Explore Taj Tigers tour of India with young teens - how to avoid Delhi belly?

[chinamoon]

Hi, seen a wonderful and amazingly affordable trip to India for next year. But everyone I know who's been to India got some form of stomach upset. Would really like to avoid this for DC.
Any tips (Thinking of going with Explore - so if anyone has been on the Taj Tigers tour would love opinions.)

I've been to India 11 times and was only sick on 2 of the trips. Most important is bottled water, you need to be really careful often road/beach side stalls will sell water that has been reseated. I also carry hand gel as some of the toilets are grim! I also avoided street food. You just need to be pedantic about hand washing.

If you do get sick then get local meds as our Imodium was useless! Medication is super cheap over there and pharmacists are great and will give you meds without a prescription.

Don't forget about good mosquito protection (you may need malaria meds dependant on where you are going). It's an amazing country and every time I go back I fall more in love with it.

Where are you thinking of visiting??

I've been to India several times with my DCs. Sometimes they get ill (once seriously), sometimes they don't. So there's nothing you can do to guarantee they won't get ill, but you can maximise your chances by:

1. Making sure they get all their jabs and take malaria tabs if it's advised at the time of year you are going.

1. Don't drink the water. This includes making sure you brush your teeth with bottled water (and only buy bottled water from a reputable shop & check the seal is in place); not drinking any drinks with ice cubes in them; not eating salad (because it will have been washed in water) etc

1. Best thing is to eat freshly cooked, hot food all the time, because the heat should kill any nasties. We've had some fantastic street food cooked right in front of us which has been absolutely fine & not caused us any problems.

1. If you are going on a tour, chance are you will be staying in smart hotels so the food there should be fine (but still avoid the salad or any rice which is in one of those pots that's reheated all day long, rather then cooked for you.)

1. Bring soap, hand-wash and loo paper with you at all times, in case you need to use basic loos whilst you are out and about which don't provide them.

I expect the Taj and Tigers tour encompasses Rajastan, Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur etc plus Rantambore for the tigers? They are all lovely places and well set up for tourists. It will be an amazing experience for you all.

My DC didn't get ill at all in India! Me and DH did...

I have been to Southern India recently and was absolutely fine throughout. Stay in the best hotels you can. Use a hand sanitiser if you are unsure about cleanliness in toilets. A good tour guide will take you western toilets in restaurants and hotels. Don't eat salad and definitely have bottled water. The hotels provide it. If food looks dodgy, reheated and old, do not eat it. It is unlikely you will have any problems in northern India as it is well set up for tourists. Just take reasonable care.

I've been to India twice. Once with my kids who were 6 and 8 at the time. IMHO stay vegetarian. Eat in restaurants Indians eat - even a taxi driver or hotel owner would recommend cheap local vegetarian place. There they cook to demand. And don't use fridges because electricity is expensive. Stay away from food with meat in hotels. All grown ups had serious stomach problems once we started eating meat curries in a hotel we were staying before wedding we visited. My kids carried on eating dhal and breads and had no trouble. Ask for non spicy food for them though.