CaliNurse

Hi CaliforniaLady. As written earlier on Sartoric's thread, I think it'll be more organized/helpful to answer your question about your trip, including a driver, on this planning thread, specific to your needs.

Another warning that this is a lengthy reply--probably more so because, as they say, I "get where yore coming from." You don't sound inept--no need to apologize. Having planned trips in many different ways, I understand your questions and perhaps anxiety. Using a travel agent/planner, when as you say, you like to take control of your trips is taking a leap of faith. That's why you are wise to check with fellow Fodorites and others, about what worked for them.

I don't know about BSL in particular (your knowledge needed, Kathy!) but all travel agents I've enquired of whether in India, VN, or East Africa, do a total "package"quote, not a separate quote for hotels/car/driver/ guide (if the latter is requested).

In India, I've traveled /planned/booked on my own; investigated and record quotes from numerous agent/planners; found one finally who for me is worth his weight in gold (or at least, more than the price of the trip!) and with whom, to quote the twelve step programs, I can "let go and let" that person and his staff deal with the details of the trip

That said, you are NOT relinquishing control. You start with a plan: tentative itinerary, even specific hotels. An excellent and trustworthy travel professional will not just give you a quote...they will examine your ideas, discuss your needs and expectations, whether or not that route, or those hotels, are sensible, based on their personal been-there experience and feedback of clients, and will explain their reasoning. They are not closed to hearing your ideas or disagreement, but may know why there's a better way...or not. For example, on my forthcoming trip, I was intrigued by a guesthouse which the company had not yet used. They did "due diligence" checked it out, and said it sounded fine. Again, referring back to Kathy's post (on Jan 13th)--what she says is so true! Re-read it if you need that extra boost of confidence about the reasons to use a well-regarded travel agency. A good agent can sometimes get better hotel prices, but even if they can't--to me it's worth a nominal addition for the benefit of having a company--especially a large, respected, well-known one--covering my back if there's a problem. I've appreciated this both on solo trips, and trips with friends/family, in India.

A good agent will not force you to use particular hotel --but if one is recommended (or not) there should be a rationale for it. I can think of examples (too many) in India, of stopping at a particular town, or using a particular hotel, despite advice (warning!) of the travel planner. Each time, I've, to various degrees, regretted not listening (specific examples available on request--most funny, in retrospect--although none are in the area where you're going).


Here's your question from the other thread:
"CaliNurse, do you use Siva, or another driver from the same agency?"

I've neither met nor used Siva as a driver. He sounds fantastic! I've had drivers like that on trips, and know the importance of a person like that. He is more than a driver...he's a guide and friend. Some people prefer a current hotel to book a driver to onward destinations, but for me there 's an advantage to a good driver (safe, knowledgeable, personable) who's with you for an extended period of your trip. Others have also expressed this about their drivers in India--Dgunbg and Progol come to mind. You can get quite attached to these people who are a large, daily part of your experience in their country.

You also asked, perhaps jokingly, about "reserving" a particular driver. I am pretty certain that the planner I use does not book just a driver while you separately book the hotels yourself. Transport/hotel/driver/guide (if required): better to have all under one "umbrella" so that, should some problem arise, the company can help you take care of it--the entire trip is under their name and responsibility. Also, with the logistical coordination involved for a large company with numerous travelers simultaneously doing trips all over India, it would be difficult to guarantee a particular driver. You can ask a tour planner, but I suspect it's unlikely to be do-able.

If you want to use a travel agency/planning company, you'll find several which are highly recommended on Fodors. In five (about to be six) trips booked with the company over 8 yrs, Indianpanorama has been my go-to one. It's based in Trichy, Tamil Nadu. Should you want to ask about the Southern India portion of your upcoming trip, the email address is [email protected] In any case, check out their website with a gallery of photos, sample itineraries, (totally flexible --click on the photo and it will show you the related itinerary)--and a blog with mention of some interesting temples, etc.

I love South India, want to return, and hope, however you decide to go about your trip, you will love it too.

Kathie

I'm sorry to hear that Aslam is no longer driving, but not surprised. He was destined for bigger things.

I'd say go with the driver BSL wants to give you (that's how we got Aslam). Trust that they will give you a good driver and remember if it doesn't work out, they will change out the driver.

We got a package quote, but I added up what I would have to pay for the chosen hotels and felt we got a good deal. It is different using an agent, but you are still in control. If you want to stay at a particular place, let them know. They can arrange pretty much anything.

Have a wonderful trip!

annhig

CaliforniaLady, i would echo what Kathie says - we did an all-in price but when i checked, I felt we had a good deal and all the arrangements worked like clockwork.

And do tell them what you want - BSL had a tendency to add in activities that we didn't really want and then it was a little hard, particularly at the beginning, to persuade our driver that we didn't want to do them. By the end, he was far more receptive to our needs and able to suggest things that we might like more than the standard activity for any area.

Our driver BTW was called Ajith and he was very good, very reliable and had good english. He also knew a lot about birds and animals which was a boon for us.

Hope that helps.

CaliforniaLady

Thank you CaliNurse, Kathie, and Ann for your continued support. I really appreciate it.

I just received an email back from Tim at Indian Panorama, and he is amazing. He did say, however, that the drivers generally stay with their own cars, and since Siva has a larger car than I would need, he can find me a wonderful driver with a smaller car, since we have a long lead time.

Ann, I'm a little concerned about the communication challenges with BSL, since I have only just started writing to them. Did they insist on adding shopping, or did they not want to follow your proposed itinerary? Kathie, did you have a similar experience with BSL when planning?

annhig

California Lady - I wasn't meaning to cause you any concern about BSL, just to give you a heads up that it's important to be assertive about what you want to do. There are certain popular things that they include in every tour for certain places e.g. in Kandy it's the Temple of the Tooth, and the elephant orphanage, so you will find those things in your itinerary, whether you ask for them or not. If you don't want to do those things that's fine, but you need to say; your driver will expect to do what's on the itinerary so if you change your mind you need to let him know early enough for him to make adjustments.

Kathie

BSL did not add in any shopping stops. On a couple of occasions, our driver asked if we wanted to stop somewhere for shopping, but once we said no, that was the end of it. If I remember correctly, BSL did put the elephant orphanage on our itinerary. I contacted them and told them we didn't want to go there. They said that was fine and took it off, but said that all of those kinds of things were up to us. We could simply give our driver instructions about where to stop or not stop and he would listen to us. That proved to be true. I think they listed those things on the itinerary because most people want to visit them. Each morning, we talked with the driver about what we did/did not want to do and he followed our instructions gladly.

thursdaysd

The spice plantation turned out to be just a shopping op. This was partially my fault, as I didn't inquire too closely, but the ones I had visited in India had included a tour of the plantation itself. The one in SL did not.

I was upfront about not wanting to do the elephant orphanage and it was not a problem to skip it. I did see a presumably wild elephant by the side of the road - serendipity.

annhig

thursdaysd - the spice plantation that we went to [between Dambulla and Kandy I think] included a tour all the way round, looking at how the spices are grown and harvested including one old picker climbing a very tall tree.

We passed on the elephant orphanage too, and any shopping ops, except on our last day when our driver took us, at our request, to somewhere he thought we could buy souvenirs for our kids. it turned out that the shops in the airport [air side] were better but he wasn't to know that.

CaliforniaLady

Thank you Ann, Kathie, and thursdays. I believe I understand now how BSL operates. It sounds like they give clients a canned itinerary, but it will be up to me to be assertive and modify it. Since I have plenty of time, I would prefer to do that before I leave.

I sent my tentative itinerary to BSL, but I haven't heard back from them yet. I hope I didn't scare them off.

Thanks again, ladies.

Kathie

It's not so much a canned itinerary as it includes all of the local attractions in a place. So if you will be driving between Dambulla and Kandy, they will put in the Elephant Orphanage. I saw it more as a list of possibilities than a canned itinerary.

Expect it will take BSL a little while to get back to you, as they have to check with all of the hotels for availability. Sri Lanka has many charming boutique hotels and guesthouses, often with only a few rooms. So they will want to know about availability before they offer you an itinerary.

susiesan

I spent 2 weeks in Sri Lanka February 2016. I had a customized tour with driver and car and used Camlo Lanka Tours. We had Terrance as a driver for 10 of the 14 days. Some of the hotels/guesthouses I booked myself on booking.com, some were part of the package with Camlo Lanka. I spent a few months fine tuning the plan to go where we wanted to, not where they wanted to take us. WE paid cash for our trip when we got there, but Camlo now takes credit cards.

I originally was going to use BSL to plan and organize my trip but after sending them numerous emails that were never answered I went with Camlo Lanka. Look through the Sri Lanka threads here for information an itinerary of my trip last year. It all came together perfectly and I was extremely pleased. The owner, Kanchana, has now become a FB friend and I keep in touch with him regularly. I wouldn't hesitate to use Camlo Lanka again if I ever return to Sri Lanka.

annhig

Kathie I agree - and nicely put I think.

CaliforniaLady

Ann and Kathie - Thank you for your continued insights about working with BSL. I did, in fact, hear back from Chamila at BSL yesterday. She did propose one major change to my intinerary--she claims that it is too far to drive from Drambulla to Ohiya (at entrance of Horton Plains) in one day, and she wants me to stay in Nuriwa Ella instead. The distance between Nuriwa Ella and Ohiya is only 27 km. Also she quoted me $900 for the nine days of driving only, which I think is a bit high.

susiesann - I do indeed remember your trip planning. In fact, just before I saw your post here, I looked in your old posts, and found the name of your agency, and the owner, and I had pasted it into my email, with plans to contact them. I don't think it hurts to get a second perspective, and I thank you for letting everyone here know that there is another alternative.

My planning for the India portion is going well. Tim from Indian Panorama sent me a doctoral thesis (almost), where he made a critique of my plans. He contends that I should maybe skip Munar, and add more time in Tamil Nadu. I have the utmost confidence that I can work out a great itinerary with him. I like the way he didn't just plunge in and give me prices, but rather, he wanted to help me create a perfect itinerary first. Thank you Calinurse, and sartoric, for the lead.

annhig

She did propose one major change to my intinerary--she claims that it is too far to drive from Drambulla to Ohiya (at entrance of Horton Plains) in one day, and she wants me to stay in Nuriwa Ella instead. The distance between Nuriwa Ella and Ohiya is only 27 km>>

CaliforniaLady - We went from Drambulla to Kandy - which though it's only about 80kms took all morning, and then we drove from Kandy to NE which took another good half day to do a similar distance. Plus there are things to see en route like Kandy and the tea plantations. So when Chamila says that Drambulla to Ohiya is too far, you should probably believe her. What seem to us to be short distances somehow become a lot longer when you take into account the road conditions, the traffic, the very low speed limit on even the straightest roads [I think it's 50 mph and your driver will not want to exceed it as they are heavily fined if they do] and the extremely steep hills on the roads between Drambulla and Ohiya. you will be going from the plains to the Hill Country which is well named.

I can't comment on the quote she's given you for a car and driver. It seems to be quite a lot more than we were quoted for our trip but that was about 5 years ago. It includes all fuel, the services of the driver and the car at all times that you might want them, and the driver's lodgings and food.

Kathie

It takes longer to drive everywhere in Sri Lanka than you think it will. Roads are very narrow, lots of curves, lots of non-vehicular traffic. I'd take her advice and break the trip somewhere - maybe sooner than Ohiya. (auto correct changed that to Ohio - glad I caught it!).

CaliforniaLady

Thanks again Ann and Kathie. I remember Kathie telling another poster awhile back not to believe the commute times from google maps. I understand.

In any case, I wrote to Kanchana at Camlo Lanka tours, and I'm waiting to hear back. I also wrote to Coke Smith's agency, which emphasizes more of a wildlife trip. It doesn't hurt to get a second (and third) opinion and quote.

Kathie

Great! Let us know how it goes.

susiesan

CaliforniaLady: be sure and mention to Kanchana at Camlo Lanka that Susie from Kansas City referred you. Hopefully he will give you the friend discount rate. In Feb. 2016 we paid $50 a day for the driver and car.

CaliforniaLady

Thank you, Kathie and Susie.

I did indeed email Kanchana three days ago, and I did mention you, Susie. I haven't heard back, but when I looked on Facebook, I saw that he goes to lots of conventions in other countries, so maybe he is travelling. I also asked him if Terrance is available to drive me. But more importantly, I asked him about my itinerary. I was looking forward to a little "different" itinerary, and I was hoping to stay in Ohiya, rather than Nuriwa Ella. We'll see what he says.

Regarding India, I'm working really well with Tim from Indian Panorama. He said that the tea plantations in Munar are not that great, so he said to either cut the stay down to one night, or remove it entirely. In fact, he said that many clients go directly from Kerala to Madurai in one day.

Here is his proposal for the 13 hotel nights:

2 nights Cochin

2 nights Alleppey

1 night Munar

2 nights Madurai

2 nights Chettinad

2 nights Tanjore

2 nights Pondicherry

So, my question for to you is, if I decide to eliminate that night in Munar, where should I put it? Are any of the cities in Tamil Nadu worth an extra night, perhaps for a day trip? Otherwise, I may add the night in Sri Lanka. Please advise.

Oi vay, I thought this was going to be so simple. Thank you all for your continued support.

CaliNurse

ok, this is just me, and i'm partly basing it on my experience on similar routes and scenery in other areas of the Western Ghats, but....I would keep the night in Munnar to break up the trip. Some of that route around Munnar is quite winding (are you prepared for motion sickness from the back seat of the car?) and the drive without a stop is approx 5 hours in the best conditions. so why not treat yourself to an overnight break in lovely countryside?