Sixteen months later and I am writing about how I traveled in Mumbai. Do I remember this as it were yesterday though! I highly recommend that you see this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqSrqcBZfTo
The hosts are not only candid but I found it to be very truthful with whom I spoke to while I was there. Did I ride a rickshaw, go on the train, or on the bus? No. I hired my own driver.
What? How rich are you? It is not that.
- I am a woman, and at the time I thought I was perceived as a white American (more on that later.)
- I was carrying around about $5000 (USD) worth of equipment and a pocketbook (more on that later) with a passport, credit cards, and US and India currency.
- Good luck navigating Mumbai if you do not know what building used to be where. Street signs are pretty much either non-existent or very new thanks to the exploding middle class. (What’s a middle class again? Wow, I actually got to see one in person again.)
- Traffic sucks and 20 miles can take 2 hours (or more)!
- Like I have said before, the only language that could be understood was English and thanks to Harry Potter and my British Chick Lit(erature) obsession, I could speak British English pretty well and could emulate their accent. (Remember that Britain occupied India for quite a while.) American English was almost like a foreign language to some of the people and I speak without any American regional accent. (i.e. a “broadcast” American accent.) Asking for directions in the slums was not an option for me. See #3 if language was not a barrier.
- Did I forget to mention about renting a car? Hell No! Where would I stick it in Mumbai anyway? Parking during New Year’s Eve in Times Square nets you better options.
You get the picture. I hired the drivers from my US hotel (Westin) in Northern Mumbai. (I would have much preferred Southern Mumbai but my husband wanted the short journey to work and Taj hotel lost. Yes, all out of my own pocket and which added up to $3500 USD after tips. I would tip $50-$100 USD per day depending on how many hours we spent and I did not use the car everyday (thanks Delhi Belly and a couple of days that I did not have anything planned.)
The concierge said something to me about the tipping on day. Madame: Did you know that you are tipping them a month’s wage for each ride out? They fight over you. You are the number one customer. (There were billionaires staying at the hotel too.) Me: I had no idea but I have yet to have had bad service and have no regrets.
Was it worth it? Every penny! My drivers were either bilingual or trilingual. They guarded my stuff in the car when I had downtime and went shopping in-between meetings and appointments. (I always took my clarinet on person unless I was not gone long and instructed them to run the car with the A/C.) They were dressed in hot polyester uniforms and sometimes the days were 12 hours long. I would offer to buy them drinks and food on top of it but they said it was against company policy. The drivers were always men (to protect the women.) Plus, they knew where or knew how to ask where my appointments were. Google maps is useless in Mumbai, especially if you need to get to a certain place on time. Better yet, my husband told me not to bring food, adaptable chargers, or feminine products from the US. Too much luggage. Bull! You can’t get these things at your hotel. I told my driver and he took me to a regular non-English speaking pharmacy to get my products. Feminine products which is a taboo subject in that culture but I guess with US $$$, nothing is taboo. If you want tampons, you have a better chance of finding a unicorn! Maxi pads it is. Tampons are considered sexual.
Was I out of the ordinary for hiring my own driver? Not in the least. If you made about $35,000 USD per year, you too could hire your own personal chauffeur for around $2400 USD per year. Labor is cheap. Huge population. I fit in perfectly. No regrets.
If I was not doing research, I would have taken public transit as I am a huge advocate for it living in NYC with no car and no having driven one since May 2014 and not planning to drive one for the rest of my life.