India & Sri Lanka Planning 2018

[Jacques Vert]

I used a tour company RVentures, recommended by another AFFer jojen who used them before. Couldn't be happier with them. Small company, flexible; they do driven guided tours, cycling tours, animal park tours etc.

My TR using them, here: A series of Firsts: India and Xi'an, mainly thanks to AFF

PM or 'converse' me if you'd like e-mail details etc.

Thanks RooFlyer,

I had seen your trip report before and its good to be reminded of it; thanks for the link. As always, your TRs are very informative and most helpful. I may take you up on the PM offer when we are closer to firming up our itinerary.

JV

 

[Jacques Vert]

One of the places that we had been considering visiting was Darjeeling; not looking good at present...

"All services on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) have been suspended indefinitely since 12 June due to political agitation and unrest in the region – an intensification of the campaign for the area of the Darjeeling Hills to be split off from West Bengal into an independent state in India called Gorkahland.

Local militant protest has led to widespread unrest with several fatalities, arson attacks on government vehicle and buildings, and the deployment of army and other security forces. An indefinite strike has effectively closed Darjeeling for all normal activity and local internet services are currently suspended.

Despite its World Heritage listing the DHR has not been immune to the troubles. The station at Gayabari has been destroyed by arson attacks, and Sonada station and the DHR HQ Elysia building at Kurseong have been badly damaged by fire."

Smartraveller states that many hotels are currently closed.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Hi all,

Following the wonderful response we've had to my thread on Machu Picchu & South America Planning:

Machu Picchu & S America Planning + India?,

I'm now working on planning the second half of our 280k Award trip in late 2018. I had originally included this as a possibility in the other thread but have decided it deserves a thread of its own, especially for others who may be looking for info on the sub-continent.

So......after returning from Sth America in May 18 (stopping the award ticket in AKL and flying home on a separate ticket), we are planning on flying back to AKL to continue the award ticket by then heading to India. I've been looking at when is the best time to go to avoid the monsoons, the hot summers, and the freezing nights in the higher parts of the north in winter. I was originally thinking of Sri Lanka in late September but am now looking at starting in mid-October and stopping in Sri Lanka on the way home (mid to late Nov).

Of course, the final plan will depend to a great extent on availability of award seats.

I have been watching award seats for months and almost all award seats in J have been CMB-CCU; almost nothing to BOM or DEL (VIA ANYWHERE). So we decided that we would arrive in India via CCU (Kolkata) and have researched what to do and see (as you do). We came to be looking forward to visiting CCU and its colonial heritage, etc.

Ready to book and then AFF12 is scheduled for Oct 19-21.

So; we pushed back our proposed departure to allow us to attend AFF12 in Adelaide (if possible).......no availability from CMB to CCU in the days following AFF12. But strange things do happen: 2 award seats to DEL open up that fit perfectly into our proposed itinerary (these are the first J seats I have seen on this route for some time)..

So now it's CFS-SYD-ADL(AFF12)-SYD-AKL-STOP-AKL-KUL-CMB-DEL.....

 

[Jacques Vert]

For India I'd be heading to Udaipur. I think this is the quintessential 'Inida' many of us imagine... steeped in the history of the Raj with museums, art and paintings, and of course everything else that India has to offer (shopping, food). Udaipur is famous for its Lake Palace, but you can stay on the shores of the lake, sipping coughtails on the roof of your hotel while watching James Bond in Octopussy at sunset.

Udaipur is definitely on the itinerary.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Train? Hmm, well. Once is fun. And that once is probably in a 1AC sleeper. Otherwise fly. Saves a lot of time and hassle.

One tip - arrange a car to meet you at the airport (and any subsequent airport) on arrival. The introduction to India can be brutal faced with hundreds of touts at the exit of the airport. And it could ruin your holiday if you get caught. We did it once and after that had cars to meet us everywhere. They're very cheap and smooth everything to allow you to focus on the holiday.

Yes, if we do any train travel, it will definitely be 1AC . And thanks for the tip on drivers.

 

[romney]

I’m heading to India in about a week then on to Sri Lanka so I have very much enjoyed reading the past trip reports linked here. I am only planning the south of India, so Goa, and a Kerala riverboat, with some other bits around the area. It’s not quite the same time of the year, but I can let you know what the weather is like.

 

[Jacques Vert]

I’m heading to India in about a week then on to Sri Lanka so I have very much enjoyed reading the past trip reports linked here. I am only planning the south of India, so Goa, and a Kerala riverboat, with some other bits around the area. It’s not quite the same time of the year, but I can let you know what the weather is like.

Well by the time we reach Sri Lanka on the way home (and stay a few days), it will be the same time of year so I will be looking forward to your comments. Will you be doing a trip report on this site?

(I notice you have a link at the bottom of your post.)

 

[craven morehead]

Also following this one with interest. Early planning for Sri Lanka next year or year after.

 

[romney]

Well by the time we reach Sri Lanka on the way home (and stay a few days), it will be the same time of year so I will be looking forward to your comments. Will you be doing a trip report on this site?

(I notice you have a link at the bottom of your post.)

I won’t be doing a trip report specifically for AFF, but I will have one on my blog I can come back in here and let you know once it’s live.

 

[Jacques Vert]

So......after returning from Sth America in May 18 (stopping the award ticket in AKL and flying home on a separate ticket), we are planning on flying back to AKL to continue the award ticket by then heading to India. I've been looking at when is the best time to go to avoid the monsoons, the hot summers, and the freezing nights in the higher parts of the north in winter. I was originally thinking of Sri Lanka in late September but am now looking at starting in mid-October and stopping in Sri Lanka on the way home (mid to late Nov).

Of course, the final plan will depend to a great extent on availability of award seats.

I have been watching award seats for months and almost all award seats in J have been CMB-CCU; almost nothing to BOM or DEL (VIA ANYWHERE). So we decided that we would arrive in India via CCU (Kolkata) and have researched what to do and see (as you do). We came to be looking forward to visiting CCU and its colonial heritage, etc.

Ready to book and then AFF12 is scheduled for Oct 19-21.

So; we pushed back our proposed departure to allow us to attend AFF12 in Adelaide (if possible).......no availability from CMB to CCU in the days following AFF12. But strange things do happen: 2 award seats to DEL open up that fit perfectly into our proposed itinerary (these are the first J seats I have seen on this route for some time)..

So now it's CFS-SYD-ADL(AFF12)-SYD-AKL-STOP-AKL-KUL-CMB-DEL.....

Over the past couple of weeks the flights have opened up for the final part of our 280k Award.

I had been watching availability for weeks; however, there were rarely more than two seats on the routes we needed. Problem is that the last flight (SYD-CFS) doesn't open for a ~ week after the CX flights out of CMB/MLE and by then, the CX flights have usually been snapped up by someone else.

We also ran into the dreaded CX married segment issue so at this stage it looks like we are having a one day stop-over in HKG on our way home. This will require us to pay for one of the sectors on a separate ticket but flights in India are not expensive so we should be able to live with that.

I now have the following dilemma: leaving India to return to CMB we have two options. We can fly DEL-CMB which works well and saves us some money OR fly BOM - CMB. Having never been to BOM we did have it in our minds to include a few days there but it doesn't fit as neatly into the itinerary.

What are people's thoughts on BOM? Is it worth making a special effort to include it in the trip or would we be better off using that time to add a couple of days in Sri Lanka or the Madives?

Thanks in advance,

JV

 

[MEL_Traveller]

What are people's thoughts on BOM?

JV

if you were in to Shantaram you'll want to go to Bombay. Otherwise you can probably save it for a later time.

 

[Jacques Vert]

if you were in to Shantaram you'll want to go to Bombay. Otherwise you can probably save it for a later time.

Maybe I'll just read the book...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Maybe I'll just read the book...

It's about 900 pages too long.

 

[RB]

What are people's thoughts on BOM? Is it worth making a special effort to include it in the trip or would we be better off using that time to add a couple of days in Sri Lanka or the Madives?

Thanks in advance,

JV

We certainly enjoyed Mumbai but it would not be a priority stop. A huge city with some things to do without having the charm of other parts of India/Sri Lanka we visited

 

[RooFlyer]

I now have the following dilemma: leaving India to return to CMB we have two options. We can fly DEL-CMB which works well and saves us some money OR fly BOM - CMB. Having never been to BOM we did have it in our minds to include a few days there but it doesn't fit as neatly into the itinerary.

I'm including Mumbai on my RTW to get to Ellora and Ajanta 'caves' HKG-BOM (side ticket to and from Aurangabad)-CMB.

 

[Jacques Vert]

We certainly enjoyed Mumbai but it would not be a priority stop. A huge city with some things to do without having the charm of other parts of India/Sri Lanka we visited

Thanks RB. I'm in the process of re-reading your TR and have been in contact with Magan as well.

We are starting to firm things up now that we have most flights sorted.

 

[Jacques Vert]

I'm including Mumbai on my RTW to get to Ellora and Ajanta 'caves' HKG-BOM (side ticket to and from Aurangabad)-CMB.

Looks interesting; when are you going?

 

[RooFlyer]

Still trying to work that out. Probably late March start to the trip, in India/Sri Lanka late April.

 

[RooFlyer]

This doesn't appear promising for anyone planning to visit the Taj Mahal in 2018: Travel guide Fodor publishes destinations to avoid in 2018

Maybe pay walled; the relevant bit for here:

The Taj Mahal is a building site, the Great Wall of China is blighted by graffiti, the beaches of southwest Thailand are strewn with rubbish, and Missouri is institutionally racist.

That’s according to the travel guide company Fodor’s, which has published a list of destinations it recommends avoiding in 2018, in some cases because of the damage inflicted by visitors.

Fodor’s advises travellers to avoid the Taj Mahal in India, where the dome is set for its first thorough cleaning since it was built 369 years ago. Some of the mausoleum is already shrouded in scaffolding as part of the restoration process after its white marble began turning yellow, in part from air pollution from the surrounding city of Agra. The restoration process involves the application of a mud paste to the stone.

“Unless your dream Taj Mahal visit involves being photographed standing in front of a mud-caked and be-scaffolded dome, maybe give it until 2019 at the earliest,” Fodor’s said.

 

[Jacques Vert]

This doesn't appear promising for anyone planning to visit the Taj Mahal in 2018: Travel guide Fodor publishes destinations to avoid in 2018

Maybe pay walled; the relevant bit for here:

Thanks for the information RooFlyer. Can't see the original article (as not a subscriber) but I get the idea. Unfortunately it's the way things are these days. Our first visit to the Trevi fountain provided a good view of scaffolding but we did see the results on our second visit.

Let's hope it's not too bad when we are there, as I'm running out of years to tick every thing off the bucket list.