I'll know the whole grisly business next week. So I'll reserve any accidental fear till then. It was the pregnancy scare that really had me worried.

Do you still maintain the fiction that this was all due to an overenthusiastic Indian massage?!

to be sure I drive you anywhere you like. I drive you long time

- singapore girrrl a great way to fly

No, that was for ease of explanation. It was/is a pre-existing condition growing steadily worse... aided and abetted by my manly refusal to do anything about it. Hence my lengthy last trip. Diversion. Hence my lengthy last stories. Diversion. Now matters are 'in train'...

The brutes helped to ramp it up a notch or two, tho, big time. The dead legs are why all of the Mumbai stories are set in a one block radius of the hotel.

As the parent of a 33-year-old son with a wonderful wife, parenthood is and can be wonderful! Do not fear! And with epidurals, childbirth is a breeze. You can do it! In my day we had "natural" childbirth, as opposed to "unnatural" childbirth. What a crock! In any case, float face up and let the smart people (are they out there?) take care of you. I think your condition requires a minimal incision at the top and bottom of the vein in question, a simple matter of slipping out the bad vein. Drink mucho pouilly fouissee or fume --- God's anesthetic, and all will be well.

We had SANTOSH driving us. He was extremely pleasant, knowledgeable (all bits and pieces) and fluent in English.

AND very reasonable:

http://www.indiantravelpromotion.com/

SV

Make sure to ask for the REALLY special spassvogel deal:
"all our road travels came up to 6000INR for 2 pax." This is for some 14 days of travel!

Marija
I have to correct your statement - somehow you did not read thoroughly what I posted:
Drive Ranthambore - Agra
Drive Jansi - Panna
Drive Panna - Bandavgarh
Drive Bandavgar - Kanha
Drive Kanha - Pench
Drive Pench - Airport Nagpur

In between Train.

These are 6 Driving days and not 14!

Just to get that back in to perspective ;-)

SV

one more add:

The car was either a Ford Endeavor or Toyota. And the car would have been the same for 1 or 4 people.
So the pay is irrelevant.

SV

Typo: "The paX is irrelevant"

SV

Spass, you had a special deal. Normally on a trip like that, the car and driver stay with you. So if you're at a game park or somewhere that doesn't need driver services, you are still paying for them and 250 km, whether you use them or not.

So that's why marija is making her joke. The amount yoiu are quoting would cover 2 days, max 3 with anybody else.

I think it is important to point out that when you book with a travel company, they often sub-contract the transport to any available driver. If you want a specific driver, you need to make it very clear, or book with the driver directly.

Of course, if teh driver gets sick, you may end up with a substitute anyway, but I find your odds of getting a good driver (and your prices) are bestif you go directly with the driver.

I negotiated a bit with Anil Sinha, Ramesh Meena, Narender and Castle & King. Anil wound up giving us the best price, so we’ll probably go with his company – which might be a little riskier than booking the driver directly, but Ramesh made it sound like he’d be sending someone else anyway, and Narender is too expensive because he’s based in Delhi and we just want someone for Agra and Jaipur (changed the itinerary slightly).
Thanks, all, for the advice.

ray, having hired Anil's company for our trip, I can tell you that he is responsive. If you have any problem, call him and be assertive about your situation. When we had trouble with one of his drivers, after some discussion, he did cure the problem. It turned into our good fortune that he replaced the bad driver with Ramesh, which saved our trip. So, I am confident you will have a great trip. Please do give us a report when you get back!

dogster, I've been busy arranging a trip to a different region, but I wanted to come back in here and properly accept your apology. Also, I want to alleviate your fear that I will expose your identity. While I found out your name quite by accident in Varanasi (when I inquird about Bruno), I have not googled you, so I don't know anything about you except what you have written here. I respect your privacy -- which was my point -- for various reasons, some of us want to retain our anonymity. I have no other issues with you -- I just wanted you to understand that there is no tomfoolery here. BTW, I saw your exchange with Gpanda on the AskOksana thread and I share your concern about who the next victim of a bored public will be. Sometimes there is a little too much invective and judgmental attitude in here. We're all guilty of that at least a little bit and I apologize in return if I've come across that way toward you or anyone else. Travel is a great joy and some ill-written (or ill-received, as it it easy to misinterpret the typed word) comments can spoil what should be a rewarding experience. Thanks.

Dogster - thx for the explanation! I didn't know the "logistics".
When you get to the recent thread about the 14 days trip incl. driver, train, hotels 4*/5* for 1700 or 2000 respectively I think our "deal" was not THAT special ;-)

I particularly found the 14 days incl. all of that for 1700/2000 particularly special - in peak season. Ours was in June - the most unpleasant time of year - besides the tiger sightings which were fantastic under the circumstances given - and you know what: I WOULD DO IT AGAIN! The more time goes by the more I become fond of India!

Anyway - we were VERY happy with Santosh

SV

Ahh, trav: I'm glad you came back, I've been fretting about that. Let's just move on and forget the incident, eh? Now we know each other better.

spass: there are a milion million other things that India can offer you. I'm so pleased you've not been put off by the difficulties of your last trip. That was very much a single focus trip I think, but now you've had a taster of some of the other things. Me? I'd go Africa for animals and India for culture. There are some wonderful boutique properties you'd love. Look here:

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...-treasures.cfm

I must update this.

Thank you Dogster! Had a look and commented!
PRICELESS!

Now we can start all over again ;-)

SV

I am curious:
Do you do anything else than travelling India ?

SV

Wow! Glad I came in after all the fuss was over, or I might have been tempted to comment. Have a great trip Ray. Look forward to a report when you get back.

Yeh - I am very curious too - about dogster ?? I mean how come you travel so much in India ?? is that your profession to travel ?? surely no one can have so much time to travel around..? I mean one has to work too??