India tour & travel

Travel Writing in India

India is a heaven for travel writers where you can enjoy the beauty of valleys, sense the spiritual life of people and write about them. It is known that the diversity and variety that India offers to all its visitors is unique in the world and representing them in a website or a magazine is not so easy. There are many unexplored areas and challenges India has and while writing about them one has to take care about the feeling of the local people and country at a large. Here we will try to understand some of the problems a travel reporter faces while in India.

Write Daily

There is a chance that you may forget how much you have paid as entry fee to the museum or the guide charged you at the fort entrance. For all expenditures you may not get receipt to keep an account. At the end of the day or while taking coffee, a small note on area, distance, time spend, expenditure etc will help to develop a better informative content for your readers.

Keep those papers

Why not keep those counter foils of entry tickets, cable car tickets and visiting card of your guide ? These papers will have the local std code, pin codes ( zip code of India ) and many more details. You can also call them in future and ask for some information or help.

Don't read, take photo

Take photos of sign boards, maps and mile stones. Use one quick focus, point and shoot digital camera to quickly capture the information, rather than reading and noting the information it is better to take a photo and read it latter. These are the advantage of today's digital cameras with high memory capacity.

Your experience is important so just keep a note of happenings around and try to develop an informative content out of it specifying dos and don'ts. Give an idea like best time to visit and how to avoid rush hours, how to take a best photo. These small tips helps your readers. Availability of ATMs, Medicine shops, Information center etc helps tourist in planning their journey.

Laptop & Internet

If you are carrying your laptop then take care to keep it in safe place and see that it is not exposed to public specially where it is not required. Camera ( high end ), Laptops, mobile phones are the prime attractions of the thieves. In some remote ( trekking , Jungle etc ) places power supply is not stable so use one spike guard or similar add on to protect your gadgets and computers. If you are sure about your antivirus software then only connect your laptop to Internet in a browsing center. To back up your data keep one pen drive, but CD or DVDs are available in plenty at road side Pan shops & small stationary shops. If you are in a long journey then you can send your backup CDs to your home or to a friend.

What photos to take.

You can take photos of historical places or some famous places like Taj Mahal or India Gate but the real beauty of India lies in its rural areas and in streets. Catch some faces of village people or a busy traffic and some hot fast food selling point located by the side of road. These photos if taken in proper sprit reflect life in India.

In many places cameras are not allowed inside. So it is better you enquire about using a camera inside the complex. Places like Jagannatha temple at Puri, photography is strictly prohibited. You can take pictures at the entrance of such places. Ask the local people to take you to a nearby building where a full view from a height can be taken. Usually these buildings owners based on their location charge some money for allowing you to take pictures. We paid Rs 50 ( fifty only ) at Puri and Rs 20 at Bhubaneswar for taking photo of nearby temples from a side by hotel building. In some places you have to pay camera fee to take your camera inside. As a show of proof of payment you will be asked to hang a tag given at counter.

In summer seasons Himalayan areas will full with mist so getting a clear sky during this period is very less. In winter and starting of Summer clear sky will be there to take photos.

Your Indian experience will be a memorable as you enjoy every bit of it.
  • Entry ticket Price ( Indian , foreign , Kids )
  • Entry price of still camera , video
  • Entry ticket for vehicle , parking fee
  • Guide charges
  • Duration of visit required ( mimimum )
  • Time in a day ( morning or evening )to visit
  • Opening and closing time
  • Weekly off day ( Rohtang pass is closed on Tuesday )
    • How to reach by road , train and Air,
    • Duration or days required to visit
    • Best time to visit
    • Shopping centers or what to buy ( like T Nagar in Chennai )
    • Where to eat , local food or popular shops for special food
    • Package details with rate
    • Local Cab rates
    • Sightseeing spots
    • History of the place and details
    • Weather in different seasons ( temperature , rain ,snowfall time etc )
    • Tourist Guide Map, Tourist spots of a state Tourist map of Uttarakhand
    • Opening and closing time of darshan
    • Waiting period
    • Camera allowed or not
    • Phone allowed or not
    • Distance to walk or queue
    • Accommodation available near temple,
    • Arati or special puja time ,
    • Special Puja or local tradition to follow like using Dhoti only, or removing shirts before entering
    • History or legends