Mosquitos

Mosquitoes!  They are here and waiting for you!

Here are some tips:

• Bring insect repellent
• Off's new Family Care line smells pretty good but has 15% DEET if you care about that sort of thing
• Buy insect repellent when you get here
• (Odomos, available everywhere here, works well and smells decent)
• Enjoy the fun of a mosquito bat
• Get a Clip-on Fan from Off!

Eeeew! 

Texting in India

I'd forgotten all about this clip till Mom re-sent it last week.



Classic.

Visit the blog to view the video.

Travelling Money

Or, as my dad calls it, WAM (walkin' around money).

Rupee to Dollars conversion
As of right now, the conversion rate is 44.35 rupees per 1 US Dollar.  (link)

Here's my rule for converting:  Move the decimal two places to the left, and then double it.

Example:  800 Rupees, move the decimal two places is 8, times two is 16.  That means it's about 16 dollars (it's actually $17.99).  It's not exact since the conversion isn't exactly 50, but it gets you in the ballpark.


How much US cash to carry with you
We usually travel with $100-200 USD, so that we can freely shop in international airports (most accept US dollars) and have cab money for when we return to SFO.


Credit Cards & ATM machines
Call your bank and credit card company in advance to tell them you'll be out of the country.  Cards are accepted at most places.

There is likely a Foreign Currency Conversion Fee associated with each transaction.  Talk to your bank to find out the details.  For ATM withdrawals, there is probably the Foreign Currency fee, plus the ATM Fee (if you bank charges you for using other people's ATMs), and ATM Fee incurred by the issuing bank.  This could add up to $6-10 per transation (withdrawal), so you might want to make fewer ATM stops and get more money out each time.

During my first few trips to India, I would usually pull Rs 4,000 out of the ATM (about $100) per week and that is more than enough for getting around, eating, a small shopping. Big shopping you can use a credit card in a proper shop, but not in a stall.


See also:

• Tipping
• Beggars
• Rickshaws & Taxis (coming soon)
• Shopping (coming soon)

"RUUUPPEEEEEEEESSSS"

You can't Unsee It

Since I'm about to write a post about money, currenty conversion,. using your credit card and such, I had to stop and do this blog first.  Big thanks to Katy Franco for pointing this out.  Ever since she said it, I will never "un-see" it.  And it's everywhere lately.

This is the old Rupee sign:

That red guy in the middle.  For instance, one might say "The minimum fare for a rickshaw is Rs10", or "20 dollars is about Rs1000."

Here are some of the contenders for the new Rupee Symbol, which they recently decided to develop:

I actually like that "Malayadri" one, it's like our $ dollar symbol except it's got two vertical lines in the R.

Here's what they chose:

It's fine, until you notice, as Katy pointed out, that It looks like a headless, pot-bellied zombie.


Have fun with that on your upcoming trip to India!

Beggars in India

Encountering beggars during your trip to India is unavoidable.

I was going to write a blog post with information about the beggars mafia, what to do about children beggars, and how to handle the encounters, but it's all written very well in this post on About.com.

In short, the specific direction on what to do, is copied below:

If you want to give to beggars, only give 10-20 rupees at a time. Only give when you’re leaving a place, not arriving, to prevent being mobbed. Try to give to those who perform a service, such as small children who often dance or sing, or those that are elderly or crippled. Avoid giving to women with babies because the babies usually aren't theirs.

The rest of the article (not very long) is really informative and you should definitely read it.  I just didn't want to steal the credit for Sharell's good writing.  Please visit the original article and read it.

Gift Registry info

Some of you have asked, so...

We are registered at Target and Crate & Barrel.  Click the images below to view our registries online!

Electricity & Voltage in India

Sushant says:  "Voltage in India: 220 volts. Most laptops, phone chargers and toiletries come with universal chargers (meaning they will work fine on 110 US or 220 India). You should ask everyone to check their chargers and if it says 110 ~ 220, it's fine"

Basically, there are two things different:

• The plugs in India are different than the US.  
• The voltage is different also.  It's 220 in India and 110 in the US

This means that your stuff that can't handle 220 volts will melt when you plug it in. These are small things like maybe a curling iron or a rechargable battery charging center.  

But most electronics nowdays (laptops, digital camera battery chargers, phone chargers, iphone chargers) can handle that voltage.  Check the item's sticker, they usually look like these on the bottom of your laptop or back of your battery:

Now, about plugs.  The plugs are different. We have flat "pins":

They have Round Pins (usually) but I've also seen Sideways Flat Pins (sometimes).  These are all technical terms!  I worked in Electrical Department at OSH!  (I don't know if these are actually technical terms.  But I know that the "A" in A19 light bulb stands for arbitrarily-shaped!)

See these round or flat pins?

Adapters for said pin style often look like this:

Sometimes look like this.

And the hotel will probably be able to provide them to you.

About tipping

Tipping in general:

• Most tipping is only at restaurants and bars.  

Restaurants and Bars:

• 10% is good.  That's more than most.

Hotel:

• Maid:  Amount is up to you (Rs 100-300 for 3-5 days), can put at the end of trip (daily not necessary)
• Bellhop:  Yes, please tip the guy if he brings your bags.  Rs. 20 or so.

Taxis & Rickshaws:

• No tipping necessary.  If you'd like to let him "keep the change" that's fine.  If you want to reward a taxi driver that you've had for a full day with sightseeing, that is fine too, but not required or necessary.
• We will post separately about how to read the Rickshaw & Taxi meters.

Call for Topics & Questions!

Hey everyone,

We plan to post a lot of informational stuff about the trip this week.  We are leaving the US a week from today, on Monday, October 11th.

We'll spend this week putting as much information as we can onto the blog to help everyone with their planning.

Here are some of the topics we'll be posting this week.  Please comment on this post or email us and to request other topics:

• Tipping
• Voltage in India
• Carrying Cash and conversion
• Mosquitos
• Getting from airport to the hotel
• About your Mumbai & Nasik hotel reservations in general
• Suggested Packing Lists
• About Shopping & Bargaining in India

Let us know if you want more!