India-logistic help
Apr 30th, 2008, 05:47 AM
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India-logistic help
Trying to put together a 15 day itinerary. Flying in/out of Delhi. I want to go to Varanasi, Agra, Jaipur and Udaipur. Is there anyway to do this without having a connecting flight, overnight train or really long drive? I'm a little apprehensive about traveling with my wife in 2AC class sharing a berth with other people (Varanasi to Agra).
May 5th, 2008, 12:38 PM
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Most people fly. The roads are really congested with everything from camel carts to buses in the same lane...also every space is filled with something on the road and it doesn't matter their direction.......utter chaos.
Flying is best but schedules are not very well kept... trains are another problem...... just have to enjoy India and give yourself enough time in the areas that you want to spend most time......... good book is India by Michael Wood available in hard cover or audio at Audible.com do not buy at the government run Central Cottage Industries. The guide books are wrong--- they are a rip off!
Flying is best but schedules are not very well kept... trains are another problem...... just have to enjoy India and give yourself enough time in the areas that you want to spend most time......... good book is India by Michael Wood available in hard cover or audio at Audible.com do not buy at the government run Central Cottage Industries. The guide books are wrong--- they are a rip off!
May 6th, 2008, 06:23 PM
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There is no way to fly between Varanasi to Agra without a connecting flight. You can fly between Delhi and each of the cities on your itin, and between Jaipur and Udaipur. Otherwise, you are looking at connecting flights or trains or a long drive for Varanais - Agra. Flights may work out fine if you can time them correctly, or if you spend time in Delhi between points. Check out the Kingflisher flight from Varanasi to Agra, it has a tight connection, but I believe it is doable, and Kingfisher considers it “legal” as far as I know. You 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. 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. Kingfisher is undoubtedly the best airline in India, and one of the best anywhere, IMO. See http://www.flykingfisher.com/. Another way to do it is fly to Delhi and then drive down to Agra right from the airport, about 4 hours, or vice versa. But don’t do this at night, IMO the Agra road is not safe at night IMO in terms of road accident potential.
The overnight train may be an interesting experience for you. IMO everyone traveling to India should experience at least one train ride (and one train station, best people-watching anywhere). It’s only about 10 hours, so even it is terrible, IMO any adult can survive 10 hours. I would not worry too much about “second” class AC. It is perfectly fine in my experience. Lots of average middle-class Indians, not unlike yourself (only they have servants at home and your wife probably does her own ironing, cooking and grocery shopping…). If you are worried about sharing, buy out the entire berth. (I have done that in Europe when traveling with less than a full berth of people, I’ve not tried it in India but have no reason to believe it would not be possible, and certainly would not be expensive.)
One final point, if you are NOT flying non-stop into Delhi, then you might want to consider going either in or out of Bangkok on the int'l leg, as there are non-stop flights between Bangkok and Varanasi on Thai Airways (may be a code share with Jet Airways, a good local carrier). This may be a good way to get into Varanasi without “backtracking” through Delhi. Varanasi could be your first or last stop in India. If you can get a non-stop flight to/from your home to Bangkok, that might work well. Of course if you have a non-stop to Delhi from your home in the US, then that is pretty attractive as well and probably not worth changing.
The overnight train may be an interesting experience for you. IMO everyone traveling to India should experience at least one train ride (and one train station, best people-watching anywhere). It’s only about 10 hours, so even it is terrible, IMO any adult can survive 10 hours. I would not worry too much about “second” class AC. It is perfectly fine in my experience. Lots of average middle-class Indians, not unlike yourself (only they have servants at home and your wife probably does her own ironing, cooking and grocery shopping…). If you are worried about sharing, buy out the entire berth. (I have done that in Europe when traveling with less than a full berth of people, I’ve not tried it in India but have no reason to believe it would not be possible, and certainly would not be expensive.)
One final point, if you are NOT flying non-stop into Delhi, then you might want to consider going either in or out of Bangkok on the int'l leg, as there are non-stop flights between Bangkok and Varanasi on Thai Airways (may be a code share with Jet Airways, a good local carrier). This may be a good way to get into Varanasi without “backtracking” through Delhi. Varanasi could be your first or last stop in India. If you can get a non-stop flight to/from your home to Bangkok, that might work well. Of course if you have a non-stop to Delhi from your home in the US, then that is pretty attractive as well and probably not worth changing.
May 7th, 2008, 05:19 AM
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Cicerone- Obviously you've never met my wife!
My plans now call for flying into Delhi (we can't fly anywhere in Asia direct, it's one-stop through Chicago to Delhi), spend two nights and fly to Varanasi.
We'll spend three nights/four days there (Amarya Garden) and take the overnight train to Agra.
We'll spend two nights there (Gardenvilla Homestay) and take a late morning train to Sawai Mahopur. After one night there (Khemvilla) we'll take the night train to Bhopal, we've been invited to stay in someones apt.
Three nights in Bhopal, fly back to Delhi for two more nights before our late flight back to the US.
For this first trip, I'm trying to avoid going to too many places, try to get a better feel for each place.
My plans now call for flying into Delhi (we can't fly anywhere in Asia direct, it's one-stop through Chicago to Delhi), spend two nights and fly to Varanasi.
We'll spend three nights/four days there (Amarya Garden) and take the overnight train to Agra.
We'll spend two nights there (Gardenvilla Homestay) and take a late morning train to Sawai Mahopur. After one night there (Khemvilla) we'll take the night train to Bhopal, we've been invited to stay in someones apt.
Three nights in Bhopal, fly back to Delhi for two more nights before our late flight back to the US.
For this first trip, I'm trying to avoid going to too many places, try to get a better feel for each place.
