"i really think the annoyance from these vendors is way over blown" - I think the degree of annoyance depends on where you travel, how you travel, and for how long you travel. Something that is a minor annoyance for a week can be a big deal after a month. And traveling from site to site in an SUV, entering with a guide, gives you a different exposure than traveling by train, rickshaw and foot, on your own. Simply engaging a rickshaw for a whole day in Agra cut the aggravation - all the other rickshaw drivers left me alone, but I still had to deal with (ignore) the would-be guides and souvenir sellers.