Anyone got experience of travel to India?

[triplets]

Wish this was for me but its not! The childrens godmother and her husband are wanting to spend up to a year travelling in India, her father lived there for over 25 years in Assam, in the good old days! I would love to but her a good book that would be useful, they won`t be wanting posh hotels, any ideas welcome. Thanks!

No -one? Somebody must have been...........please!

One tip. Use the trains.

I've been. Not with children though. As a student, with another female friend of mine.

It is intense, it is dirty, it is in your face, it is vibrant, full of life, MAD, it is the one country in the world I have been to where I got complete and utter culture shock (and I've travelled a lot!).

I've been to a lot of places for one month, or more, Far East etc.... and would happily have stayed longer. But, after my 3.5weeks in India, I was very much looking forward to getting home again.

I loved it. Loved the people. Loved the sights, sounds, experiences, nowhere like it, wonderful. But, I could not cope with a year. Too intense for me.

Having said that, I have friends who have moved to India, inner city, living pretty basic, and love it entirely and don't want to come home.

The one thing I would say- travel by train everywhere. They'll really see the country, and really meet the people. And don't travel first class, cos that's dull and they won't see real India that way! Even if it is cheap.

Wow. I wish them luck. (Sorry I cannot be more help!!)

Thank you, they mentioned the train system, its about £500 for a 90 day pass which seems good to me.

The obvious books are the Lonely Planet series and the Rough Guide series - both aimed at backpacker/budget travellers. Also good is the 'Culture Shock' series - about living in a country rather than being a tourist.

If you are in London visit the travel bookshop in Longacre near Covent Garden (sorry can't remember the name).

I spent a couple of months in India in the days when I had a life pre-children... and agree absolutely with bergentulip - it was fascinating and infuriating and in-your-face and very different to the West.

DH has been on business to Mombai and Chennai and found them very depressing. I have been to Northern India to Delhi and around Rishikesh. It was fantastic. Camping beside a pristine River Ganges up in the mountains was priceless.

i have beeb twice. once for 6 months and once for one month. both trips pre kids and both budget travel.

my longrt trip was during a particularly hedonistic stage in my life so i was happy to do a lot of chilling out. tbh if i went for a long trip now i would get bored with sightseeing. so my tip would be to arrange some vol work. also arrange some guided experinces. i did a week long himalayan trek and also a 10 day rafting trip in nepal.

That sounds wonderful. She is already thinking along those lines, she is a great animal lover and would love to work with the elephants. How do you find out about things like that?