Travel Review: Luxury 10-Day Trip to India, Udaipur, Agra, New Delhi, Ranthambore National Park, Amber Fort, Bird Sanctuary

Review by traveler

Jeri F.

1.6.2019

General Info

Traveler Review

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

India

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

Overall, we were very pleased with our trip. Our guides were all knowledgeable about history and culture and they ensured we were carefully looked after. They advocated strongly on our behalf and were flexible with respect to changes in the schedule based on time and activities. The information we received beforehand adequately prepared us for our activities. For example, I read some reviews where people were angry they didn’t see tigers or other wildlife at Ranthambhore, but our information made it clear the area is a reserve and not a zoo and had very different topography than in Africa. We appreciated that being custom travel, we were able to include a stop at Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, which was a wonderful experience to see birds migrating from Russia and China. The hotels were mostly modern; we loved the historic place of Nahargarh Ranthambhore and the Hotel Fategarh. We completely adored our driver who was with us from New Delhi until we left Jaipur. He not only maintained a clean and comfortable vehicle, he made sure we always had sufficient water and he had hand sanitizer, wipes, and candies. He was very flexible and took us to a Royal Enfield motorcycle showroom at our request. He worked to help us find a new battery for our camera; he ultimately spoke with a shop owner who arranged to have a battery from another shop delivered to our hotel room. He also secured an excellent rickshaw driver for us in the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary who used his binoculars and my phone to take excellent pictures of wildlife for me. We spend many hours with our driver and as we traveled, he educated us about many factors in Indian life.

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

We didn’t know what to expect coming to India. Amber Fort, Agra Fort, the Taj Mahal were wonderful. We were surprised how astounding the Ranakpur Jain temple was. It was certainly worth the drive. We really enjoyed the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary and Ranthambhore National Park. We enjoyed seeing new animals and had no expectation to see a tiger. In the afternoon, our driver was informed by other drivers about a sighting. He took off and we saw deer alerting and looking in one direction. We drove in that direction and Tigress #63 emerged from the bush right in front of our Jeep. Our company liaison told us that he had to present at 4am at the park office to try and personally advocate for us to be in a Jeep rather than the larger Cantor. Our guide in Udaipur was especially engaging, well-connected, and knowledgeable. Our guide in Agra, was quite assertive and determined. It seemed she felt pressured by the schedule, which we were unable to maintain, but she was flexible in trying to work in as much as time permitted. We enjoyed the elephant ride to the entrance of Amber Fort.

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

First impressions matter. When we arrived at the first airport, the sign for our name was handwritten. It just looks unprofessional. Our guide in New Delhi was knowledgeable, but he was very dismissive of me as a woman. Perhaps his sexist attitudes are so deeply ingrained that he is unaware of the behavioral manifestations of it, but as an American businesswoman with a doctorate in Clinical Psychology, his micro-aggressions were immediately obvious to me and my husband. I was offended but thought his behavior might reflect Indian societal or cultural norms. However, no one else treated me in that fashion. I would have preferred all historic hotels. The hotel in Jaipur was attractive and modern, but worn and not as clean as it could be. The mattress was so bad I was unable to sleep and had severe back pain for two days. My husband and I had very mixed feelings about Eleday. We were both expecting a nature sanctuary, not a dusty area in town. We understand our expectations were incorrect. While it was interesting to be up close and personal with an elephant, it felt exploitive.

Travel Company Comments:

Dear Jeri,

Happy New Year 2019!

We thank you for submitting your review on Zicasso.

We are glad to know that you liked the services of all guides, driver and had an amazing experience in Bharatpur Sanctuary, National Park and other heritage highlights of India.

Handwritten Placard: Regarding, the placard being hand written. We sincerely apologize for it to be handwritten but since one of our representatives who was supposed to arrive at airport to receive you could not reach the airport on time due to traffic (who had printed placard), we used another representative who was at the airport. So, he wrote your name on a signboard and used the same. At times companies are forced to do above, as some situations are out of our control. Hope you understand our point of view.

Guide in Delhi: We apologize for your experience with the guide in Delhi. In In,dia some people do not address women as a mark of respect and have eye contact with only men in the group. As rightly mentioned, this is ingrained in Indian society but he did not have any bad intentions. We have used the guide in many of our past assignments but shall appraise him about the above so that next time this issue does not occur again.

Hotel in Jaipur: We are so sorry for your bad experience in the hotel in Jaipur. We are already in touch with management and have offered the feedback. This is the first time that we are facing an issue with Marriott in Jaipur. If you would have informed about this during the trip, we would have spoken with management and tried to correct the issue.

Eleday: It appears that there was a misinterpretation of information here. We never communicated that Eleday is a sanctuary. It is an Elephant Farm and that is cleary mentioned in the proposal when it was finalized (also in detailed itinerary). Having said that, the Elephants are properly taken care by the staff but it is more of Elephants in captivity than in a sanctuary where they roam free.

Our team looks forward to welcoming you again in the near future.

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