An Indian man living in the US recently turned to Reddit, seeking advice for his upcoming trip to India with his family. In his post, the man, born and brought up in India, claimed that he has been living in the US for more than 18 years, and is planning to visit his home with his kids after a long time. He turned to Reddit, asking how he should prepare before his trip to India. He asked about a phone connection before landing and creating a bank account. He also inquired if he should get his kids vaccinated before their trip.
"NRI folks, I am having an upcoming trip to India with my family after a long time and need info on some basic things like - How to get phone connection on day of landing ( any pre-setup), Setup Paytm or phone pay ( whatever it's called), Creating bank account ( what kind of account ; I heard some legal issues related to account type : NRI/NRE) and anything else I need to do before I land there ( like vaccinations for kids)," the Redditor wrote.
India Trip
byu/PresentAd8900 innri
He further shared that he has been in the US for more than 18 years. "Most of my family including cousins live here , hence less of reason to go to india in addition to visa issues. Either way it's been a long time and quite a few things changed in last 10 years back home and hence the question," he explained.
"Regarding vaccination, never been with kids to india and want to be proactive. Probably not needed , but our family house is in front of huge drain lake with lots of mosquitoes," he shared.
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Reddit users were quick to respond to his queries. Several people advised the man on how he could make his India trip smoother.
"There are UPI Wallet apps like Cheq & Mony that are designed for foreigners which you can use without having bank account. Upon landing, in airport, you can visit their desks and they load money into these apps and you can then use that money for UPI payments," one user wrote.
"Mosquitoes: I took my 9-year-old daughter to India for the first time, and I went after 11 years myself to Mumbai. We didn't do any vaccinations, but I did take Mefloquin for malaria prevention. You start it a week before you leave and take it every week while you are there and weekly for 4 weeks after you return. Dosage is dependent on weight for kids. I would get enough for the first dose in the US (when we got it last Aug, it was back ordered in the US, and insurance would only cover five pills) and get the rest in India, where it is much cheaper. As long as the active is the same, the brand name does not matter. It is a tablet, so kids may have trouble swallowing it - try crushing it and adding it to yoghurt or ice cream. Also, mosquito repellent from India (Odomous) worked better than the insect repellents from the US. They didn't smell as awful when we were kids - LOL!" commented another.
"I dont know who your cell phone carrier is in the US, but most offer a international roaming day pass, which is like $10-12 a day for unlimited use (use your US phone as normal). It is so worth it," suggested a third user.
