Amy

This is x-posted from indiamike, by the way; I really appreciate the help I've gotten from both forums, and don't want to miss any helpful hints.

For background, I'm a 43 year old solo female traveler; I've been to Vietnam, Cambodia, China (incl. Tibet), Central/South America and most of Europe before, often solo. My budget is usually moderate (maybe $50 a day, depending on where I'm traveling, of course) with a splurge or two. I get lost a lot but never permanently. I obviously look kinda stupid or helpless because I've always had loads of nice people ready to help me, whether I speak the same language or not.

SO: on to the itinerary and questions:

I arrive in Delhi at Indira Gandhi on 04 July at 22:15 (Air France.) After I get through all the admissions I get a prepaid taxi (would this be the best choice?) and go to the domestic airport for my 05 July 4:45 flight to Chennai; from Chennai I'll be leaving at 14:25 for Trivandrum. Will this timing be about right for the domestic airport, and any recommendations for the longish wait in Chennai?

I'm staying at the Hotel Canaan in Nagercoil (I'll be met by some church members down there and will be spending my time in TN with them.)

I fly back (via Chennai) to Delhi arriving at 22:35 on 10 July; I've got an airport transfer to Delhi B&B, where I'll be staying until 12 July. (I think I'll do a day long tour on 11 July with Delhi B&B if I can; alternate suggestions as I really only have the one full day in Delhi?)

Now comes the still up in the air bits:

Delhi to Varanasi, 12 July; I'll be at Ganges View 12 July to 15 July, then in Agra 16 July to 17 July. Transportation question: should I just book a round trip Delhi/Varanasi/Delhi, then take the train to Agra from Delhi, or would an overnight train 15 to 16 July Varanasi to Agra be a good choice? (Cost is not a huge factor, unless we're talking hundreds of dollars; more the practicality/experience.) I'm in Hotel Sheela in Agra for one night, July 16th; it's two days before the full moon, and I understand the full moon tours are available then? Any current info...and will it be likely to be a "washout" with the rains anyway?)

I plan to visit the Taj and Fatehpurh Sikri (sp) and return to Delhi by train on the 17th, as my flight to Leh leaves Delhi at
5AM 18th July. Any advice on where to stay for this overnight?

I return from Leh 23 July in the morning and my flight for Paris leaves Delhi at 0:40 24 July; would you suggest a day room? or any other alternatives for someone with luggage and a few more hours in Delhi?

Many, many thanks to all those who have waded through this! I'm a little nervous, as usual before a new experience, but I really am looking forward to it, intense heat, monsoon rains, and altitude headaches notwithstanding.

Cicerone

Wow, that first day of travel looks like a awful whopper of a day. Have you looked into flying into Mumbai, where you could then get a non-stop flight to Trivandrum on Jet Airways? What about flying into Bangalore and then taking a Kingfisher flight to Trivandrum? Both cities have very good international air service, and would make a much easier way to get to south west India than your current plan. You could probably do an “open jaw” that would allow you to fly out of Delhi if you still wanted to see Delhi and Agra at the end of the trip, or you could easily get back to either Mumbai or Bangalore (both major hub cities) for an international flight out.

Otherwise, from Delhi international to Delhi domestic, yes, a prepaid taxi is the way to go. There is also a free bus transfer between the terminals if you want to take it, you certainly have time. The transfer generally takes about an hour, sometimes more, it depends on whether you get there just after a bus has left and have to wait for the next one; they seem to run about hourly. If you have a great deal of luggage, a taxi will be easier (as there is no one to really help with luggage), but otherwise the bus is fine. The bus waiting area is to the left after you exit baggage claim/Customs, the pre-paid taxi stands are to the right.

You will have quite a long layover at Delhi domestic airport, which, by the way, has NO facilities at all; there may be a place to get tea, but I can’t guarantee that it will be open at 1 am when you are there. There is a McDonalds in the Kingfisher terminal (which I think is 1 A) but again I can’t guarantee that it will be open. There are barely any chairs to sit in the domestic terminals, although the Kingfisher terminal is a bit more comfortable (not sure which airline you are on.) If you take a pre-paid taxi and find yourself with time, you might want to have him stop at someplace like the Radisson so you can have a coffee and maybe a snack and freshen up a bit before going on to the domestic airport. No sense sitting around there longer than you have to. Arriving about 1.5 hours before your flight should be fine.

In Chennai, I would suggest you seriously consider getting a hotel room, I think between jet lag and the two flights and the long way you are just going to be wiped out. Otherwise, there are some historic bits, and the beach area is quite pleasant. I would hire a car and driver for the day and have him keep your luggage; but really with that schedule, I would go to a hotel and recover.

Trains are very inexpensive, the most expensive “executive chair’ class between Delhi and Agra costs something like US$20 one way. Night trains for long distance are quite cheap too, I would be surprised if the best class cost you more than US$40-60 one way. I agree that trains are part of the experience, in the monsoon, you may run into delays, but if you can be a little flexible you should be OK. However, there is a way to fly from Varanasi to Agra via a change in Delhi. I am not totally sure that Kingfisher would let you do this connection, as it is less than an hour, but it is very much worth asking. They are an excellent airline. You could take #334 departing Varanasi at 1:30 pm and arriving Delhi at 2: 50 pm, then connect to #2301 departing at 3:30 to Agra. The Kingfisher terminal at Delhi domestic airport is <i>tiny</i> and the gates would literally be next to each other (there are maybe 8 gates at the terminal), so I think this connection should be possible. See http://www.flykingfisher.com/

The Taj is sometimes open on full moon nights, this usually depends on the security situation in India at the time. (The recent bombings in Jaipur may mean more closures for example.) I would not plan your whole trip around it, as they may end up closing it the nights you are there. But if you happen to be there and it is open, that would be a plus, IMO.

Amy

Thank you so much, Cicerone! I know that first day is going to be, shall we say, a bit much, but this was a considerable savings (at least, at the time I booked--and I'm on my own dime) and has the plus of leaving from my home airport, Philadelphia; getting to JFK adds quite a lot to the travel time on this end, and that appeared to be from where most of the other flights originated.

Hotel room in Chennai sounds like a good plan! I was wondering about one even in Delhi the first night, but figured it wouldn't be worth it for the few hours. The idea of stopping at the Radisson sounds appealing, though...I've stayed overnight in airports before, and 10 hours in Kaunas airport in Lithuania (dear Ryanair), but, well, generally there were seats! (Even if I did eventually end up on the floor for variety.)

The Varanasi/Agra flight is listed on ixigo, so I'm guessing Kingfisher must do it; I'm thinking that with my short time it might be more practical to fly, and just have my train ride back from Agra to Delhi.

Thanks again, for these answers and all your other helpful India posts!

lcuy

Be careful with Kingfisher's flights out of Varanasi. Our 1:30 pm flight to Delhi was rescheduled to 11:30 AM- quite a surprise wto us when we arrived at noon! Luckily there was another flight (Spicejet?) at 2:15, but even so, we had to argue with the KF people to pay for our new tickets.

They wanted to just refund our cost, and I would have had to pay the difference, plus that pesky 3% that Visa adds.

They first said they'd notified my travel agent (sorry, I bought it direct on KF's wbsite!), then said they tried to call me and didn't have my email address, but I actually had my ticket purchase confirmation from them on my blackberry- showing that I bought it directly from them using that email address!

I heard later that they cancel/reschedule many of their Vns-Delhi flights and Agra is even more unreliable.

Cancelled flights are not uncommon in India; just make sure you build in time if it does hapen. In our case, we were driving from Delhi to Agra that afternoon...the new flight only delayed us by an hour, but any later and we might have had to cancel one of our nights at the Amarvilas.

dogster

Yup, I had the same Delhi - Varanasi on April 30. But Kingfisher did call me a few days before - to my home phone in Australia. Seeing as I was in India at the time it wasn't a lot of use.

The assumption in India is that EVERYONE has a mobile. I guess the lesson here is to double check the day before. Which I did.

BUT I gotta say, all my other flights on Kingfisher were fine. I love their airline - and I particularly love that hassle-free kerbside service. Didn't put me off them, in the least.

Amy

Well, there's been a change again! Jet changed the Chennai/Trivandrum flight to a two-parter, leaving at...8AM. No way to make that, so I had to go back to square one for this segment: I'll be flying on Indian ($362 roundtrip) out of Delhi at 9AM. It's better, in a way, but boy what a pain in the tuchas way to spend the morning. (I booked through www.travelocity.co.in for those who can't get Indian to take their cards; I had to talk to my bank for a while as the fraud dept. wouldn't originally let it through, which is actually strangely comforting.)

So now, of course, it's back to the classic Delhi-airport-hotel-cheap? question; answer is, of course, &quot;No&quot;, from what I understand.