Has anyone been to India?

I'm thinking about going in a few years. What did you like and how long did you stay there?

so, even though I was a bit of a tourist, it was a different experience from what you might expect. The times I've been, I've usually stayed for about a month. If you like Indian food, you can't beat the real thing, obviously. Where are you planning to go, because, it's a big country, and different areas will be very different experiences.

I want to stay in the country for about a month. I'm considering doing the round-the-world flight and India is at the top of my interest list.

...traveled all over the country. It's a fascinating, mesmerizing, incredible place. Everything you've ever heard about it (good and bad) is probably true, but it's much much more than that.

Goa has some beautiful beaches. Kashmir is gorgeous (although I was there before it got to be quite so dangerous). Mumbai is a huge, teeming metropolis that blends Indian and Western sensibilities into a heady stew. The region around Chennai (Tamil Nadu) is a beautiful fertile river basin full of exotic plants and critters. Bangalore is a hi-tech beehive. The north is mountainous and rugged, with incredible views, but be careful - it's bandit country.

There's incredible wealth and incredible, heartbreaking, poverty and a growing middle class as obsessed with consumer goods as anywhere else. Traffic in the cities looks like a movie chase scene involving just about anything capable of having a wheel mounted on it.

The people are wonderful: warm, hospitable, and happy to talk. Every one of them seems to have a relative in London.

The food is incredibly varied, with a different cuisine for every region and, seemingly, every village. Be a bit careful, though, because food bought from street vendors isn't exactly FDA approved and amoebic dysentery is nobody's idea of fun (trust me on this one).

Finally, keep your wits about you. The terrible poverty in the major cities (especially Calcutta) has produced a huge population of street kids and teenagers whose chief occupation is emptying the pockets of dozy tourists. Anyone caught napping will be picked clean, so it's a good idea to keep your documents and valuables strapped to your body (preferably inside your clothing) when passing through railway stations, bus stations, shopping streets or other places where tourists go.

I had a fantastic time in India. It's true that once you've been there, it never leaves you. I've gone back several times since then (usually for work) and, each time has reinforced what an incredible country it is.

...traveled all over the country. It's a fascinating, mesmerizing, incredible place. Everything you've ever heard about it (good and bad) is probably true, but it's much much more than that.

Goa has some beautiful beaches. Kashmir is gorgeous (although I was there before it got to be quite so dangerous). Mumbai is a huge, teeming metropolis that blends Indian and Western sensibilities into a heady stew. The region around Chennai (Tamil Nadu) is a beautiful fertile river basin full of exotic plants and critters. Bangalore is a hi-tech beehive. The north is mountainous and rugged, with incredible views, but be careful - it's bandit country.

There's incredible wealth and incredible, heartbreaking, poverty and a growing middle class as obsessed with consumer goods as anywhere else. Traffic in the cities looks like a movie chase scene involving just about anything capable of having a wheel mounted on it.

The people are wonderful: warm, hospitable, and happy to talk. Every one of them seems to have a relative in London.

The food is incredibly varied, with a different cuisine for every region and, seemingly, every village. Be a bit careful, though, because food bought from street vendors isn't exactly FDA approved and amoebic dysentery is nobody's idea of fun (trust me on this one).

Finally, keep your wits about you. The terrible poverty in the major cities (especially Calcutta) has produced a huge population of street kids and teenagers whose chief occupation is emptying the pockets of dozy tourists. Anyone caught napping will have their pockets picked clean, so it's a good idea to keep your documents and valuables strapped to your body (preferably inside your clothing) when passing through railway stations, bus stations, shopping streets or other places where tourists go.

I had a fantastic time in India. It's true that once you've been there, it never leaves you. I've gone back several times since then (usually for work) and, each time has reinforced what an incredible country it is.