Many thanks for all your contributions to this Forum. Are there any cautions one should take in choosing a travel agency for driver-guide-travel support in (Northern) India? Would any of you recommend Easy Tours of India?

never heard of easy tours...

make sure that if you pay your bill with a credit card that there is not a big fee for doing so....or else pay in cash after you arrive...

don't let them load up your days with too many activities...

tell them up front that you will not visit any standard shopping stops----tell them you will provide the locations of any stops you wish to make... none period!!

tell your agency not to put blind ads on fodors.com

On the assumption that this first-time poster isn't a front for Easy Tours of India, I'd suggest they look here:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...dia-India.html

Read down, past the spammers and you'll find the actual comments from actual travelers.

But I think this is just a way to subtly promote this company. Spam comes in all shapes and sizes. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Dogster's nose is twitching.

My sincere apologies to both of you--this was the furthest from my intention. We are planning a first trip to India to be combined with a scientific meeting and my husband feels that an organized US tour would be better than working with a travel agent. This was an attempt to find recent responses (the tripadvisor ones were several years old) that might help us decide--I had found this company through Google and hoped to find recent evaluations. Again, I'm very sorry about this, since your comments have been so extremely useful in planning an itinerary.

522, there have been many posts about various tour companies here. If you do a search you will find some recommendations.

I am puzzled by your comment "my husband feels that an organized US tour would be better than working with a travel agent." I would suggest that working with an agent in India is likely to be the most satisfactory solution, The Indian agent can make the exact arrangemetns you want without the hassles of traveling as a group or the forced shopping stops, etc. Agents in India are used to creating customized itineraries for travelers.

No problems, 522. I was wrong. Good luck with your tour.

Like Kathie, I think you can do way better than Easy Tours. There is no reason that an organised US tour will be any better - all they will do is sell you on to an Indian company anyway and pocket their commission. Do some searching and get back if there is more advice you need. You'll find us very helpful.

Check out the post just below this 'First time to India..' from abby97 for a start.

Thank you Kathie, dogster, and rhkkmk. You have addressed my question beautifully, and I'm going to go ahead with one of the Indian companies recommended on your site. You've been extremely helpful.