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What To Prepare For During Your First 48 Hours In India

by Anil Polat | Jul 16, 2013 | Advice, Air, Culture, Food, Green, Health and Fitness | 44

rishikesh india

I’m often asked what the most shocking places I’ve visited are. All are surprising on some level but if there is one place that took me 48 hours to really adjust to, I’d have to say it was India. (The second being Egypt but not for all the same reasons.) Something of a jarring experience, India quickly became one of my favorite countries, one I’ve returned to three times after my first trip.

Many seasoned travelers I’ve spoken with also found India as initially challenging as it was ultimately rewarding. Being aware of these aspects that tend to disorient many first-time India travelers can help you adjust before arrival.

Air Pollution, Garbage, And Street Poop

Behind the United States and China, India is the world’s third largest producer of greenhouse gases. Air pollution is estimated to caused 620,000 premature deaths in India annually – yes, per year – where 13 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities are located. Garbage service is grossly inconsistent [PDF]; as a result many people end up burning their trash, another contributor to the omnipresent smog.

jama masjid new delhi india

With 78 million homeless people (plus free roaming animals) without an effective public sanitation system, it’s not shocking that feces is a common sight in many parts of India. The air may smell of urine and excrement but one’s nose adjusts. Your feet should too – watch your step and don’t forget – your crap doesn’t exactly smell like flowers.

It’s Raining Men, Women, And Kids

When you first exit any airport in India, it’s like walking into a swirling human hurricane, with sounds, bodies, and shoulders occasionally knocking into you. In a country with an average of 385 inhabitants per square kilometer [PDF] and a population of 1.21 billion, personal space isn’t a practical feature for the culture. What appears as chaotic movement of human beings is actually a deceptively orderly process. Standing in frustration in the middle of it, like many tourists do initially, is pretty much being a blood clot in an already clogged artery. Unless you want every other human blood cell slamming into you, take note of the locals and maneuver around obstacles gracefully. Cows, auto-rickshaws, everyone and their mother, brother, plus four cousins will be in your way – simply walk around them and don’t get upset at the occasional shoulder fender bender.

Letting a bump or strolling in crowds upset you will only transport you to temporary insanity as you miss half of the peculiar sights along the way.

Try Not To Think About How Your Plate Was Handled

Indian food is as varied as its geography but doesn’t usually include hygiene as an ingredient. Plates are generally cleaned with tap water, a supply that contains a number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. It’s unlikely anyone, from the cook to the waiter, will have washed their hands with soap most of the day.

indian dish cashews

You’ll probably be fine during most of your trip to India but diarrhea is likely to accompany you for part of it. Generally speaking, eat at only places frequented by locals, don’t consume any dish you’re uncertain of, and head to the recommended places to dine (here are some of my own). But don’t think too much about what happened to your food before it got to your table. Doing so may only make you sick.

Stick With It

If all I’ve done is terrified you from visiting India, you’re stuck in the first 48 hours. Since our brains store first impressions in context, with negative attitudes being more profound [PDF], allowing them to overwhelm us only conceals the other side of the things I’ve mentioned. How resourceful those under such constraints can be or countless people who enjoy sharing their colorful stories with visitors. And palak paneer – a dish no amount of bacteria can keep me away from for long.

7 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About My Posts On foXnoMad

by Anil Polat | Jul 9, 2013 | Site News | 17

sitting on bokur mountain

On June 24th, this blog turned 7 years old. Over the past 84 months I’ve written 2,180 posts, created 394 pages, and received 26,165 comments from all of you. (My favorite part of running foXnoMad.) Most of you are likely new readers, perhaps finding me though The Best City To Visit Travel Tournament or one of my recent mentions in Lifehacker. Maybe you’re old school from 2008, but hopefully not constipated anymore. Or you’re my mom, the only person who read this site for a long while after it was created.

During the last 7 years the articles here and their writer have developed small traditions of our own. From Cardassian space stations to my emergency editor, these are 7 things you probably didn’t know about the posts on foXnoMad.

1. There Were Originally Multiple Authors

Initially I started this blog with several friends as a way for us to keep in touch with each other after we had all moved to different parts of the globe. About a few months in, I was the only one writing, mostly about absurd random topics. That is, until I got my first comment from someone who wasn’t an immediate family member. It was then I decided to try to put some effort into what I was writing. I chose the three topics I knew best and was passionate about: travel, technology, and anthropology.

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2. I Used To Post 5 Times A Week

And I don’t know how I did it. In early 2010 I cut back to 3 times a week. Then, late last year, twice a week. It’s not that I have less to say but that each post requires more behind the scenes work like editing photos and uploading videos. I also write reviews of all the places I’ve eaten, stayed, and bars I’ve not been too drunk to remember. So there isn’t less content really, it’s just distributed differently.

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3. Planned Articles Are Usually Finalized The Weekend Before

I maintain an idea list of several hundred, adding to it as my mind or experiences give me inspiration. Sometimes I have a general idea of where my posts will go over a period of several weeks, but I rarely know for sure prior to the preceding Sunday.

new delhi train station

4. Almost All Of The Photos Used In Posts Are Mine

At least after sometime in 2011 if I’m recalling correctly. Around then I decided to use only pictures I’ve taken in my posts, unless otherwise noted. That means I now take hundreds of photos at every place I visit, often snapping random pictures at gift shops and museums. You never know when you’ll need a photo of a velociraptor.

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5. My Sister Is My Go-To Editor

It takes me an average of 8-10 hours to complete a given post, most of that time researching relevant information and editing the draft multiple times. Occasionally, at the end of that process, nothing looks right. I don’t send every article to her but when I’m unsure about a theme, sentence, or title, she’ll graciously tell me I’m stupid and help me (temporarily) correct the problem.

sydney ferries

6. You Probably Won’t Get An Email Response From Me Early In The Week

Monday through Wednesday are my primary writing days to prepare my weekly Tuesday and Thursday posts. I get 200-400 emails a day and found it’s more productive to focus on writing first, then deal with everything else later.

air mail box mexico

7. There Are Deep Space 9 Easter Eggs Hidden In Posts

Some are more obvious than others but there are a number of covert references to my favorite Star Trek series, Deep Space 9. A great series to marathon on your next long layover, somehow inserting various mentions, quotes, and names became a habit I formed. I’ve thought about running a contest to see who could find the most Star Trek easter eggs but I doubt even I could even locate them all at this point.

Now It’s Your Turn

This list of 7 is limited to my side of the keyboard. Since you are all as much a part of this site as I am, I’d like to hear what I might not know about how you read my posts. How did you first find my site and when was it? Any favorite posts or not-so-favorites? Let’s take a trip down memory lane together in the comments below, I’ve got your visas ready.

Use Your Next Trip To Solve That Big Problem You Have Back Home

by Anil Polat | Jul 2, 2013 | Advice | 13

playa del carmen beach

You may be traveling on an extended trip, career break, or gap year but no matter where you’re going or for how long, the simple act of heading out on the road won’t fix any predicaments you’ve left behind. Traveling doesn’t make your problems go away, it just brings them along for the ride. Although your next trip likely won’t solve dilemmas directly, vagabonding can redirect your focus in unique ways, preparing you to tackle life crises of all sizes.

Meeting New People Allows You To Re-Invent Yourself

Our personal perceptions of who we are base themselves on how others see us, in a process sociologists call identity negotiation. The theory is an intricate one, but basically we have ideas of what our personality traits are, basing those perceived traits on the cues we get when interacting with others. Our brains are wired to make us feel we’re right all the time, so we tend to reaffirm what we others think of us [PDF]. That’s part of the reason you can be a grouchy, pessimistic person in one relationship yet happy-go-lucky in the other.

new delhi chandni chowk market

These emotional feedback loops are difficult to break but when you meet new people traveling, it’s an opportunity to start a fresh “negotiation”. Your perceived flaws (e.g. shyness) – and the problems you associate with them back home – don’t have to be on display in a new group. Others seeing the more outgoing side of you, for example, will only help reinforce the little extrovert inside.

The perceptions we carry about others and how they see us, waivers with time (due to a lack of reinforcement). That’s part of the reason everyone seems so “new” to us upon returning home after a long trip. Until they do something to remind us of our previous concept of them and remember “that’s the same old Benjamin!” or, “wow Curzon, you’ve really changed!”

Distractions Are Good For Creativity

Focusing on a problem for too long is often counterproductive, since our active memories fatigue easily, get lazy, and then have us banging on a solution that doesn’t quite fit to the obstacle at hand. Our brains however actively search out solutions to problems even when we’re not concentrating on them, according to Incognito by David Eagleman. Those “ah-ha!” moments we’ve all experienced were simply our subconscious delivering ideas to our conscious minds, humbling not taking credit for all the work it did.

Not focusing opens up your mind to considering all sorts of new solutions – and few things in life are as delightfully diverting as climbing an Ecuadorian volcano or figuring out that Bulgarians nod backwards. The occasional beer doesn’t hurt either.

Deadlines May Work In Your Favor

Although their arrival can be stressful, in small doses, the stress deadlines produce creates the right hormonal cocktail for productivity. Chemicals like cortisol and adrenaline sharpen your senses, giving you faster reaction times to tiger attacks and the occasional life-challenge. Deadlines let you know when you have to get things done and the book by the same name points out that they let you know when you’re running behind.

So, even if your problems are waiting for your after your next trip, your journey may have just given you enough neural ammunition to tackle them effectively.

Google Reader Is Shutting Down July 1st: Here’s A 3 Minute Guide To Keeping foXnoMad In Your Feed

by Anil Polat | Jun 27, 2013 | Site News | 5

rss icon For those of you following foXnoMad and my writing through RSS using Google Reader, that service is shutting down on July 1, 2013 – forever. Most of this post pertains to you, for everyone else, kittens…and hedgehog! Here’s how you can transfer all of your feeds (including mine!) to one of the good alternatives out there in 180 seconds or less.

Google Reader Replacements

There are a number of solid RSS readers out there which Lifehacker has a nice rundown of. Personally, I’m now using Feedly, which has a 1-button import function for your Google Reader subscriptions on their homepage. Many of your fellow readers also follow this site and others using Pulse, a beautiful way to read anything on the Internet. (Here’s the one-button Google Reader import for Pulse.)

foxnomad pulse.me

Finally, The Old Reader exists for those of you who can’t let go of Google Reader. There’s no mobile version however as there is for Feedly and Pulse, but like those two, The Old Reader is also free.

Other Ways To Catch My Updates

Aside from RSS, you can get my latest posts via email. They’re sent out twice-weekly (Tuesday and Thursday) when I publish new articles.

Additionally, although they’re less regular, everything I post ends up on my Facebook page and Twitter feed at some point relatively soon after they’re up on the site. I also do other things on Twitter and Facebook, so you might want to follow me there anyway, I’ll appreciate every click. (I’m a cheap date.) So, since there are 278 words in this post and the average native speaker reads English at 300 words per minute, you’ve got 124.4 seconds left to switch from Google Reader. Along the way if you run into any problems at all, feel free to let me know in the comments below. Now 306 words…don’t worry you’ve still got plenty of time.

How To Turn Your Mobile Phone Into A Better Digital Camera

by Anil Polat | Jun 27, 2013 | Pictures and Video, Tech | 10

iphone 4 camera

Whether by accident or aim, only having a smartphone camera on your travels doesn’t mean your pictures have to be terrible. You can turn most post-2008 mobile phones into respectable photographing devices, by treating them more like a camera, than a cell. Using some basic photography principles, enhancing apps, and selective hardware, your phone may put your point-and-shoot on permanent vacation.

Fundamentals Are Camera-Proof

A DSLR doesn’t make you a better photographer any more than buying a nice basketball gives you a better free-throw percentage. Whatever your craft, there are underlying principals to improve your skills regardless of the tools involved. For example: using the rule of thirds, not shooting directly into light sources, or practicing foul shots.

How To Take Better Travel Photos Without Getting A Better Camera – No matter what you’re shooting with. Unless it’s a gun.
5 Ways To Take Better Sunset Photos When Traveling – Nature’s giving you the right light, here’s how to work with it.

Photographer Stephen Hamilton has more advice in the video below and says the problem most phone photographers have is using lighting effectively.

Blurring is often a common side effect of an unsteady hand on longer exposures in low light. Devices like the iPhone 4+, and others with straight edges, can be propped up to avoid camera-shake effects. A small tripod like the Case Star Octopus Style (height about 22 centimeters or 8.5 inches) gives you more versatility and doubles as a point-and-shoot tripod as well.

Make Blur Work For You – Slow Shutter ($.99; iOS only) and Camera FV-5 Lite ($3.95; Android only) give you control over your smartphone’s shutter speed so you can create intentional motion effects and capture low-light images using a tripod.

Also, when holding your phone to take a picture, use two hands with your elbows close in to your body for stability. Alternatively, try shooting with one hand while using the other to hold your elbow for a steady shot.

Amplify With These Apps

When there aren’t enough photons around to illuminate the people and things you want to photograph, Night Camera (free; Android only) and Night Cap ($.99; iOS only) can automatically brighten and reduce noise in dark shots.

rishikesh puja india

Engage Manual Settings – Although it’s almost intuitive to use automatic modes on your mobile phone, Camera+ ($1.99; iOS) and aforementioned Camera FV-5 Lite enable a number of manual options like ISO control, white balance, and self timers.
Shoot In High-Dynamic Range (HDR) – Many of my pictures on foXnoMad are HDR (using a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS10) however you can achieve a similar effect using ProHDR and ProHDR Camera ($1.99; iOS and Android).
Panorama – Check to see if your phone is already capable of panoramic shots, if not, Photaf (free; Android) and 360 Panorama ($.99; iOS) can take care of that for you.

golden temple amritsar india panorama night

To add moods to your snapshots without much effort, Instagram (free; Android, iOS) and Camera Awesome (free; iOS) have loads of filters you can apply to go retro, psychedelic, high-contrast and more.

Put Your Phone On Photographic Steroids

For less than $10 you can equip your Android or iPhone with a simple kit of fish-eye, micro, and wide angle lenses that attach directly to your phone. Remember to change your focus to take decent travel photos and clean any lens – built-in or otherwise – with a micro-fiber cloth and cleaning solution on a regular basis.

About Anil Polat

Hi, I'm Anil. foXnoMad is where I combine travel and tech to help you travel smarter. I'm on a journey to every country in the world and you're invited to join the adventure! Read More