Name PATRIZIA GIOVANARDI Email – People: 4 Car – Toyota Innova Driver's name – SHANKAR Departure – 12 July 2011 Return – 19 July 2011
Here we are, just back from a wonderful trip, full of surprises and marvels.
It isn't easy to organise a do-it-yourself trip in a place as unpredictable as India, but our initial fears vanished once we reached our destination, thanks also to the help of the right agency. Before leaving we chose to put our trust in India Karni, partly because of the good price and partly to play it safe (apparently it's the Italians' favourite agency, and we understood why). They generally provide the full service: car with driver, hotels, transfers etc., but we wanted something more adventurous and chose the middle way: out of 9 days we booked 5 with a car and driver from India Karni (the first two and the last 3 days) and for the rest we got around on our own by train. We also chose and booked the hotels ourselves, and he put no pressure on us to choose the ones he normally works with. We have to acknowledge that Karni was very kind and helpful despite our choice to use only half of his services. He also helped us book the trains, even though this was to his disadvantage (if we hadn't managed to book them, we would have done the whole trip by car), and we really appreciated that. On top of that, during the 4 days when we were travelling on our own, our driver always remained reachable and ready to help us if we had any difficulties. For example, just after we arrived in India the bombs went off in Mumbai, which frightened us quite a bit, but our driver reassured us and allowed us to continue our trip with peace of mind. Before we left, Karni helped us enormously in planning the trip, proving very helpful and patient (I don't know how many times we changed the itinerary before leaving, or how many different quotes we asked for before finding the right car–train combination!), and he always answered our emails within a very few hours. Also, while we were in Rajasthan and were thinking of changing the itinerary, he once again accommodated our needs. Another thing we appreciated about Karni was being able to pay for the trip directly in India, thus avoiding awkward payments over the internet. But let's come to our legendary driver: Shanker! Note that, since I speak English, I hadn't specifically asked for a driver who spoke Italian, but the agency sent him to us anyway, and he gets by really well in Italian, which delighted the other young people in the group and allowed us to feel more relaxed and secure. He was an excellent driver, which is not to be underestimated given that, contrary to what people think, the biggest risk of a trip to India is not illness but road accidents! He was very professional, good company when we wanted to joke or chat, and discreet when we wanted to rest. In short, to sum up, you could say he was our point of reference during the trip! He knew all the cities, hotels, restaurants and must-see monuments perfectly and took us to the right shops for our purchases (without ever imposing them on us, though). So, all things considered, the trip was fantastic. We found the winning combination for a memorable holiday: enchanting places and wonderful people. That's why it's "the India you don't expect", because anyone who associates it with disease, dirt and crime is badly mistaken: India is much, much, muuuch more than people think!
Written by the traveller and first published in Italian on our former Italian website. Translated from Italian.