India was always on my list of dream places to visit, along with Australia, Ireland, Italy, much of the Caribbean, and pretty much all of Canada. I have been slowly ticking those places off of my list, but still had a ways to go when we decided to move to India for a year. It became pretty obvious shortly after we started telling people about the move that we were not the only people with a keen interest in India. With that in mind, we planned for guests in choosing our house, and tried to make it clear that we want visitors. So, wanna come to India?

Bangalore, the city that we live in, was just named to the Lonely Planet’s list of top ten cities to visit in 2012. It’s number three in fact! I am not sure that can vouch for all of the selling points that are listed in the description in the article, but hopefully I will have by the time that you get here! From what we have seen so far, it is a pretty neat and diverse place to visit, and well situated for visiting other parts of India and Asia. The food is SO GOOD too.

Here are a few tips for those of you who are planning a trip.

• Let us know when you are thinking of coming. we do have some visits lines up, and want to make sure that we have enough beds! In case of a conflict, we will pick favourites!

• You need a visa to come to India, and it is best if you apply for this sooner rather than later. Information can be found here, but you should note that to apply you have to give them your passport for up to 15 business days, and that your passport needs to be valid for at lats six months. Don’t plan on travel outside of Canada for a couple of weeks around application time. Tourist visas are valid for six months from date of issue.

• You will want to talk to your doctor or a travel doctor (I can recommend one!) about the shots that you need to come visit. What you need to take will be dependant on where you want to go while here. It is very unlikely that you will need to get the number of needles that we got, but you also won’t be protected from rabies for life! If you are timid about needles (ahem Chris), these meds can be taken orally, you just need to start the ball rolling sooner. I am not a doctor, so talk to yours.

• The weather here is perfect, don’t believe what any of the weather sites say. Bangalore is hot, but not as stinking hot as other regions in India, and not really humid when compared to Ottawa. You do need to bring pants (house rule), they just don’t need to be of the long variety.

• The travel here is not super fun. The flights are long, any way you look at it, so be sure that you bring whatever you need to be entertained. We will make arrangements to have you picked up from the airport, as it’s just the easiest way. Don’t worry about getting adjusted to the +10:30 time difference, we have two small alarm clocks that will get you on schedule pretty quickly!

• Bring rupees with you. They are the only currency that is used, and getting them while you are here can be tricky, as not all bank machines accept Canadian bank cards, even though they claim they will. I recommend going through your bank, rather than a currency exchange shop like the one I went to in Ottawa. We were robbed on the exchange, and I had left it too late to go to my bank. Credit cards are accepted, but you will still want some cash.

• If your mobile is unlocked, we should have a sim that you can use. If not, don’t plan on using yours, will be very expensive!

I should be up front and let you know that there is a “fee” for the use of our guest room. Wine. It’s hard to get good and reasonably priced wine here, and I know that each adult is allowed to bring two litres of wine in to the country. If you come via Frankfurt, you can even buy bottles at the duty-free in the airport, so you don’t have to worry about checking the bottles! Please also feel free to ask is what we are craving or needing!! There are a number of things that I just can’t get here easily, like many safe treats for Woo, Starbucks iced coffee, or a good plastic spatula. Just don’t ask Willy, he’ll be expecting steak!

So. Who is in?