Packing Tips from an Expert
My friend, Susan Foster, provided me with some excellent advice on packing for India that she has gathered not only from her years as an experienced traveler but from her trip last year to India. Susan is the author of Smart Packing for Today’s Traveler
Here are 3 excellent tips:
1) Plan for some warmer layers! I had a thin windbreaker rain jacket with a hood that layered over many other things and saved me in the night cold. Gloves and a hat, too.
2) Also, I had anticipated wearing sandals much of the time, but when my toes saw all the filth on the streets (remember that cows roam freely and excrement is everywhere - watch your step!!) they rebelled and I wore shoes with socks almost every day, warm or cold.
3) In general, take cotton clothes that you do not treasure, wear and have laundered locally. They will beat your clothes to death by hand washing on the rocks and then drying in the sun, but you won’t have to pack much and you will be clean! T-shirts suffer under this, woven cotton shirts and pants are the most durable.
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My plan is to travel with the clothes on my back (and a few pair of underwear) and to purchase anything I need once in Bangalore. It’s obvious, however, that I may have to add jacket and even a hat to my list of purchases once I start heading north.
Current temps where I’ll be:
Bangalore: 82 high/59 low
Mumbai: 86 high/67 low
Jaipur: 70 high/46 low
Agra: 71 high/46 low
Delhi: 67 high/43 low
Happy Travels!
