India Travel Review: Ranakpur, Delhi, Narlai, Varanasi, Jodhpur, Khajuraho Monuments, Temples, Cooking Class

A.  I would ask some very specific questions about accommodation.  Whilst all were satisfactory, with the hotel in Narlai as outstanding, some of the accommodation was a long way out of town, such as the hotel in Udaipur, the hotel in Jaipur.  The hotel was well over an hour each way from our evening activity.  The locations of these hotels added extra transport time to an already busy day.  

B.  The train ride from Agra to Khajuraho was a disastrous nightmare!  Eleven hours in a second class coach with no viable toilet facilities for westerners was an incredibly poor error in judgement. We were also disappointed in the justification given to us by this tour company's staff; that it was chosen so we could see how ordinary Indians travel and talk to them. There were no Indians in our compartment, I don’t need eleven hours of miserable travelling. We were also told that they often send their clients in this venue, yet we saw no other westerners anywhere on the train, nor did any Indians that we discussed this with concur.  In fact, they were shocked to hear we had come by train; most tourists come by plane either from Delhi or Varanasi. After some debate, we were given a partial rebate on our daily rate for the tour, but we should have been rebated the entire amount for both wasting an entire day of our tour, and for suffering under the conditions on the train. 

C.  I would ask for greater detail about some of the sites that we saw.  Most were absolutely fabulous, but others like Crystal Gallery in Udaipur was of little interest to us. Had we known ahead of time that it was a possible site, I would have researched it and informed the tour company to give it a pass.

D.  It’s a long drive (8 hours plus!) between Jodhpur and Jaipur on roads that are not well serviced.  I would have preferred flying between the two cities instead of spending so much time in transit. We were able to get a small walking tour through the Blue City area but we didn’t have time to really explore.  Too much driving, not enough time to see the city.

E.  Some of the activity choices were just too far away... In Varanasi ... a 2.5-hour ride each way to see a fort and a carpet making factory... for one hour was suggested. We opted not to do the carpet tour and re-created the itinerary with our guide to include a city walk (several, in fact) observing the cremations, and seeing life along the Ganges.  A FABULOUS choice on our part!

F.  The morning boat ride in Varanasi was cancelled because the boat drivers were on strike.  The tour company representatives made no effort to come up with an alternative activity.  We came up with our own plan, based on the advice of our guide. 

4.  Impressions of this tour company's staff

We were delighted with the attention to detail in the emails and documents sent to us prior to starting our adventure.  Any questions we had were answered very promptly and clearly.  Upon reflection, there were questions we should have asked but didn’t because we assumed that appropriate decisions would be made for our travel that took into consideration that two of us were senior citizens. We would recommend this tour company but also encourage anyone to do some research themselves, regarding travel times and means and to be specific on what they want to do and to plan a rest day in the middle...preferably at the hotel in Narlai

We found most of the representatives of this tour company to be very kind and helpful.  The gentleman at Varanasi was not truthful about the boat driver strike, nor did he attempt to provide an alternate activity. No information was given to us about the carpet making that we were slated to see but we overheard some other tourists say that it was 2.5 hours away.  We immediately cancelled that activity because we wanted to explore the city rather than sit in a car for five hours, to see something for an hour.

We researched the advice given in the booklet about tipping and from both the internet and from former visitors to India found the advice given to be very high.  As a consequence, we chose not to follow the advice given by this tour company.

Dealing with our travel specialist about the train experience was difficult.  It was hard for him to acknowledge that an error in judgement had been made, and his rationalizations didn’t help. We capitulated with his offer of partial repayment of the per dieum expenses.  He attempted many gestures of goodwill following this incident, even after we made it very clear it wasn’t necessary.  The incident was done and we just wanted to move on with our tour. Our travel specialist is to be commended for his efforts; his constant insistence on planning “surprises” for us to redeem this situation just kept it in the forefront.  He was unable to take direction from us, for example, providing dinner for us on our last night.  He couldn’t understand that we didn’t want a meal with him and another to rehash our tour.  We wanted the evening on our own to bask in the delight of a wonderful time in India.

In summary......we wish we had been given more details and options in the planning stage of the trip.....
 A). had we known how long the train ride was, we would have opted to fly.
 B)  had we known how long the drive was between Jodhpur and Jaipur, we would have chosen to fly.  We know that this would have increased our costs but it would have increased our touring time.
C.). We loved seeing the temples and monuments but would have loved more “wandering” time in the cities.  We didn’t have as many opportunities to explore the day to day life as we would have liked. 
D) we would have preferred accommodation closer to city centres which would have allowed us to walk about, choose restaurants other than hotel restaurants for our evening meals.  Accommodation closer to planned events is also recommended.

We are seasoned travellers, having visited over 80 countries and lived in Indonesia for two years. Our son has lived in Asia for 25 years and is also a seasoned world traveller.  We have all had some experiences that prepared us for Indian life.  We have been to India previously for a very short visit and determined that we needed to return.  Hence, we booked this trip with this tour company so that we could fulfil our dream. We realized that for us to experience India we would need our own car, driver and guide. We were willing to entrust someone else to organize tickets, accommodation, and transport although we have done this for the majority of our trips throughout the world. 

Our trip from Delhi to various cities and back to Delhi was eleven days, with the eleventh day a short drive to the Delhi International Airport, requiring a car and driver for approximately fifteen minutes.  The three of us slept in one room, drove in one car, and used the services of one guide. We paid approximately $210 USD per person for our ground expenses (interior airline expenses were a separate expense) for a total of $630 USD per day.  For four days we did not use a car and driver. Three of the days we did not use a guide.  

Using apps, we were able to ascertain that the cost for our accommodation would have been averaged to approximately $200 USD per day and probably less because the tour company would receive a tour discount.  Adding this calculation to our estimation of the costs for car depreciation, driver salary, fuel, guides, administration costs, and entrance fees to events leads us to believe that the profit margin was very lucrative for the company!  

We saw much, we were treated very well, we met Vikram who is India for us.  Did we have a good tour.....absolutely!  Did this tour company plan an excellent trip....absolutely!  Greater attention needs to be given to details in communication.  Perhaps some clients don’t care about the issues that concerned us but had they asked some questions about our travel styles, amount of travel they would have identified that giving us opportunities to choose options might have served them and us more effectively.

Would I recommend this tour company to others...I would... but with the caveat to do your own research!  I'd encourage anyone to do some research themselves, regarding travel times and means and to be specific on what they want to do and to plan a rest day in the middle...preferably at the hotel in Narlai. I would ensure that they ask lots of questions, find out about travel time and options and ensure that their priorities are evident in the itinerary.