As the Economy of India booms , lots of Indian travelers , specially youngsters are going to trip abroad for quiet few years . According to some report India is going to be the fourth largest global travel spenders by 2030 . As it becomes the lucrative markets for more countries , giving visa free travel for Indians .
In India travel is a mostly of relaxing , pilgrimage and picnic type . From our childhood we heard from our parents that How their older generations traveled miles with walking to make pilgrimage . This culture used to be in india for thousand years but things changing fast and Now a days lots of Indian people are (Not only rich and affluent class ) traveling abroad to have a new experience and to fulfill their wanderlust .
As you travel abroad there is a huge cultural difference for Indian tourists . Way we think , behave and talk in India is not same in abroad and much different from here . If you make a trip abroad you mostly understand the actual situation but when you tell to your friends and relatives here , that will be a huge shock . First of all , if you make a foreign trip you should ready to accept food difference , language barrier , different behavioral pattern , governmental rules and many more . Here are some example .
Hostel Culture :
Hostel culture is first of all budget friendly second it is good chance to learn other people’s culture . It is very popular among the young tourists around the world . In most of the Hostels male and female stayed in the same room but in their bed as like the different berth of Indian Railway .This types of accommodation is called the mixed dormitory . In most of the Hostels Washroom area is a long area with multiple bathrooms and toilets and common for all . There will be a common room to meet different tourists and play different games . Some Hostels offer Kitchen and washing machine , so it will full fill all yours needs . In most of the hostels there will be WiFi and drinking water facility .
As Indian tourist you may feel weird in this culture first but later habituated with this . You can see this situation in the kangana Ranauts Bollywood movie “Queen”.
Food Habits :
Food Habits are the biggest challenge when you travel abroad . As a huge chunk of Indian’s are vegetarian specially Gujrati and Rajasthani , Vaishavites in eastern India . Finding a full vegetarian meal outside of india is a challenge . secondly , though you are non – vegeterian getting the proper meat outside of India sometimes difficult . Muslims don’t eat pig and Hindus beef but in South East asian countries like Thiland , Vietnam both the meats are eaten well so only options left are Chicken . Sometimes getting chicken is difficult according to the country .
If you, just go to south east asia you will see that people are eating cockroaches , scorpions , silk worm even a crocodile . This are really surprising for lots of culture but this are the parts of the travel experiences . As in Mongolia people eat Horse , in Korea people eat Dog .
At last , as Indians we loves to use lots of spices in our food but even you step outside except south asia , you will miss the smell and taste of the Indian spices .
Different style :
Dress code is another challenge when you travel abroad . If you go to some of the Africa countries , in Ethopia omo valley some tribal people wear big rings in the lower lips , some womans are top less where as some woman in Mayanmar paste a white color solution in their cheek and Karen tribes in Mayanmar put lots of rings in their neck to beautify them . There are different traditions among the different tribes to make style and fashion .
In Muslim countries Hijab is must and in Asian countries they wear more traditional dresses but in western countries it is more fashion oriented . As a Indian tourist it is not such a shock for me as our country is a land of Diverse culture and we are accustomed to that type of changes in our country . In india if you visit Goa it is more western culture and North East is filled with diverse tribal culture .
Cultural Shock :
As in Hostel You stayed with travellers of different countries and faced different behavioural pattern which can be very common in our culture but not acceptable there
1 ) If you travel in the developed countries then you have to cross the road only through the zebra crossing not from any other place.
2) Different people have different way of greeting and you have to greet accordingly . But formally there is three style of greeting Indian Style Namaskar , Islam style salam ali kum and English style Handshake .
3) Among the westerners it is a common practise to say hi to strangers if they have eye contact with strangers but this not mean they want to talk or making friendship , in my understanding they just want it for avoiding the uncomfortable situation . But in India we just ignore or say some words relevant to the situation . This cultural difference you can experience when you are in Hostel .
4) Some countries have very depreciated currencies . When you landed there you will be very confused when a simple meal costs 100000 or more in their domicil currency . I suggest you convert their bigger currency notes value in your base currency then it will be easy otherwise you may much more than the actual value .
5) We Indians love to bargain but in some countries it is not possible and people become angry if you bargain .
6) Be careful with the sign language which is more favourable in your country may not suitable in other country so better to not use sign language before you better know the country .
Summary :
Though there is lots of cultural differences in the different countries but I like it for this types of differences . You can learn a lot in a tour which changes your heart and try to make you a new person . Sometimes foods are very difficult in another country but still this are manageable but different sign languages are much difficult . It creates confusion where as different countries have different meaning of the sign language . Only for the vegetarians it may have a little problem , from my experiences only non – vegetarian foods are widely available everywhere and cheap also . Vegeterian foods are not available like India .
