Hope anyone can help? Maybe been on this trip before or recently

I was wondering how much money, I should be looking at taking to exchange at the other end for the 13 day spirit of India trip.

I will be prebooking all the extra excursions before I go in April so that will help.

But for things like drinks, any extra food, gifts etc roughly how much is anyone else thinking of taking or took? If was enough or needed more out there or had way loads left over?

Any tips would be most useful :)

Cheers 

Chloe 🙂

I did this trip in November 2014 and would normally have taken a few hundred pounds and changed them up into rupees at a local money bureau as and when needed.

But a friend who’d visited India three times recommended I take all US dollars only, changing only a very few into rupees on arrival.  Instead he suggested I include 50 single dollar notes.  This was very good advice I discovered.  I took $500 which allowed for other excursions once there.  I don’t need to tell you that American dollars are accepted and indeed preferred just about everywhere so you can’t really have too many – any surplus being used for your next trip.

Of course you may not be happy travelling with up to $500 worth of notes.  So of course you can always use your cards at your destination but the downside is the cost of commission.

However your requirement will depend to a great extent on if and how many souvenirs you choose to bring back.  With no direct descendants and more clutter at home than I need or want, I only wanted a small memento but struggled to find even one item worthy of the term.  Inspiration finally dawned when I spotted an  incense stick support and box of 20 sticks!  I still have 16 left after as many months!

As a rough guide, you will need to estimate the meals you’ll need to buy which aren’t included in the itinerary too.  All drinks as usual – wine is very expensive.  As you’re pre-booking optional excursions, you can probably reduce my estimate to $300-350 (up to £250) if you think up to £19 a day is enough?

But I return to my main point:  those $50 worth of single $1 notes of which I used 37.  They were ideal for tipping.  As I write, one dollar is worth 70p  (or £1 is worth $1.42).  £1 is also worth very near 100 Indian rupees (95.45 actually) so one of the easiest-to-calculate rates of exchange:  1p = 1r.  Oh, and another benefit of using dollar bills is that they’re likely to be mint or very clean from a UK Bureau de Change.  Rupee notes are filthy and a hand-sanitiser after any use is commonly advised!

Tipping is expected just about everywhere and by everyone in India.  So depending upon the recipient’s status, from a toilet attendant who might provide you with 2 sheets of tissue paper if you’re lucky, to a taxi driver.  I would recommend you change $20 down to rupees as soon as you arrive at your first hotel.

Think in terms of pounds and from that you can best estimate how much to tip.  In the above two examples, I’d give 10p (or 20p if you’re less mean than me!) – so 10 (or 20) rupees – to the attendant.   And work on 10% of the fare to taxi-drivers, just like in the UK.  Dependent on the journey of course but from $1 (70p or 70r) upwards.  Amongst your changed currency, be sure to get other low-denomination notes, available in 5, 10, 50 rupees values, in case you don’t have enough low-value dollar bills.

Have a wonderful trip to a most exciting destination.

If you convert £ to $ before leaving surely you will experience a loss on exchange rates. Then if you convert from $ to INR again there will be another loss on exchange rates.

Further, following your example, if you use $1 notes as tips, that means you are tipping 70p each time and yet you suggest changing down $20 to INR as soon as you arrive. Presumably to get lower denominations of INR

Obviously there will be some difference in just what you are tipping, according to the recipients status, so why convert to $ in the first place ?  Just convert the £'s on site.

It seems a little strange and even a little confusing to try and work out from INR via $ to a currency (£) which your brain automatically works in.  As you say the £ to INR is a very easy rate to understand, so why the complication of including  $'s in the mix ?

I had a similar experience in Cuba last year and found that the Hotel exchange system worked well and I was able to directly understand the amount "spent" in £'s

Your point about souvenirs is duly noted. Being a photographer, most of my "souvenirs" will be digital, but I'm sure that there will be plenty in the group looking for something more material.   Unfortunately this is a purely personal requirement. So does not help to make a considered reply.

So to answer you Chloe,  is extremely difficult. I can only imagine the life standards in India and compare with what I experienced in Cuba last year. As I understand it two countries with similar social standards.

I took £700 with me and returned to UK with £450. However as I understand it we will be responsible for purchasing some meals and other options during the holiday, which was unnecessary for me in Cuba.    

Therefore I intend to take around the same amount to India with me. Hopefully some of the Hotels will have a safe in the room, or in reception if you are uneasy carrying cash around with you.      

Regardless of what decision you make, I'm pretty sure we will all have a fantastic holiday.   🙂

I did the Spirit of India trip in 2013 and from memory I took £500 and took a further £100 from an ATM. I did,however, buy a few expensive souvenirs!!!

This remains my favourite JY holiday to date and I am sure you will have a great trip too.

Lesley

That's actually very helpful, I'm prob not looking for big huge expensive gifts, might treat myself to something but probably going to be mostly fridge magnet for mum, key rings and postcards for my friends and something small for my brother and sister 🙂 I like the group photo pictures so will get that if do a nice one in front of the Taj or something. Will look at taking about £300 and exchanging that. Can always get more out later on. 

Are there extra excursions, when we get there? even after book the 3 prebookable listed: extra safari, camel cart ride and the dance show?

Great, as I would like to do as much as I can as life's to short and a long way to go to not.

Any rough idea on food as when we went to Kenya half board we found with the heat if we had a big breakfast you actually didn't want to eat haha.

Yes looking forward to meeting you Will at the airport lounge, I'm planning on going to Cuba with JY hopefully in May or sept next year so will have much to talk about ::)

Chloe

I did this trip in October 2015 and like you was anxious about spending money before I went. 

you will need very little money £300 to £500 is loads, just bring Stirling and all the hotels change it at good rates. there is very little to spend it on, most of your money will go on tips and toilet stops!!

 most of your food is included so you only need to pay for a couple of extra meals. hotels can change as much or as little as you want. I was also worried about safety of carrying cash but again no problem all the rooms had a safe and you are always traveling in groups so very safe. make sure all notes are English not Scottish or northern Irish,it just makes it easier to change.

you will have a great time,

fiona

Hi everyone 

That's actually very helpful, I'm prob not looking for big huge expensive gifts, might treat myself to something but probably going to be mostly fridge magnet for mum, key rings and postcards for my friends and something small for my brother and sister 🙂 I like the group photo pictures so will get that if do a nice one in front of the Taj or something. Will look at taking about £300 and exchanging that. Can always get more out later on. 

Are there extra excursions, when we get there? even after book the 3 prebookable listed: extra safari, camel cart ride and the dance show?

Great, as I would like to do as much as I can as life's to short and a long way to go to not.

Any rough idea on food as when we went to Kenya half board we found with the heat if we had a big breakfast you actually didn't want to eat haha.

Yes looking forward to meeting you Will at the airport lounge, I'm planning on going to Cuba with JY hopefully in May or sept next year so will have much to talk about ::)

Chloe

Hi, 

I was on this trip in November 2015. The amount of money you are suggesting is probably about right. There were no extra excursions other than the ones you mentioned. I did the camel cart and extra safari, which were well worth the money. Souvenirs can be bought very cheaply ( or expensively if you wish to buy certain arts and crafts e.g. Carpets !) Our tour guide and local guide  picked items from some of the traders (who tend to flock around the coach) and showed them on board ensuring we got them at a decent price. As for food ... Breakfast and evening meals are very extensive so you probably would not want a lot at lunchtime. On early morning visits (ranthambore safari, Taj and Varanasi) breakfast is eaten on return so again not much needed at lunchtime. Some lunches are included and where this is not the case lunch can be bought very reasonably at the stops. Alcohol, especially wine is expensive, water is provided free in all hotel rooms and very cheaply on the coach. You will need a bit of cash for tips. Not much per person, but driver, assistant, local guide etc soon adds up.  Hotels will accept payment by card for drinks etc, but I found they would only change money for cash- dollars or English pounds ( not cards) Tour guide will help find ATM if needed. 

It is a great tour ( though very busy) I'm sure that you will have a super time. Feel free to ask anything else about the trip. 

Jan

I cannot now recall what the exchange rates were back in 2014 when I went and how they differed being purchased in the UK or once in India.  You should also be advised that one pound coins are not acceptable anywhere in India, even as tips!

However the main point of my post was to pass on the tip I was given in taking several single dollar notes.  And crucially I forgot the most frequent requirement for tips:  all the local guides on-board the coach/es, and the drivers, most of whom have a co-driver, also.  These vary from covering those aboard for one or two days. As my memory is now a bit rusty, I had better not risk misquoting the recommendations of our Tour Manager, which seemed pretty generous.

Whatever they were, I converted those to the dollar equivalents since I had all those single notes and they were all accepted quite happily (as they didn’t exactly inspect everything handed to them!)

I also repeat my warning about the currency notes over there, just as I also found in Egypt. If you want to obtain local currency using your credit-card, that’s up to you but the notes are all absolutely filthy.  As I said last week, a hand-sanitiser, or wipes, is a must.  It was a blessing to have brand new dollar notes!  Oh, and I forgot: unlike rupees, dollars can be taken out of the country.