India

Thanks Fred. The hand wipes are a good idea, particularly as we'll be on the move a fair bit - one day in Delhi, three in Shimla, three in Jaipur, three in Varanasi, three in Darjeeling and one in Kolkata (3200km travelling within India).

I'm not too bad with curries and will probably opt mainly for vegetarian meals unless I'm fairly confident about the cleanliness of the food prep. I've got a couple of friends who've been going to India on and off since the 1980s and they've not experienced any problems - they are vegetarian.

I know people who drink more alcohol than the recommended daily quota and/or have an unhealthy diet and/or smoke and/or are overweight/obese and/or do too little exercise and/or seem to get stressed regularly. They seem to be taking far greater risks every day of their lives than I will be taking for the two weeks I will be in India, I suppose.

Rik
 
ge_rik said:
Thanks Fred. The hand wipes are a good idea, particularly as we'll be on the move a fair bit - one day in Delhi, three in Shimla, three in Jaipur, three in Varanasi, three in Darjeeling and one in Kolkata (3200km travelling within India).

I'm not too bad with curries and will probably opt mainly for vegetarian meals unless I'm fairly confident about the cleanliness of the food prep. I've got a couple of friends who've been going to India on and off since the 1980s and they've not experienced any problems - they are vegetarian.

I know people who drink more alcohol than the recommended daily quota and/or have an unhealthy diet and/or smoke and/or are overweight/obese and/or do too little exercise and/or seem to get stressed regularly. They seem to be taking far greater risks every day of their lives than I will be taking for the two weeks I will be in India, I suppose.

Rik
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Don't let anyone put you off, you MAY get Delhi Belly, but then again you might fall under a bus tomorrow. You wouldn't miss a trip to the pub because of buses though. Don't forget the beggars are only trying to live, not much social security there, and there's thieves wherever you go. As for meat, as long as it's cooked, it's probably as safe as anything else.
You'll have a great time.
 
I'm very pleased with the overall cost. The cheapest package I could find was £2k but that didn't include both the Shimla and the Darjeeling railways. The only packages which did were over £5k or one was over £7k!

Rik
 
OK - Update on progress with our little adventure. Now finished booking flights, trains and accommodation and the sum total is:

Flights = £632.50 per person
Cancellation insurance = £25.00 per person
Trains = £125.00 per person
Accommodation = £175.00 per person

Total = £957.50 per person.

Our final itinerary is:
Delhi - 1 night
Shimla - 2 nights
Jaipur - 2 nights
Varanasi - 2 nights
Darjeeling - 3 nights
Kolkata - 1 night
(+ four nights will be spent on sleeper trains)

Food etc will be extra as is travel insurance. Hoping to keep within our £1500 total budget per person which shoud be achievable as living costs are low in India.

We set off on 31 March .........

Will try to post photos as I go - if I can get the technology to work!

Rik
 
ge_rik said:
OK - Update on progress with our little adventure. Now finished booking flights, trains and accommodation and the sum total is:

Flights = £632.50 per person
Cancellation insurance = £25.00 per person
Trains = £125.00 per person
Accommodation = £175.00 per person

Total = £957.50 per person.

Our final itinerary is:
Delhi - 1 night
Shimla - 2 nights
Jaipur - 2 nights
Varanasi - 2 nights
Darjeeling - 3 nights
Kolkata - 1 night
(+ four nights will be spent on sleeper trains)

Food etc will be extra as is travel insurance. Hoping to keep within our £1500 total budget per person which shoud be achievable as living costs are low in India.

We set off on 31 March .........

Will try to post photos as I go - if I can get the technology to work!

Rik
Click to expand...
Have a great trip, sure you will enjoy it more then a bought stay with us type of trip. Doubt you will get much Snow except for possibly the DHR.
 
ge_rik said:
OK - Update on progress with our little adventure. Now finished booking flights, trains and accommodation and the sum total is:

Flights = £632.50 per person
Cancellation insurance = £25.00 per person
Trains = £125.00 per person
Accommodation = £175.00 per person

Total = £957.50 per person.

Our final itinerary is:
Delhi - 1 night
Shimla - 2 nights
Jaipur - 2 nights
Varanasi - 2 nights
Darjeeling - 3 nights
Kolkata - 1 night
(+ four nights will be spent on sleeper trains)

Food etc will be extra as is travel insurance. Hoping to keep within our £1500 total budget per person which shoud be achievable as living costs are low in India.

We set off on 31 March .........

Will try to post photos as I go - if I can get the technology to work!

Rik
Click to expand...
 
Hello Rik.
I have worked a lot in India - 5 trips of 5 weeks each last year alone. I bought a 'Jio ' internet dongle with 3 months data included. It is a small self-contained Wi-Fi device that you charge like a phone. The quality of the connection even when travelling was amazing, and the speed was impressive too!
I used mine to connect both my phones, (I communicate with home etc using whatsapp) laptop, kindle etc and never used up the daily data allowance. Cost just over £20 with top-ups costing just £7 every 3 months.
Best regards, Graham.
 
ge_rik said:
OK - Update on progress with our little adventure. Now finished booking flights, trains and accommodation and the sum total is:

Flights = £632.50 per person
Cancellation insurance = £25.00 per person
Trains = £125.00 per person
Accommodation = £175.00 per person

Total = £957.50 per person.

Our final itinerary is:
Delhi - 1 night
Shimla - 2 nights
Jaipur - 2 nights
Varanasi - 2 nights
Darjeeling - 3 nights
Kolkata - 1 night
(+ four nights will be spent on sleeper trains)

Food etc will be extra as is travel insurance. Hoping to keep within our £1500 total budget per person which shoud be achievable as living costs are low in India.

We set off on 31 March .........

Will try to post photos as I go - if I can get the technology to work!

Rik
Click to expand...
Pretty good value at half the price of a package. Hope you have a great time
 
Wistow vale rlwy said:
Hello Rik.
I have worked a lot in India - 5 trips of 5 weeks each last year alone. I bought a 'Jio ' internet dongle with 3 months data included. It is a small self-contained Wi-Fi device that you charge like a phone. The quality of the connection even when travelling was amazing, and the speed was impressive too!
I used mine to connect both my phones, (I communicate with home etc using whatsapp) laptop, kindle etc and never used up the daily data allowance. Cost just over £20 with top-ups costing just £7 every 3 months.
Best regards, Graham.
Click to expand...
That sounds like a great bit of kit, Graham. Thanks for the info.

Rik
 
I do hate this throwaway society. My Samsung Note 8.0 tablet is great - very handy for browsing the web anywhere in the house or on holiday without lugging my laptop around - but it is six years old and I cannot update its OS as it is no longer supported. Consequently more and more apps no longer work reliably on it.

Of course, Samsung expect me to buy another one, don't they.

Rik
 
ge_rik said:
I do hate this throwaway society. My Samsung Note 8.0 tablet is great - very handy for browsing the web anywhere in the house or on holiday without lugging my laptop around - but it is six years old and I cannot update its OS as it is no longer supported. Consequently more and more apps no longer work reliably on it.

Of course, Samsung expect me to buy another one, don't they.

Rik
Click to expand...

Same with my 6-7 year old Motorola 10.1. And they were bought up by the prime mover of the Android O/S 5 years ago - Google. that and a dodgy seemingly designed in "economically non-viable repair" requirement - the micro USB charger socket :banghead::swear: has led me to buying a Samsung 10.1 Galaxy A. Mmmm, just loving the Nougat experience, tasty. Enjoy your trip. Max
 
Having not had a charge for ? 3+ ? years, the phone is now a door-stop!
Last time I put some charge in the battery (and it took it) the phone fired-up, but no analogue mobile network could be found.. :giggle::giggle:
 
no analogue mobile network could be found
Click to expand...
How to derail a thread in two easy lessons . . I'll post a photo of my Motorola Flip-phone if you like.

To get back to India - my son travels a lot and he has a phone that he takes with him and he pays for a SIM card from a local supplier. He finds that the easiest solution.
 
Fred2179G said:
How to derail a thread in two easy lessons . . I'll post a photo of my Motorola Flip-phone if you like.

To get back to India - my son travels a lot and he has a phone that he takes with him and he pays for a SIM card from a local supplier. He finds that the easiest solution.
Click to expand...
Thanks Fred. I'll investigate that. Might be an easier and cheaper solution.
Rik
 
While looking for SIM cards for India, I came across this - https://www.trabug.com/
In effect, they rent out a phone for the duration of the trip. I'm thinking this might be an even better solution - no fiddling about getting my phone unlocked etc. Some of the forums reckon it can take three days to get an Indian SIM card whereas this is delivered directly to the hotel on the day we arrive.

Rik
 
ge_rik said:
While looking for SIM cards for India, I came across this - https://www.trabug.com/
In effect, they rent out a phone for the duration of the trip. I'm thinking this might be an even better solution - no fiddling about getting my phone unlocked etc. Some of the forums reckon it can take three days to get an Indian SIM card whereas this is delivered directly to the hotel on the day we arrive.

Rik
Click to expand...
Sounds like a good idea, such a simple one too.
 
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