One of the most exciting things we are looking for when we go to India are the train rides.

We have two trains rides, one is a few hours and the other overnight, which is the one that makes us a little nervous, but still exciting.

Bathrooms

Something that will truly be an experience will be using the bathroom on the trains, maybe on the shorter trip we could maybe get away from using them, but on the overnight trip there will be no chance, experience you say? Yes, check out a typical toilet on an Indian train.

#1 will be easy for Derek but for Jenn, well let’s say she is working on squats on a daily basis! #2 on the other hand will be scary watching the track through the hole. You an see the flush water just under the window. We promise to take some pictures of these and keep you posted on Facebook.

Eating on the move

One of the more exciting parts of the train ride, aside from the meeting of people, is eating.

There is usually no eating cars on Indian trains so vendors will not only board the train but sell through the windows. I am still not sure if vegetarian will for sure be the order of the day, but seeing as you have no idea on where and how it was cooked it could mean many visits to the squat toilets.

From what we have read you can get everything from a full meal to chai tea to chocolate bars.

Jenn is really excited about the Chai tea service, going by the size of the pot above they go through a lot of tea and as you have to boil the water to make chai tea I am sure it will be fine.

Accomodation

The day trip on the day will just be a bench, probably shared with many other people and the night train in on a sleeper train.

Seems even though on day trains even if you have a whole bench for the two of you, if someone spots some space,  they will join you. We are not bothered by this thought as it gives the opportunity to chat with some people and get to learn a little more about their culture.

The overnight train, being a sleeper, should gives us some bunk space to sleep, although we watched a video that a couple had made on the same trip we are going on and they said there was not much in the way of sleep on the overnight train.

As mentioned we take two trains on our trip, Agra, the place of the Taj Mahal, to Orchha that is a short trip of just over 4 hours. The long trip is when we travel from Orchha to Varanasi, which takes 13 hours, oddly on the map the shorter trip looks longer.