I am happy to reply to your request for impressions of the trip to India and comments on the staff who accompanied us.
The shock of landing in Delhi was great: within a few hours we were immersed in a world totally different from ours.
In the first moments on the bus we thought, and hoped, we would get through it … It would be impossible for us to drive the way you drive in India without good training, very quick reflexes, attention and lots and lots of good luck – and Giriraj was lacking in none of these! Well done, Schumacher, a fair and very serious person, a really capable driver! 10+
The bus: although it had seen better days, it never let us down on the difficult roads we travelled, and that seems no small thing to us…..
A few words too for the 3rd and last member of the team, the young lad who accompanied us, always attentive and present, very polite; he helped the ladies get off the bus and supplied us with water and fruit!!!! And what's more, he kept the bus impeccably: spotless! We didn't see windows that shiny anywhere else in India. Well done! 10+
Hotels: some spectacular, all up to our expectations, picturesque, clean, and the staff really kind.
The food was undoubtedly of good quality, but for our taste too spicy: too much cumin and too much – really far too much – chilli …. it felt as if we were always eating the same things!!! That is, for us everything tasted the same.
The guide: the last character, but by no means the least appreciated. Always smiling and cheerful, he brightened our days with fairy-tale stories about the India of the maharajas and maharanis; we dreamed of the splendour and riches of the past while at the same time travelling through and experiencing the India of today. Through his words he passed on to us his love for his homeland: the customs, the traditions and the 'rules', the many, many, undeniably many sacks of money that men both past and present spend on their women … Perhaps he flooded us and went on at length with names, so many names unpronounceable for us, which alas we forgot immediately … A great entertainer, knowledgeable about his nation's history, and he undoubtedly earned the title of: Great Escort, passed with full marks 10+10.
Bye, Silvano and Rosanna
ITINERARY –
Departure – 15 October [Friday] 22:50 on KL 871
Return – 31 October [Sunday] 00:50 on KL 872
15 October [Friday] – Arrival and night in Delhi – Hotel Florence Inn
16 October [Saturday] – Delhi – Hotel Florence Inn
17 October [Sunday] – Mandawa – Hotel Castle Mandawa
18 October [Monday] – Fatehpur / Deshnoke / Bikaner – Hotel Lallgarh Palace
19 October [Tuesday] – Kheechan / Ramdeora / Jaisalmer (visit Ludarva) – Hotel Rang Mahal
20 October [Wednesday] – Khuri / Jaisalmer – Hotel Rang Mahal
21 October [Thursday] – Osiyan / Jodhpur (visit Mandore) – Hotel Park Plaza
22 October [Friday] – Ranakpur / Kumbhalgarh / Udaipur – Hotel Lake Pichola
23 October [Saturday] – Udaipur – Hotel Lake Pichola
24 October [Sunday] – Chittaurgarh / Bundi – Hotel Haveli Brijbhushan Ji
25 October [Monday] – Pushkar – Hotel Jagat Palace
26 October [Tuesday] – Ranthambhore NP – Hotel Ranthambhore Regency
27 October [Wednesday] – Jaipur – Hotel Shahpura House
28 October [Thursday] – Amber / Jaipur – Hotel Shahpura House
29 October [Friday] – Fatehpur Sikri / Agra – Hotel Clarks Shiraz
30 October [Saturday] – Delhi and departure at 21:50
Written by the traveller and first published in Italian on our former Italian website. Translated from Italian.