India golden triangle extra day or 2
 

We are planning to visit India during my spring break, (Mar 24-April 1) arriving late on a Sat and departing the following Sat. That gives us an extra couple days on the Golden Triangle route. Any suggestions on what to add? We plan on hiring our own driver to take us to each place. We don't mind the long drives and find roadside viewing interesting. (can't be worse than Kenya and Tanzania)
Our dates are totally inflexible due to my teaching schedule. Any advice is welcome. We have

If you don't mind me asking where are you departing from?

I hope you plan to have the same car drive for the entire trip. We did Delhi-Ranthambore by train, 1 night at Ranthambore, picked up our driver there the next day, Ranthambore-Jaipur-Agra_delhi by road with 2 nights in Jaipur and 1 night in Agra. Then we did 2 nights in Delhi at the end. Was a somewhat hetcic trip but we did everything we wanted to including seeing tigers in Ranthambore. If you are coming from Africa you may not be interested in game in India. In that case I would reco you consider adding jaisalmer or Udaipur. If it is Udaipur you can even fly back to Delhi or Bombay from there. Jaisalmer you are well advised to book a a train back to Delhi. Then your itinerary would be Delhi-Agra-Jaipur-Jaisalmer-Delhi.

We are flying from Chicago. I hope to get a good fare on the direct flight that American airlines has.
How difficult is it to get train reservation?

I live in Chi too and have been to India 5 times. Can you get more time than 1 week? That is a very long way to go for only 1 week. Do realize that if you leave Mar 24 you arrive late Mar 25 or early Mar 26. Then there is jet lag to consider. If you go I suggest looking into one of the many Indian TA's on Devon Ave. for train info and you ticket as well. Actually the person we have used twice moved from Devon to Schaumburg. The name remains Devon Travel Agency and the # is 847 755 0800. Good luck, Larry

Thanks Larry, We know it is a short time, but as long as I am tchg I can't get anymore time and we can't do it in the summer for obvious reasons. That's why I hope to get the direct flight out of ORD. It will help a little. Thanks for the info on the trav agency. I knew there had to be something.

OK. If I can help let me know. BTW have you been to India before? It doesn't seem so. If you plan to see Delhi I can suggest a ton of stuff to see. There are also a slew of agents on Devon Ave. If you know of an ethnic Indian grocery store just pick up a local Indian newspaper there. Tons of ads for TA's. Cheers, Larry

Thanks Larry,
No we haven't been to India yet, but have been to Vietnam, Cambodia, and a number of times to Thailand, Malaysia etc. Is the Devon area in RogersPark? I have a son who lives at Lunt & Sheridan and another on Ashland & Grace, I'll have them run over and get it for me. I'd love to hear your ideas,
You can email me at [email protected]
Shari

End March is getting warm so I would suggest you have your itinerary including transfers well mapped out to minimize time spent in the heat!

I would suggest a night in Hill Fort Kesroli, a little fortress owned by the neemrana group. Next morning you could drive upto the Sariska range & take the road through this most beautiful rural scenery, full of mustard, arriving into Jaipur via Jumwa Ramgarh. You may also stay a night in Jumwa Ramgarh in the Taj Ramgarh Lodge. Another option may be to stay at Bhandarej, 110km from Bharatpur & enjoy the camel or horse or cycle rides.

K: I sent you an email but it bounced back. Is this the right address? Larry

oops. [email protected]
sorry

OK!