India

I never really wanted to go to India. I wanted to see the Taj Mahal, but the idea of having to spend time in such a dirty, loud and otherwise unappealing country – where I’d have to use squat toilets (gasp!) – meant I’d probably have go without.

My parents had been about five times, so I’d heard plenty about it and had occasionally toyed with the idea of going “maybe one day when I’ve seen all the places I really want to see” but it wasn’t high on the priority list.

Then, when my parents were three weeks out from going earlier this year and I had spent a day dreaming about where and when I would next travel, I realised how cheap a trip to India would be and decided to tag along. Little bit spontaneous, little bit exciting and a lot “oh my god let’s hope I can get a visa in three weeks now that I have booked flights”.

Fast forward three weeks later and after some drama to get there (missing a flight because I left my passport at home – I know, who actually does that?! – and then a very delayed flight) I had an amazing time.

I saw all the cliches I had expected to see and more. I visited some amazing places I didn’t even know existed, met some very cool people, got to experience Holi and had plenty of inspiration to pull out my camera. I highly recommend you go!

It was dirty – though surprisingly, for someone who is hand-sanitiser-obsessed at home in Australia, it didn’t bother me too much. And it was often – make that ALWAYS – extremely loud. But everything else made up for that and I’m pretty sure I’ll go back one day.

Oh, and I got through almost two weeks without using a squat toilet. Yep, it’s possible. I think everywhere we went there was at least the option of a Western-style toilet, and surprisingly, it was often the only option.

Here are some of my favourite photos/moments from the trip. Yes, there are a lot…it was hard to narrow it down to this!