What to take to India

These are a list of things that I personally found helpful in our 9 days trip (city based, hotel stay, in April).

Mosquito repellent clothes

I’ve been wearing mosquito repellent top and trousers throughout the trip. C was wearing mosquito repellent trousers but a normal T-shirt and neither of us got bitten through our clothes. So, hard to say how effective these special clothing were, but their quick-dry feature was great, wash in the hotel in the evening and ready the next day!

Mosquito repellent spray

We used Lifesystems 50% DEET spray (£7.99). I did not get a single bite. C got bitten once when he forgot to spray. I think it worked well, but also understood why some people prefer not to use DEET. My iPod touch cover got just slightly wrinkly where I touched with my fingers and C was experiencing a light skin irritation.

Mosquito repellent sheet

It’s super light, small, thin and 99p, so bought it just in case. Did not use it afterall, so not yet sure how effective they are.

Medicine

We brought Imodium and the 49p Diah-Limit (why is Imodium so expensive?), also paracetamol. Thankfully we didn’t get sick in India, just a bit of loose tummy.

Multi-vitamin tablets

I guess you lose lots of minerals from sweating. Hopefully the tablets helped us to keep our immune system strong?

Toilet tissues

You don’t necessarily have to bring one from your home country, but do always have some with you whilst in India. Public toilets in India don’t usually have toilet tissues even at Taj Mahal!

Antibacterial wipes

I packed it together with toilet tissues and always had it with me. Wiped a few suspicious toilet seats and tables on trains…

Hand gel

Your best friend in India.

Wet wipes

Handy to have in many situations, but particularly after eating sticky/oily/messy street foods!

Multifunctional headwear 

This is a must have item. We brought them to cover our necks from the sun, but found ourselves covering our mouths with them all the time. Some places can be sandy and dusty (imagine the tuktuk ride!) and air quality is so poor in cities like Delhi.

Light rain jacket

We had a couple of sudden heavy rains. It was usually only for 15-30min though.

Memo pad!

Another must have. I cut a few A4 scrap papers in four and clipped them together. I wrote our hotels’ addresses and phone numbers on them so whenever we needed a ride to our hotel all we had to do was to show the paper/page to the driver. This really saves time and avoids any confusions or misunderstandings. Make sure you write your hotel’s phone number also. In Mumbai, the drivers almost always had to call our hotel to get directions. Sometimes we even had to use it for well-known landmarks!

Cream crackers

Or any stomach calmer of your choice. For me, plain cream crackers really settled and calmed my stomach when I felt like I had been eating something too unfamiliar…

Apps

I downloaded a couple of map apps (GuidePal and Triposo) that could be used offline. What I found useful particularly for this journey was a taxi fare calculating app called TaxoFare. Covers only certain major Indian cities and you need to be online, otherwise the app was straightforward to use, fast and often very accurate.