When I am travelling I find it very useful to keep all my documentation in an clear plastic A4 Documentation wallet that stays in my hand luggage. This keeps them all together for easy reach – you may need to show some of them at the airport –  and most importantly keeps them dry ! Before I leave home I check in on-line and print off any boarding passes – it’s a good idea to try and do the same for the return journey either at an internet cafe or at the hotel if possible. I used the Emirites App […]

Filling in Indian e-tourist visa & uploading photo & passport pdf Filling in Indian e-tourist visa & uploading photo & passport pdf advice.  Leaving it too late to apply for a normal visa I applied instead online for the new e-tourist visa.  I was disappointed that there is only an option for a one month visa for online applications whereas if you apply via www.vfsglobal.com you can get a 6 or 12 month multiple entry visa. Prepare before applying ! It took over 3 & 1/2 hours to complete the appliction.  Uploading photo and copy of passport in pdf format – […]

Things I wish I had know before applying for the new India e-visa Joining the snaking hundreds deep queue for immigration at Kolkata airport we noticed a small sign with an arrow pointing towards the  e-tourist visa counters and smugly joined the much smaller 30 deep queue instead. The smugness wore off when we were still waiting half an hour after the previous queue had cleared. So what was the problem ? If you arrive on an e- tourist visa you will have your biometrics taken at the airport. Since 2016  everyone travelling to India requiring a visa will need […]

 One of the mistakes I made the first time I travelled to India was to take the advice found on many blogs regarding taking toilet roll to India – What was I thinking ? Yes there were occasions where I needed some tissue for the bathroom but had to fish into my suitcase / rucksack for the messy unravelling loo roll. And how discreet was that ? Not. I learned from this and now make sure I pack lots of small packs of 12 tissues. They fit easily into pockets, rucksacks, daypacks bumbags and inside shoes and corners of your suitcase/backpack – […]

Indian Visa from UK To travel to India you are likely to need an Indian Visa – you certainly need one if travelling from the UK. The good news is that as of August 2015 British citizens holidaying in India can now apply online for an e-tourist visa  instead of applying by post or visiting an application centre via vfs global . Actually I rather enjoyed my visit to the application centre in London – not least because there is a great Indian supermarket on its doorstep. The older visa is attached in your passport where as the new e-tourist visa is e-mailed to you […]