We all love to take a break from the monotonous life every once in a while and take a nice vacation with our loved ones or family or friends. But most of the time our pockets do not allow that. But thanks to the Indian railways, that make travelling so much comfortable and affordable at the same time.
The railways has been able to accommodate all the sections of the society and it wouldn’t be wrong to say that today most of the population has been on the rails at least one. But if you are one of the rare populations then you have to take a trip on the train soon. And these are the following things that you must keep in mind while planning a trip by the railways:
- Ticket reservation– lakhs of people commute via the Indian railways on a daily basis. So in case you have a well planned trip, then you have to reserve your train tickets well in advance. Because the more you delay, the higher gets the waiting list and the more you lose your chance of getting a seat. Ideally you should book your tickets at least 1 and half months before.
- Carrying your ticket– earlier people had to go to the railway station to book their tickets. But these days everything can be done online. Now in case you too have booked your tickets online, then make sure you get a printout of your e-ticket and also carry an identification card. And don’t make the mistake of carrying a duplicate. Make no mistake, always carry an original.
- Food and water– these are the most basic necessities. Now if your train journey is only for a few hours then you could carry homemade food for yourself. But if your journey is for more than a day then doesn’t worry you won’t starve to death. The Indian railways have this covered for you. To make sure you get hot meals, the trains have a pantry car that offers you food in train at a decent rate. Also, one has the benefit of packaged mineral water sold by the vendors.
- Make sure to check the station schedule– you must go though the schedule of the train stops. One can easily find them from the online websites. This gives you an idea about the halts at each station and also about the route of the train. And the most important, keep a track of your own destination and the time of arrival.
- Toiletries – if you are travelling for the first time you are definitely going to be very particular about every tiny detail. So you might want to keep your sanitation in check. Although the trains offer soaps, hand washes and towels; but you could carry your own sanitizer and hand wash just to be on a safe side. Also, if your trip is an overnight journey then you would need things like tooth paste, brush etc to clean up the following morning.