Frequently
Asked Questions
Q: Do I need a motorcycle
license for riding in India?
A: Yes you do. To be legally riding in
India you are required to carry your local driving license, which must cover
the size of bike you will be riding – 500cc for the Classic. This will
also be a stipulation of any travel insurance company too
Q: Do I need an International
Driving Permit?
A: Yes, you need an International
Driving License. It is cheap, quick and easy to obtain in your home
Q: What about Insurance?
A: Travel insurance for a trip like
this is a complete essential. We all know that riding motorcycles carries a
certain amount of risk, so riding unfamiliar motorcycles on unfamiliar roads
does not decrease that! Getting proper travel insurance that covers you for
riding abroad is a no-brainer. If things go awry, you need to know that you
have the correct cover to get you home safely such as emergency evacuation,
medical bills, repatriation etc.
Q: What currency should I
bring with me?
A: This one is both simple and
complicated. The local currency is Indian Rupees – INR. However, unless you are
a resident of India, importing rupees is prohibited so you cannot actually
obtain the notes outside the country itself like you can for other countries.
You can either bring in other currencies to exchange when in India, or simply
withdraw rupees from ATMs or do bring cash, US dollars, Euro, GBP, SGG, AUD are
universally welcome.
Q: Do I need a visa for India?
A: Yes, The easiest way to get one is to
apply for an e-tourist visa online. Assuming you live in an eligible country /
territory you can apply online minimum 4 days in advance of the date of arrival
with a window of 120 days. For peace of mind, we recommend you do this
nicely in advance to avoid any delays or issues. The visa lasts 60 days so
unless you decide to extend your trip for vastly more than the length of the
tour, then this should be plenty
Q: Where do I fly into?
A: You will need to book return flights
to Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi DEL for Rajasthan, Himachal,
Uttarakhand, Ladakh & Spiti Valley Tours for Southern India Tour you need
to book flight tickets to Kochi (COK) and Chennai (MAA) as per your Tour
Itinerary. Our office representative will meet you at the airport with paging
of your name.
Q: How do I carry my main
luggage?
A: In our fixed departure tours, we are
followed on the ride by support vehicles. This means that all your luggage goes
in there rather than having it bounce around on the back your Royal Enfield for
miles on end. You just need to take either a tank bag or small rucksack with
cameras and any travel essentials you feel you can’t manage without. All the
spares, luggage, medical supplies, fuel, and post-ride beer goes in the truck.
Q: What is the baggage
allowance for the flight back to Delhi from Leh?
A: In domestic flight, the included
baggage allowance is 15kg.
Q: How big is the group?
A: The average group size is between
eight and ten riders as that’s about the manageable amount for a mixed group.
If you are booking a private tour with a group of friends or a riding club we
can be a bit more flexible on the upper number as it’s easier to coordinate a
group that already know each other and ride together back home.
Q: Will we have a local guide
& mechanic ?
A: Yes – definitely. All of our
tours are accompanied by at least one local guide and a mechanic allround fixer
who can smooth our passage through India.
Q: Do I need to take water with
me?
A: Regular hydration is a good idea
when you ride, so many of our riders will take a Camelbak or drinks reservoir
with them. There’s plenty of water in the support vehicle so we’ll ensure
everyone gets a drink during our frequent stops but having some with you is
always a sensible move, even if it’s just a bottle in your day bag my
suggestion though would be to carry bottled water.
Q: What riding kit should I
wear?
A: This is a regular question from all
our riders. We don’t provide any riding gear for this trip so bringing your own
is essential. As the riding is predominantly road based in this region, then road
/ adventure style kit is the way to go rather than off-road or enduro gear. So
that’s going to mean a good helmet, protective riding jacket and trousers,
ideally with CE or equivalent approved armour on the pointy bits – elbows,
knees and shoulders. You are also going to need good leather gloves, a neck
tube to keep out the cold and maybe even base layers for the days we are
travelling at altitude and the temperature drops. You should take waterproofs
if your kit doesn’t keep out the wet stuff, but in reality the region is fairly
dry when our tours are running. We don’t recommend open face helmets as they
simply do not offer the same level of protection as a full face or flip front
helmet even at low speeds.
Q: Do I need any immunisations
for India?
A: Yes, you may do, but clearly it
depends on what you’ve already had. The usual suspects that our riders normally
get is Tetanus, Hepatitis A & B, Typhoid, and Polio. These diseases still
exist in many parts of the world and India is one of them, so getting
adequately immunised is a wise precaution. Please contact your local doctor or
your country’s national health advisory service to see what they recommend for
the area you are visiting. Some on the immunisations are free, some you will
need to pay for.
Q: How much spending money will
I need to bring with me?
A: So, this is up to you, but as our
most of the tour is a largely inclusive tour apart from Lunch, and then you
don’t need that much. All breakfast & Dinner, accommodation, permits and
fuel are sorted by us, so you just need cash for souvenirs, tips and alcoholic
drinks. Unless you go absolutely mad in the gift shops and bars, then around
$200 – $300 should be adequate. Shopping in India tends to be very reasonable
so you can get quite a lot for not much! On the beer front, we encourage
a bit of restraint – this is a riding tour after all, so we like to keep eight
hours between bottle and throttle.
Q: What is the accommodation
like?
A: The accommodation on each trip is
deliberately varied to give you a wide experience of the region. Sometimes
we’ll be in quality hotels with all the facilities you’d expect, sometimes
we’ll be in average campsites miles away from anywhere specially in Spiti
Valley & Ladakh Tours. But wherever we stay, bear in mind this is
India and things are not necessarily the same as back home. And that’s exactly
the point – that’s what adventure travel is about.
Q: How do I charge my camera?
A: All the hotels have plug sockets.
The campsites have sockets in the tents or in the main dining tents but turn
the electricity off over night. So yes you will be able to charge your gadgets
most nights. There are 2 types of sockets in India – 3 Pin connections – Type
D, or 2 pin connections Type C.
Q: Is Wi-Fi available
throughout the tour?
A: As we said earlier, yes in theory,
although in practice, Wi-Fi coverage can be slow at best, slow on average and
non-existent on many occasions. When you are riding in some of the most epic
landscapes in the world, then just enjoying it for yourself is beautifully
liberating – you can show your photos when you get back home.
Q: Can I get an Indian SIM card?
A: You can buy a local sim card in
Delhi, however, this will only give you coverage for some of the trip, but far
from all! Most riders just wait to use the wifi at the hotels that have it.
Again the wifi isn’t great, enough to message people but not watch youtube
videos or downloading. We recommend you set the ‘out-of-office auto-reply’ for
your emails!
Q: Is it safe to drink the tap
water?
A: In a word No! Although the locals
may be drinking tap water, doing the same has a strong possibility of playing
havoc with your insides. It’s called Delhi Belly for a reason. We recommend
that you drink only bottled water and that you check the seal before drinking.
If you chose canned drinks, give the lid a good wipe beforehand just to be
sure. And for tooth brushing, rinsing with bottled water is a good idea too.
Q: Can you cater for
vegetarians / food allergies?
A: As most of the population is
vegetarian, then avoiding meat is no problem at all. As to food allergies
that’s much harder to control, especially in restaurants with small kitchens
and limited experience as to the complications of lactose or gluten
intolerance. We will make every effort possible to communicate your
requirements to the places we visit, but we are unable to make cast iron
guarantees. If you are going to go into a life-threatening spasm if you touch a
stray peanut, then share it with your tour medic – we need to know that
stuff.
Q: How can I avoid altitude
sickness in Himalayan Tour?
A: 1. Stay hydrated. Caffeine and
alcohol impacts hydration, so maybe keep intake to a minimum until you are
acclimatised. Apparently a high potassium diet helps. Make a
conscious effort to breathe properly as we climb to higher altitudes in
Himalayan Tour – you want to saturate your blood with oxygen. Your tour leader
will explain this in more detail in your welcome briefing. Diamox is an altitude
sickness tablet – please do your own research on this – if you decide you would
like to take these, You’ll want to start taking these in Delhi, before we start
climbing. Ibuprofen if you start to feel a headache coming on, but please
notify the tour medic beforehand.
Q: Who operates this tour?
A: This tour is operated by Indian
Local Tour company, Legendary Moto Rides.
Q: How do I book?
A: To secure your place we simply need
a 10% non-refundable deposit. We need further 40% more payment 50 days prior to
the tour start date & balance 50% you pay us on arrival in India.
Q: What payment methods do you
accept?
A: We accept direct bank transfers
& by wise.com.
