filmwill

Any chance you signed up on Fodors to promote your "friend", ana?

On a side note, I will say that Maria is a super-cool name for a guy.

FromDC

Will, I'm getting beyond the sketch stage so your threads have been very helpful. Is C&K providing you with drivers everyday in Rajasthan and guides on some days only? I'm not clear on what to ask for when I initiate my inquiry to them. Thanks. Also, did they make the hotel reservations for you?

filmwill

Hey DC! Yes, we're doing drivers for the full trip but only guides on the days we're touring. That actually seems to be part and parcel of arrangements with C&K. Even when we don't use the driver, he is available via cell should we need his services. Sounds handy but I'm not sure of the logistics of how that works on the ground (maybe others can chime in?)

We absolutely didn't want to be stuck on a nonstop tour on this trip (that's just not our style) so we chose only specific days on the trip to tour with a guide -- most notably at the places it seemed we needed it and probably would be enriched more by knowing things we couldn't know by reading a guide book.

And, yes, on that second question. They did end up booking our hotels for us. I'm crazy so I did double check against the best rates out there that I could find independently and C&K beat them clearly (by a mile in some instances and only slightly in others). But still cheaper overall.

Arvind is great -- and super responsive! Looking forward to seeing how it plays out for you. When are you going again?

Kathie

filmwill, I haven't hired a car and driver for an India trip, but I have for a Sri Lanka trip and a Morocco trip. The driver is available to you all of the time - just call - but we had days when we didn't use him at all (when we were staying at Tea Trails) and days when we revised the itinerary, and he followed our new instructions. Just remember that the driver wants you to be happy, so communicate clearly what you want/don't want. For instance, in Sri Lanka, our driver asked us about shopping (there are batik stores in this town - do you want to go or not?) and always respected our choices, there was no pressure to shop. I know someone here reported being taken to stores when they asked for no shopping, but that was not with C&K.

Have a wonderful trip!

FromDC

Thanks so much, Will. Emailed Arvind last night but haven't heard back. Getting close to securing FF tix for end of January, staying on the ground for 2 weeks in India. I'm a bit late doing this so there may be some circuitous routing to get to DEL.

Why did you pick Jodhpur over Jaipur? At this point I am thinking Jaipur-Bundi-Udaipur in the middle of the itinerary.

Glad to know about the shopping, Kathie, being taken to stores that I have no interest in is very annoying for me especially because I am not a great shopper even under the best of circumstances

rhkkmk

on our first trip with C&K our driver asked if we could please visit just one store, if only for 5 minutes. we did, it was interesting and we were out of there in 10 minutes...

the guides are all excellent that avrind uses... if the info is too much just tell them or you can even dismiss them for the rest of the day.

ask for Krishna to be your driver. tell avrind you are my friend. he is an exceptionally nice man.

Craig

Will, you are paying for the driver whether you use him or not so that is why he is on call all of the time. You hotel may provide separate accommodations for drivers but sometimes they just spend the night in their cars. Either way, your driver will always be pretty close by.

rhkkmk

our drivers have always stayed in inexpensive places in the towns we have visited..

filmwill

Coming back to this after a bit of a lull in planning due to tremendous amounts of non-leisure-related travel.

One thing has popped up as I finalize all the details of our December trip.

Looking at our itinerary -- now under a different lens having had some time and distance from intense initial planing -- I see a lot of short stays. We really do need the option to relax (or at least unwind in a nice hotel here and there) a bit more on this trip due to a hell of an intense year working. I don't want to drastically re-work the overall trip, especially this late in the game.

The one thing I'm focusing on is Narlai. Currently we spend 2 nights in Delhi, move to 2 nights in Jodhpur, then 1 night in Narlai on the way to 3 nights in Udaipur. I'm thinking if we cut Narlai, we could spend 3 nights in Jodhpur. But, then again, Narlai did seem unique in its affordance of being the only more 'rural' destination on our trip -- everything else is fairly substantial cities (Varanasi, Agra, Cochin, etc.) Plus the hotel we're staying at there (Rawla Narlai) looks very unique.

Guess I'm just trying to get some additional opinions if the 2 night / 2 night / 2 night cadence might be better addressed with a few more 3 night stays in certain destinations -- or if we're robbing ourselves of an experience by passing over Narlai.

Thanks in advance for your help, as always.

Kathie

A string of two night stays is exhausting. And, IMO, a one-night stay is worthless. Generally a one night stay means just that - perhaps you'll get there in time for dinner and have breakfast before you leave, but no real opportunity to explore a place.

I know it is hard to cut places you're invested in, but leave it for your next trip.

crosscheck

I'm going to respectfully disagree with Kathie. If you're on a road trip with short distances between places, a one nighter is fine because you're not on a stressful schedule waiting for trains or planes. And your guide/drive handles luggage, check in etc. Also your alternative for an extra night in Jodhpur might be an even longer day trip into a rural area. We had a one nighter in Khajuraho and it was wonderful, not at all rushed or hectic. For me, rural India, including the village where we stayed outside of Udaipur, trumped the cities.

Haven't been to Narlai, but it's high on my list for next time because of its stylish charm and distinguished literary guests. (I believe various Indian authors and even William Dalrymple have set up shop there to work on their novels). Here's a review from a travel blogger:

http://www.thestylesaloniste.com/201...-part-two.html

They also offer some cool, unusual activities like the step well dinner, school visits and horse safaris. I would go for it.

filmwill

Actually, Kathie, we're scheduled to arrive really early (it's only a 2 hour drive from Jodhpur) and would check out the next day after breakfast. Part of the idea was to break up the long drive from Jodhpur to Udaipur as well.

If we did lose it, I guess I'd have to figure out if it's more worth extending to 3 nights in Delhi or 3 nights in Jodhpur with that 1 extra night we'd have.

crosscheck

I would not add an extra night to Delhi. We had fun there but it was our least favorite destination (and we are city people). We were there for two full days and one night.

filmwill

crosscheck, we'll barely be there that long. Right now, we arrive Delhi at 8 PM on our first night, have a full day or touring the next day then fly to Jodhpur early the following morning. So it's really a matter of having 2 full days there vs. 1 full day, as we have planned right now. I figure it'd be nice to relax in our lovely hotel (Leela) and breathe a moment before we head off into our big adventure--plus we have friends in Delhi that we'd be able to spend some time with. All that, and I don't think Jodhpur really has all that much to offer for an extra full day there. But maybe I'm wrong about that?

crosscheck

Difficult for me to advise definitively because we didn't go to Jodhpur or Narlai. However, we weren't blown away by Delhi (or Mumbai) and didn't feel the need to spend a lot of time in either. (Varanasi was another story...we would have been thrilled to spend a few extra days.) Instead, it was the rural experiences, especially the villages in Rajasthan, that were highlights for us. We felt a part of village life and were often invited into people's homes...and the photo ops were beyond stellar.

We did have dinner at the Leela in Delhi and it was lovely and elegant. But if it were me, I'd rather spend the extra time somewhere magical like Narlai. With one full day in Delhi you can still see your friends, do a few hours of sightseeing and take a long nap.

uhoh_busted

We had two full days in Delhi at the start of our trip last Feb. Glad we did, because while our Lufthansa flight arrived on time (around 10PM) the luggage hold was frozen shut and the entire plane full of passengers was stuck waiting until 2AM for baggage. Our touring schedule was like yours, on that first day, and it really wasn't all that bad. Our second day was one created just for us -- we had the morning to walk from our hotel (Claridges) to Lodi Gardens, then were picked up by our driver to go to someone's home for a cooking class and lunch (terrific experience) and after to the Railroad Museum. Which we decided, really needs someone to sponsor it with donations! But that light day did see us push through the remainder of any jet lag and continue with our trip quite ably.

Jodphur was our favorite city in the entire trip, and part of that was due to staying at Raas, and knowing ahead of time that the gift shop at Merangarh Fort is one of the best places in the country to buy souvenirs without hassles. BUT we also enjoyed being able to just walk out the hotel and explore the Clock Tower market, too. I'd have loved an extra night in Jodphur. We also picked up useful clothing and household linens at an Anoki shop while there. However, we loved a rural stop we made, so I hesitate to suggest you drop that for an extra night in Jodphur.

Maybe it's time to just trust your plans and relax.

glover

Wow. Tough decision. We loved our one night stop at Rawla Narlai - a lovely property in a beautiful area. And we did the same as you have planned at the moment - stopped to break up the drive from Jodphur to Udaipur. Tough to think of spending less time in the other cities - which we enjoyed a lot also.
But we were lucky to have more time. Still - I vote for leaving your plan as is. You'll enjoy Rawla - it's unique and it's relaxing!

filmwill

Looks like we're going to add that extra night to Delhi if we can change our one flight without much penalty. Glover, I am pained by the potential loss but, as Kathie said, there are other trips to be had (future India trip could include that and the Himalaya region, which we desperately want to visit but just don't have time on this trip.

filmwill

Okay so picking this up where I left off in July.

The next city I need some input on is Cochin. The first night we arrive there at 7:00 PM so it's kind of a lost day.

Second day we're to tour the Dutch Palace at Mattancherry, the Jewish Synagogue, St. Francis Church and Willingdon Island. Finally that evening we attend a kathakali dance show.

Just getting a feeling this is definitely a 'transport' city -- just a stop on the way somewhere else; in our case, to our houseboat.

Anyone have any shopping or dining recommendations for Cochin? We're staying at Brunton Boatyard, FWIW.

thursdaysd

I enjoyed my stay in Kochi, but it was over Christmas. Rather than a transport hub, I would say that it was a tourist hub.

There's a (RC) cathedral as well as the Anglican church, and I believe the Chinese fishing nets are still there. The kathakali dance show was worthwhile, we got to see the performers applying their makeup, as well as dancing.

I was there in 2001 so my recommendations are way out of date, but I really like staying at the Malabar House.