How To (Plan &) Optimise For A Vacation In India (First-time Travel Experiences From An American's POV In FIVE Indian Cities) - w/ Beni

Benny Wilson's first India trip moved quickly: Delhi to Kota by train, Kota to Udaipur by car, then flights to Kolkata and Kolhapur before returning to Kolkata. The route gave him a mix of large cities, smaller cities, north, east, west, trains, roads, airports, homes, and a wedding, but also created a pace he later says was exhausting.

The airports felt more familiar than he expected. They were modern, used English alongside Hindi and often a state language, and were navigable in ways similar to US airports. Security during connections differed from his usual American experience, but airport signage made arrival less intimidating than the streets outside.

Benny's strongest similarity was that people remained recognizable across all the changed context. Teenagers laughed together, shopkeepers checked their phones while waiting, and commuters stood at bus stops. Language, vehicles, streets, and storefronts differed, but ordinary boredom, humor, family, and friendship did not.

A church visit in Kolkata became one of his most emotional experiences. After a week of culture shock and missing home, familiar worship and a shared Christian identity made him feel connected despite language and appearance. He also wondered whether the church could have reflected more local Bengali culture rather than reproducing a Western form.

Traffic was a middle-sized difference rather than the largest shock. Cars drove on the left, two-wheelers and auto-rickshaws changed the flow, streets were narrower, and rules felt less formal. He found Kolkata comparatively orderly, while Kota had removed signals and stop signs in an effort to keep traffic moving.