Traveling on a shoestring budget to India isn’t always what it is made out to be. The euphoria of stepping out onto foreign soil with no luxuries and precious little by the way of comforts can fade quickly, sometimes too quickly. Eventually, one begins to feel the discomfort of having to ‘make do’. The hardest part of being an expat in India is when you have to start counting the pennies or cents as the case may be. It’s important to always remember that the first few days or weeks in a new country is when the most spending occurs because of the mistaken notion that your budget will stretch more than it actually does. It’s hard to tell whether this outflow of cash is because of a favorable exchange rate or traveler’s syndrome but for an exchange student, culture traveler or resident expat, the sudden shortfall of cash can by in the very least, unsettling. “Where did the money go?” is the response I most often hear. [Read more...]