Packing for India
 

I just returned from an OAT trip to Southern India. I thought I'd pass along suggestions from my trip for anyone interested in what to pack. First of all, it's very hot and humid. Several quick showers daily helped, but be prepared for the heat. I found that loose light weight cotton shirts were the most comfortable. Men in our group who wore T-shirts or Polo Shirts were miserable. Linen, or button down cotton worked best. Same with pants. All my nice REI travel pants ended up being too heavy. I bought very light weight and loose pants in the markets. Tennis shoes are a pain, as are Teva's because you constantly have to take your shoes off to enter temples. I had slip on Croc sandals that worked perfectly. I remembered to bring a small can of baby powder and that kept my feet from sticking to the plastic crocs. It's a fascinating country and Southern India is very different from the North. I'm sure I'll remember more things as I go along, but thought I'd post this for now.

Thank you! I too swear by Crocs flip-flops! Greatidea about baby powder. Also good to bring "baby wipes" to clean off. The temple floors are usually amazingly clean, but sometimes you have to walk up a dusty or other path between the shoe-drop off point, and the temple entrance.

And be prepared that because of the heat, dirt and sweat clothes usually can't be worn more than once. Be prepared to do lots of sink laundry. REI does have some lighter, more tropical weight travel pants that worked for my husband. I wore my macabi travel skirts, and they were appropriate.

I found that hand laundry often wasn't dry in the morning because of the humidity and AC. So we sent out essential shirts to the hotel laundry, which wasn't that expensive. Lots of things we just wore more than once. I should have remembered to bring a sheet of Bounce for my suitcase, it would have kept things slightly better smelling. My crocs were not flip flops, just 2 straps. One over the toes and one over the arch. Easy to get in and out of.

Light weight loose pants and t-shirts are useful for getting comfort during travel. Light cotton shirts are also useful and comfortable to wear in humid and warm environment of south Indian cities.

The nice thing is, these loose-fitting lightweight cotton clothes are exactly what we travelers can pick up either in markets (which will often tailor/hem size for you) or in set-price (but usually more expensive than market stalls or small shops) stores like Fabindia or Westside.