About Rachel Jones

Rachel Jones left a career in nursing and lived on the beaches of Goa, India for the five years. Now she lives in Mexico where she gives advice on the 40+ countries she’s visited in the last 10 years. She’s the author of two India travel e-books: Guide to India and Insider’s Guide to Goa. Her blog, Hippie in Heels, like its name, is a contradiction combining off-beat adventurous places with glamorous and bespoke travel. Hippie in Heels has been featured in ELLE, Marie Claire, Grazia, and Cosmopolitan magazines. She’s a writer for Bravo TV.

Backpackers Boutique: Packing Tips from Nola to Everywhere

Welcome to Backpacker's Boutique. Every Sunday, this spot will feature a new travel blogger. Some weeks it will be a really fun interview about packing, fashion, and fitness so you can snoop inside their bags & lives a little bit and other weeks it'll be a detailed luxury guide to a city the featured blogger/expat knows very well. If you'd like

This is India! 76

Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal about my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.

Ask Me Anything: Should I Buy a Used Car to Tour India?

I sometimes share e-mails under the tag "ask me anything". I get a lot of very similar e-mails which means there are a lot of people out there thinking the same questions. Why not address them to everyone? You can search more like these by clicking that link above. I got the most interesting e-mail from two

5 Most Romantic Places for an Indian Honeymoon

I am not really one to think about my next destination based on romance. In fact, I never have. I probably never will. But I don't write this blog for ME, I write it for my lovely readers, YOU! I know that you may actually want to know where to book romantic places in India

Luxury Guide to Lake Tahoe

Welcome to Backpacker's Boutique. Every Sunday, this spot will feature a new travel blogger. Some weeks it will be a really fun interview about packing, fashion, and fitness so you can snoop inside their bags & lives a little bit and other weeks it'll be a detailed luxury guide to a city the featured blogger/expat knows very well. E-mail me if

This is India! 75

Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal about my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.

Kerala Backpacking Tips & 10 Day Kerala Itinerary

Kerala, "God's Own Country", brings in SO many tourists each year and I am going to share my Kerala backpacking tips & Kerala itinerary. It's one of the most popular states in India and is considered less touristy than Goa and more "real India" (although in my opinion, all of India is "real"). I love when

Not to Miss Adventure Sports in Varkala

I loved Varkala! It was 10x better than Kovalam in my opinion, which is another popular beach a little further south in Kerala. Varkala is up on a cliff and kind of reminds me of Vagator in Goa. It's a huge tourist destination for Indians and foreigners alike, and it's chilled out enough to swim