you think you can manage to save up, you shouldn't let that stop you from backpacking. This is India and you can be sure that you can manage in any budget that you plan for. There are plenty of options to travel on the really cheap, and you can always consider finding part time work in other cities, specially the metropolitans.
Travel Budget Variables
Except for museums and sight-seeing or even eating cheap, many expenses are unavoidable. The difference is how much you spend on each of them.
• Airline ticket prices can vary so much from day to day that you have to be frequently watching for deals and bargains when they come up. Your airline ticket purchase allows you with the greatest opportunity to save money if done properly.
• Transportation costs will depend on where you're going and in which city are you traveling. How you get around can either accumulate/save you some money (hitch-hiking) or cost you plenty. Taking rickshaws/buses/metro trains in cities on a regular basis will keep your wallet heavy.
• Your choice of accommodations (hotel/hostel) leaves a bit of room for financial flexibility. Hostels are obviously your top bet and are quite reasonably priced. But there are even cheaper ways to sleep (bed and breakfast in Delhi/Camping outdoors) than hostels.
• A good decision on where you eat and what you eat can change your food budget by a great deal. Buying your own food at supermarkets and cooking it yourself will be cheaper than eating at tourist-type restaurants/road side “Dhabas” all the time. Alcohol can be another pricey food buy, if you can call it 'food'.
• Sight-seeing and museums and their value while traveling is subject to personal attitude. Our view on the value of sight-seeing is that if you are going half way around the India to travel, visit, see the sights and learn about the history and culture of the particular place, do it right. Saving a few rupees while away will only make you regret it later as you say to yourself, "I should have paid a little more to go into the Taj Mahal " Student travelers could apply for an ISIC student card to help cut costs. |
