India Announces On-the-Spot Visa-on-Arrival for Philippine Nationals

As opposed to other nationals, the general rule for Filipinos when travelling to a foreign country is to apply for a visa. With very few exceptions, the visa requirements is always a major downside of possessing a Philippine passport.  Aside from the fact that applying for a visa can be quite taxing, there is a really disappointing possibility that after purchasing a ticket you get denied.

Last year I was supposed to travel to India.  We've already set an itinerary of Delhi-Mumbai-Agra-Goa when upon research another friend told me that a fellow bank employee of his was given a hard time applying for a visa.  Considering that the purpose for his travel was official business, government even, and still he was given a hard time I had doubts on buying a ticket and eventually decided on not going specially since the airfare then wasn't cheap at all*.

Nonetheless, India has always been in my list of MUST travel places.  Now with India's Visa-Upon-Arrival program for Philippine Nationals its finally easier to go to this land of Bollywood, color, curry and spicy cuisine.  I'm sure my I would want to see more of Incredible India, for the time being however, here's my list of places in India I want to see:

image from Wikipedia

 Beach, hippie vibe, flea market, and other free spirits makes Goa a must see place! Though i'm sure some beaches in the Philippines may be better.

The Darjeeling, where the famous GI protected name of the Darjeeling tea came from, toy train which was included on the best train journeys in the world would sure be also in the list.

from www.7wondersoftheworldpictures.com

No trip to India would be complete of course without seeing the Taj Mahal.

The World Heritage Sites....and all other equally interesting places in between. :)

*Although flights from Air Asia is relatively cheap that Singapore Airlines which flies direct to Goa, the long waiting hours between connecting flights will take away precious vacation time.