I am leaving soon for India and just wanted an "okay" from all of you that have been to India that it makes sense or if you think of things that I might need to tweek yet to make it work better.

Depart Sun.11/30 USA

Arrive Mon.12/01 Delhi Imperial Hotel
Imperial Hotel will pick us up at the airport.

We are hiring a driver to pick us up on 12/03 and to be with us the remainder of the trip until we reach Udaipur. He is just a driver doesn't speak much English from what I understand. So, we'll need to get an English guide some places I am sure. It is our 25th Anniversary so want it to go well.
My husband also has MS so thought we could do our own pace this way. If he is too tired--skip the temples!

Wed.12/03 Agra Agravillas

Fri.12/05 Jaipur Rambagh Palace

Mon.12/08 Rathambore Vanyavillas

Wed.12/10 Jodhpur Umaid Bhawan Palace

Fri.12/12 Jaisalmer Fort Rajwada
Suite

Tue.12/16 Udaipur Lake Palace
Suite

Fri.12/19 Delhi Radisson
Fly from Udaipur to Delhi

Sun.12/21 Depart for US Early AM

This is three weeks to basically see Agra and Rajasthan. I am not into seeing too much of Delhi(big cities) at this point so that is why there is not much time allowed there. The Taj Mahal (Temple of Eternal Love)was the big draw for our anniversary. We might be switching to the Udaivillas in Udaipur, but have heard such wonderful things about the Lake Palace being very romantic. Of course, my daughter is joining us there--so not sure how romantic it needs to be.

Any helpful hints will really be appreciated. This trip was the hardest thing to plan!!! Thank you so much to all of you for all your help getting me this far.

Kris

Kris,
I read on one of the messages that the Taj Mahal is beautiful at night when seen with a full moon. You can look up the phases of the moon by going to a website for Agra. Just thought this might be a romantic thing to do.
Judy

HAve a good trip. One more thing. Hve you considered going to see a travel clinic before leaving? Usually there is some sort or other prophylaxis recommended by the CDC. Got thyphoid once in Indias so it can happen

Thanks Jacketwatch--

I got all of my shots that were recommended on the CDC and a lot of perscriptions for all the other kind of stuff--cipro, something for diarreha, sleeping pills etc. I might take a whole suitcase of toilet paper just to make sure .

If we are driving the long distances, I am sure that we will need to stop ?? at restaurants a long the way. Is rice & any fuit with a peel generally okay? Oh--and I can't forget the India Beer that was recommended in a prior post to me.

Thanks Jacketwatch. Having reading several posts, I went ahead and got all of the shots recommended by the CDC.
If we are going to be driving long distances, we will probably need to stop at some roadside restaurants. Is rice safe? Anything else that anyone would recommend? Fruit with a peel--I know. Thanks!

irieblue, please post a trip report when you get back. I am thinking of a similar trip next year in January, and would like to know how it worked out.

I would be glad to post it Carol. Just got word that our driver will be able to converse in English (whew)and that costs for 16 days (we won't need him once we get to Udaipur) including the car, taxes and his costs will be 86,000rupees(approx. $1500 US). I will keep you updated.

irieblue, it sounds like either you are wealthy, or absolutely holding no stops for this once in a lifetime trip!

Please let me know. Because A) I can live vicariously through you or B I can try the same tour to my standards, chearper hotels, street food, and more risrk. Either way your itineraryis ambitiouzs (we like to stey 2-5 days or stop is not worth it)

With a partner with MS I would concentrate one start and finish and not push anything in between.

"A smuggled beer in the Alhambra just after sunrise makes up for the high-priced restaurants. You can watch the sun rise peacefully over the non-tounisty greenery!" ( if you want more, Alhambra, emailmw.

As the car hire charge is a bit on the high side I hope you have been given a premium model air con car (honda, Lancer, etc.) and everything is included in this. Also please ensure you do not pay the driver anything over and above this - this amount is worth it if it is totally comprehensive. Pl be a little careful when your driver pushes shops too much - chances are he may try to take u somewhere to get a cut. Cooked food id gen safe - lentils, rice, yoghurt is safe. India is like Thailand - say not spicy if u want moderate. Above all ENJOY your once in a lifetime hol!

The driver/car quote is for a:

Tat Safari or Toyota Qualus
(both SUV's with AC) and is supposedly comprehensive of cost of car, taxes and driver from what my travel agent understands but I will have her check on this to be sure.
Thanks again Sameera!

To Irieblue: Glad you got the meds. Nothing worse than being ill on a vacation. Genearally speaking if it is cooked it is safe. Rice is fine and peeled friut is fine too. Again I would stick with bottled liquids and do try the beer. I had one the other day called "Flying Horse" and it was cold and delicious. Other good ones are Taj Mahal, Kingfisher, Gold Eagle and Mohan Meakins. Bon voyage! Larry

Hi there!

Try the Rajvilas (Oberoi group of hotels) instead of the Rambagh Palace in Jaipur. Ive stayed at both and would recommend Rajvials anyday. Their tented suites are absolutely fantastic! The food is good and so is the service. the only thing is, im not sure july is a great month to be there as day temperatures will be very high!

Anyway, if you need extra information email me at [email protected].

Have fun planning!

To Aarti: Irie is going in December dude. And tell me about Raj vilas please. We really liked eating at the Rambagh Palace. Is the Raj more opulent or luxurious? Thanks, Larry

Dudette

And im sorry got the time of year mixed up. Dec is a good time to be in India!

Yes the Rajvilas property (in my opinion) is more luxurious than Rambagh Palace. I was there 3 years ago and had a very enjoyable stay. Everything was good!

To aarti! Oops. Are YOU the dudette? My apologies.

Irieblue, My husband and I just returned from 25 days in India and Nepal so maybe I can help you out a bit.We made arrangements through a travel agency in India and did basically what you are planning, with the exception of adding Khajuraho, Varanasi and Nepal.

Our driver was fabulous and spoke quite a bit of English. He knew where to stop on all the highways and some of the places are better than others. Many are filthy, a few are somewhat clean but your choices are limited. Between Jaisalmer and Jodhpur we made a stop at Manvar Resort. Insist on stopping there, it's very nice and probably the cleanest rest stop we experienced. Drivers are not guides but if you get a good one, he'll help you out quite a bit. We tipped our driver each night - To Insure Proper Service - and found his services to be excellent.

We had English Speaking guides in each city and found them to be more of a nuisance than a blessing. "English" speaking is a more relative term than you'd imagine. A good guide book - we had Lonely Planet which was wrong about hotels and restaurants much of the time but as for places OK - in combination with a helpful driver is all you need. The guides always have a scheme to get your money and their knowledge is questionable.

If I were you I'd reconsider your hotel in Jaisalmer. I found most of the hotels in India to have lower standards than ours. We had a lot of surpirses but your choices look pretty good. Jaisalmer is really a frontier town and the hotels aren't what you'd expect. I inspected the cottages at Fort Rajwada and they're charming but the standard rooms are shabby and the staff was surly. Some of the smaller operations will book a suite but give you a standard room. They tend to hold the suites (I think a suite is a cottage in this instance) for their Indian clients. That's what happened to us at Jawahar Niwas Palace and our standard room was filthy. Gorbandh Palace is, from what I was told in Jaisalmer, the only place to stay without surprises.

As for the Lake Palace, my cousin stayed there and was disappointed with the standard rooms. She upgraded to a suite and was happier.

At the Radisson in Delhi request a room in the back of the hotel. The Radisson is a very clean hotel, great atmosphere, good restaurants, gracious staff but the racket made from the night truck traffic and horn honking is horrible. If your room faces the highway, you won't get any sleep.

Remember to always check out a couple of rooms before accepting one and keep in mind that some of the hotels will try to get away with putting you in the lowest category room. India is the kind of place that requires your hotel be a refuge from the chaos and challenges you'll face each day.

Your plan of skipping temples whenever you get tired is a good idea. They tend to be redundant.

Neither my husband nor I got sick because we were very cautious about food and drinks. Naan, rice, cooked vegetables, fruit we peeled ourselves, bottled water (even to brush your teeth), beer and always ordering vegetarian even in what seemed to be the cleanest restaurants catering to foreigners, was the key. You can't appreciate this until you see it for yourself, but India has severe sanitation problems. Once you see the conditions you'll understand why disease is so prevelant.

Be prepared for poop everywhere as well as diseased and/or dying animals.

The Forts, Palaces, and Monuments everywhere in India are remarkable. You will be amazed. There is simply no describing the Taj Mahal - it's sculpture. In Delhi Homayoun's Tomb and Qtab Minar are astounding. If time is limited, skip Jama Masjid. Jaisalmer's Fort and the whole fort area is fun to wander through.

It's good advice not to give money to beggars as it's never ending. When touts accost you, just keep walking, don't look at them, don't respond and eventually they'll target someone else. Please keep in mind that snake charmers are responsible for the brutal slaughter of thousands of snakes each year - it's a horrible practice so I didn't encourage it by watching them, taking their pictures, or giving them money. The same goes for dancing bears.

I hope you have a wonderful time in India. As I reread this I realize I sound pretty negative. But India is a land of contrasts and very challenging - India is work.

Irieblue, sorry I have been travelling for the last few weeks and have had only limited access to my e-mail. Your itinerary looks good, and you have received some good advice so far.

As others have mentioned, guides may or may not be worthwhile. You might want to hire one for a few hours in Delhi and see why you think, then keep him longer in Delhi if you like him. A guide would be helpful at the Friday Mosque, and in the Red Fort; otherwise much of what you will see is easy to do and understand by yourself, the various tombs, the Quintab Minar, Ghandi's cremation site, etc. As long as you have a driver who understands where you want to go, a guide may not add much. The same is true for the other places on your itinerary. A guide to the City Palace in Jaipur is helpful as the place is so large. A guide to the Amber Fort is not much help, IMO as there is actually not a lot to see. You don't need a guide to the Taj Mahal nor the Red Fort in Agra. It would be helpful to have a guide to Fatephur Sikri, as it is spread out a bit, but I have done it both with and without a guide and enjoyed the visit both times.

With regard to guides and especially deriver, as mentioned above, there may be a tendency to take you places you don't want to go, e.g. shopping. If you make it clear that you are not interested in shopping, I have found that drivers respect this. Don't be hesitant about speaking up if a driver encourages you to shop. On the other hand, some of the best shopping I found in Jaipur was with a driver who recommended various places, so if you want to shop, you can save time with a knowledgeable driver. (This particular driver was from the Rajvilas hotel.)

With regard to Jaislamer-Jodphur-Udaipur my only comment is that it is quite a distance to do by car. Your schedule might be a bit ambitious there. You might want to cut out Jaislamer or Jodphur (I would pick Jodphur over Jaislamer) as the drives may get to you. Indian roads are not 4-lane highways and there are huge numbers of trucks, not to mention bullock carts. Indian drivers make Parisian and Italian drivers look tame, IMO. It helps not to actually look down the road and see what is coming at you. Focus on the countryside and pray a lot.

With regard to the Rambagh Palace, I have stayed there 3 times, and at the Rajvillas once. I love the Rambagh for its charm, gardens and history. However there are many different room types of varying quality, so do ask to see several before you decide. Avoid the basement rooms, which are damp. The Rajvillas is lovely, but a bit far out of town, IMO, and has nothing like the charm of Rambagh (its kind of a shabby chic charm, but really fits India). Be sure to buy the memoirs of Gateryi Devi, a former Maharani of Jaipur. |It is called "A Princess Remembers". You can definitely buy it in the bookstore at the Rambagh, and may find it in other bookstores. (Indian hotels and airports usually have a very good English book selection.) She was from a royal family herself and lead an extremely interesting life. To read this book while sitting in the winter sunshine on the verandah of the Rambagh (which was her home and if she is still living, she lives on a house on the grounds) and gazing up at her Scottish fairy castle on the hill in the distance is one of my favourite memories of India.

Delhi has a lot to offer, but if you don't like cities you are probably wise to limit your time. Also the pollution is quite bad, and worse in the winter months, so this might bother your husband if you stayed longer.

Given your husband's health, it might be a good idea to have contact numbers for the US Embassy in Delhi. They may be able to put you in touch with English-speaking doctors or recommend hospitals. The website for the US Embassy in Delhi is

http://usembassy.state.gov/posts/in1/wwwhmain.html
According to the website, American citizens facing a life or death emergency may contact the Embassy twenty-four hours a day:

Phone: 11- 2419-8000
E-mail: [email protected]
The website also has a list of doctors in Delhi. On the main page, click on "Visitors to India" , then scroll down to Medical Assistance and click. The list will come up. It may be helpful to print this out and bring it with you.
You can also see a list of all US embassies and consulates worldwide at
"travel.state.gov/links.html" and click on the links to the various embassies and consulates.

Have a great trip!

Thank you so much for your helpful replies! Cicerone, I am so glad that you got back before I left! Jahlie- thank you so much for your recent & helpful account! If I remember correctly, I think that I am stuck with Fort Rajwada--that was the only hotel with a prepay. I didn't want to do all Oberoi and not try others.
We're supposed to have suites???--but thank you for your insight-- What they may call a suite could be one of the basement rooms that Cicerone is talking about. We're from the Midwest of the US and tend to be "nice" even when we're being screwed---so I'll have to work on my forceful attitude.

Jahlie--someone recommended about $100 US per day should be sufficient for meals, tours etc. Would you agree since you did a similar itinerary? Also, will I really regret not going to Varansai? Although Jaisalmer was listed as one of the 10 best places to go before you die in some article.

Irieblue, Fort Rajwada might be fine if you make sure you get the cottages. The dining area looked very clean and the cottages were lovely. Hopefully all will go well. Jaisalmer is an interesting place and Rajastan seemed to me to be stuck in a feudal time-warp. For dinner try the Golden Fort restaurant. It's very close to your hotel (can't walk, but your driver will know where it is) which has a roof top restaurant overlooking a round-about. Rajastani musicians entertain and watching the goings-on below is fascinating. The food is good and the owner delightful.

We met very nice interesting people in Rajastan - in fact the best thing about India was the people. The Rajastanis were very friendly. Just try not to be overwhelmed by the touts - it will seem that everyone wants your money. Remember, they think you are opulently wealthy.

We thought Varanasi was one of the most interesting places in India. It's very different from Rajastan. The religions of India seem to be more at odds with each other there and it was the only place where we felt the tensions between Muslim and Hindu. The morning Ganges boat ride was one of the highlights of our trip. The shopping was great and wandering through the old city streets was fascinating.

We didn't spend $100 per day on food, tips, tours, etc. but you can if you try hard enough. We ate dinner at the Umaid Bhawan Palace and it was expensive by Indian standards - the total bill was about 2000 rupees including beer. Delhi can also be expensive but elsewhere food isn't at all. Many of the hotels have set prices for buffet dinners which will be anywhere between 350 - 750 rupees per person. The food is usually good; sometimes very good, sometimes not so good. However, some of the best advice we got was to stick to vegetarian.

Hope you have a great adventure.