kelly lauren black
Creative Content Producer
My friends and I are all currently living in Spain teaching English, and our awesome Indian friend offered to take us on a ten day tour of his country. So obviously we said yes! We went for 10 days where I shot my first daily vlog as I really wanted to capture the good and bad aspects of a trip like this. So here's the trailer, if you like what you see, check out the daily vlog below!
Day 1 - Getting to New Delhi
As a backpacker you quickly learn that direct flights are for the rich and people on vacation, ie - not you. Join me on the first day of our trip to see what it takes to get from Europe to India on a budget, spoiler - in involves lots of airport time, but when with friends you manage to make it fun! We also have our first day of exploring in New Delhi and our first Indian dinner :)
Day 2 - An Unexpected Entourage
Welcome to what was by far my favorite day in India. We were looking for some real local culture and we found it, and ended up small town celebrities, for an afternoon anyways.
Day 3 - Forts and Boozy Car Rides
On the third day of our India trip we traveled by car from New Delhi to Agra, polishing off a few airplane bottles of wine on the way ;). Once in Agra we visited the beautiful Red Fort and got a sneak peak of the Taj Mahal from one of the lookout points! A great preview of our plans to visit during Day 4.
Day 4 - Sunrise at the Taj!!!!!
Today we go to the Taj Mahal....need I say more? Not really, but I will anyways because this videos taking a while to upload ;) It was incredible!!!! Also we take some fun rickshaw rides and see the ancient holy city of Fatehpur Sikri.
Day 5 - Visiting Rural India
Today we were invited to lunch by another one of our tour guides, Manoj. His family's house is located about 1.5 hours outside if Jaipur in the very very small village of Anoppura. The people of the village were of course very friendly but unlike our first neighborhood visit during Day 2, I'm pretty sure a good amount of the locals had never seen a foreigner up close before, and were definitely a bit freaked out of us at first lol. Luckily we got them to warm up, mostly by plying the kids with chocolate ;)
Day 6 - Unwelcome in Ajmer
Well, as you can read from the title this day started out a bit rough. We planned to visit a famous Islamic religious tomb in the town of Ajmer (Dargah Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti) and did not receive the warmest of welcomes as foreigners sadly.
Day 7 - Sketchy Elephants & Trying Indian Snacks
After a morning of elephant disappointment our moods quickly turned around after watching Raj try to eat some American candy, he was not impressed lol. We also tried a bunch of different Indian snacks that Manoj suggested for us. Some were really good...and some really weird. After that we visited the stunning fort in Amer and the water palace of Jal Mahal, and finally came up with a plan on how to give back something to Raj who made our trip up to this point so special :) Welcome to day 7!
Day 8 - Trying Indian McDonalds
Welcome to Mumbai!!! The crazy Indian city where old meets new. Here you can find mansions, slums, skyscrapers traditional marketplaces and everything in between.
Day 9 - Exploring the Elephanta Caves
Welcome to our last day in India! :( We continue to cruise around Mumbai and take a ferry over to Elephanta Island and explore ancient caves. Afterward we have a very lovely and authentic dinner and learn some saree tying skills from Vijay's family.
*If you've watched these to the end and are reading this...you sir or madam are a total badass and I'd love to hear what you think in the comments below!