India on a shoestring budget

I decided to be bold this year for my summer holidays and took off for a month to India. It's somewhere I always fancied but been a bit apprehensive off, so when my friend suggested it I thought why not!
We took a long time searching the internet for the best deals on flights and found that Opodo seemed to offer the cheapest flights, we flew with BMI which was great and if you join Staralliance for free you can claim airmiles when you fly with BMI too.
Our first stop was Mumbai/Bombay, If you haven't been there before I would recommend booking something before you get there, we booked our hostel through Hostelbookers.com
Ideally you want to be staying in an area of town called Colaba(pictured above), this is the main heart of the city which has some beautiful buildings and has lots for tourists to do. Once you have arrived and settled in you can find cheaper hotels if you look about, we later stayed in a hotel called Hotel Outram, it was only 450 rupees per night which was excellent for us, it was very basic so don't expect too much, but it was in an excellent location in Colaba.

There is lots to see and do in Mumbai one of the main attractions being Elephant Island which you can get a boat from at the Gateway to India(pictured above). One of the best bits for me was the shopping, there are a couple of shopping malls in Mumbai - Crossroads and Phoenix Mills, the latter is excelent it has all the main shops you have in the Uk but everything is about half the price, the best was to get to them is by Taxi or Rickshaw, but expect to be ripped off, it shouldn't cost more than 100 rupees to get from Colaba to the shopping malls but the taxi drivers will chance their luck.

One of the hardest things we found about India is actually getting around it, unlike the Uk where you can just hop on a train or coach in India it needs to be booked a few days in advance. Our next stop was Goa, we had checked out the train but because it was the school holidays all the trains were full so we had to opt for the bus. It was a sleeper bus which was something I had never come across before but it is basically just double beds on the bus which is excellent because Mumbai to Goa takes 16hours to get there. The down points about the buses are they are always full so if you are on your own you could be sleeping next to a total stranger, also there are no toilets on Indian coaches so if you have a weak bladder like me, hope you get a nice driver who will stop for you.

Anyway the journey is worth it becuase Goa is Beautiful we stayed in the South of Goa at a beach called Palolem. It was fantastic we stayed their for 2 weeks, it is great because unlike other beaches in Goa it is still quite underdeveloped, there are no hotels only beach huts. Because we went out of season (April) we got the huts for 150 rupees a night which was an absolute bargain. The food in Goa i thought was the best in India, and the prices drop considerably too. Expect to pay about 60-100 rupees for a main course nun bread is only 20 rupees, and drinks are cheap too a 60ml measure of spirit was coming in at 30 rupees.

A great way of getting about Goa is by rickshaw or by moped, you can hire them by the day, i wouldn't pay any more than 150 rupees per day for a moped, one thing I would advise is that if you damage it in any way which we did then they will skin you for it so make sure you have good coverage on your travel insurance to cover this. I used American Express they are slightly more expensive but found the customer service excellent.

After staying in Goa for a week we decided to move on and explore some more of India. This time we took the train to a town right in the middle of India called Hampi Well you can get the train to Hospet which is the nearest big town and then it's just a 30km taxi ride to Hampi, again don't be fooled by the rickshaw drivers only pay 100rupees for the journey they will try and overcharge you. A tip I found useful myself is when people ask you 'is it you first time to India?' always say no I have been before, if they think you have been before they will be less likely to try and rip you off. Another tip is to buy Lonely Planet India This is an absolute Bible for any person travelling around India, I can't recommend it enough.
Anyway, the train trip itself to Hospet from Goa (Margao is the town the train station is at in Goa) is amazing it cuts right through the jungle, the scenery is breathtaking, and the best bit for me is they don't close the train doors so you can sit on the edge while the train is moving, but be careful!

Once we arrived in Hospet it is juat a short rickshaw ride to Hampi.
We stayed in Hampi for a week which is longer than I was planning on this was becuase I contracted malaria, and had to spend a couple of days in hospital. Looking back on it now i would say to people make sure you know roughly where the hospital is whenever you are in India in case you need to get there quickly. And don't expect any luxury the hospitals are not very nice, it maybe an idea to take a first aid kit with some disposible sterile syringes, just to be on the safe side.
Anyway after 48 hours I was back to full health and felling fine again, but it was so hot. Because Hampi is inland and it was coming near to Monsoon season is was about 44degrees there which is just inbearable, you need to make sure you continuously take water to keep yourself hydrated.
If i was doing the trip again i would have travelled north nearer the mountains where it is cooler for that time of year.

All in all India is an amazing place which i can't recommend enough! Anyone who likes an adventure should definately try it.