We get it. The idea of traveling in India can be daunting.
The country is a constant assault on your senses and many long-term travelers have had to cut their travels in this country short because they just couldn't handle the never-ending sensory overload that is India.
While I hope our previous articles about India have encouraged otherwise, we now have a foolproof alternative to propose if you are still nervous about visiting this amazing country.
Go to Sri Lanka first.
There are many destinations we have visited around the world where we have found that renting a car made for a better experience. In many others we realized we probably would have had a better time had we splurged for our own transportation for a few days. But there are a few select destinations where we did not rent a car and realized that it was a critical mistake that greatly altered our experience.
Oman was one of those destinations.
While it is hard for anyone to fully justify the costs of a rental car, especially when you will need to spend even more for a full SUV with 4-wheel drive, we have a few reasons as to why you should consider it when traveling in Oman.
For our first time trekking, we choose what is considered to be one of the most strenuous: Mount Everest Base Camp.
When purchasing our gear in Kathmandu, we had no real idea what we were needing and had to rely on a number of packing lists found online (this one from our friends at The Planet D was a pretty good start).
As we had no clue of our own abilities, we bought pretty much everything recommended for an Everest Base Camp Trek packing list just to cover us in case we needed them.
After successfully completing the trek, and managing it in relative ease, we wanted to look back at some of the more notable items in our packing list to comment on their need for those who may be in a similar position to us.
This post will not include everything we took, but instead focuses on some of the more unique items that a trekking packing list often includes.
Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that our trek was in late-November 2013. We cannot comment on how this packing list would work in the summer or winter months as we do not have personal experience hiking in these conditions.
When exploring the backwaters of Kerala, India, renting a house boat is often the preferred activity. These large floating boats can include every amenity you'd expect from home, and unfortunately come with the price tag to match.
We knew going into our backwater tour of Alleppey that the house boats would be far outside our budget. Instead, we looked towards the more intimate tours on smaller boats that get into the narrow channels these floating houses could never dream of reaching.
Our mode of transportation for this journey? Kayaks.
Armed with our paddles and a trusty guide, we began to explore the backwaters to see what life is truly like in this part of the world in a way not many visitors get to experience.