by Russell Smeaton

Created on: April 08, 2009

India is such a vast country and so the question is: how do you get to see it all? The cheapest way? Train. The easiest way? Bus. The quickest way? Airplane. The comfiest way? Private car. The slowest way? Rickshaw. The coolest way? Motorbike! Sadly I am not cool so I went for the first five options. Each has their positives and negatives and I intend to outline them all here from my experiences in India.

First off, if you've read my previous articles cheers! You'll also know that I am a sufferer of IBS. Hence, transport with a toilet option is the best. That's not always possible in India. Sometimes you just have to take what you can get and hope for the best. I know Imodium is not great but sometimes you just have to take it. It'll bung you up for the trip but make you feel like a water balloon by the end of your travel. Still, it beats crapping your pants I would say.

Lets begin by looking at the train. You can go pretty much the length and breadth of India by train. It's an interesting and colourful way to see the country but it can be slow depending on which train you get. We boarded one train which stopped at every single station about every 5 minutes. It took forever. Train seats come in many different options but if you are travelling any distance I would recommend a sleeper. These are trains that generally have small open compartments with 6 beds, 3 on either side. My preferred choice is the top bunk. You can lock your stuff nice and safe, you can hop up and get away from it all and you are closer to the fans to cool you down a bit. It's a personal preference. Trains usually have toilets. The word toilet is stretching the truth a little but there is a hole in the floor that you do your business in. The toilets start of quite clean but at the end of a long journey can get quite gross. You'll need your own paper and hand wash. Hold your nose and get out quick.

Booking a train ticket can be a nightmare but it does give you a wonderful insight into the bureaucracy of India paper, paper and more paper. If you know where you want to go and when you want to go, try and book your tickets as early as possible. The train stations can be a descent into hell but again, welcome to India! I bottled out from time to time and got the hotel to book the tickets for me. You pay a small service charge but it saves you so much time and effort. Maybe I'm lazy, who knows? Once you've got your ticket (and remember you have a seat/bed booked) it's still not that easy to get on

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