Great Travel Agent

Just back from a 16 day stay in India and have to let everyone know what a fantastic time we had thanks to our travel agent/tour operator in Delhi. His name is Durjay Sengupta of Compass Tours and Travels,
website: www.compass2rajasthan.com,
e-mail: compassindia@pacific.net.in

We are independent travelers and very rarely use a travel agent. After attempting to piece the trip together with individual bookings via the internet, I decided to get a quote from a few travel agents. I had MANY reservations about using an agent in India after all I read about the various scams. In the end I figured that life is full of risks, and people who don't take any, never realize all the wonderful possibilities. I am so happy we took this chance because I am convinced, after meeting many fellow travelers along the way, that we would never have learned so much or gained such an appreciation for this culture without the help of Durjay and his staff. Although he can arrange trips for any budget, ours was a moderate one. He arranged a driver for the entire stay, our hotels, guides at specific sites/cities and several activities I requested. A guide/escort accompanied us since we were traveling many back roads to small villages in the interior. The services of this escort/guide added immeasurably to our trip, making even the smallest arrangements with literally no effort on our part. I found out early on when planning just how accommodating Durjay is, responding to literally any request I made. His capabilities went far beyond what anyone would expect of a travel agent in the U.S. I did not use any of the standard routes. There were several villages and wildlife areas I wanted to mix with the big cities. He was a huge help in planning the route since he knew the distances and road conditions in these less-traveled areas. I chose all hotels, although Durjay did offer sound advice if he felt specific ones would not meet our expectations. All but one exceeded our expectations and offered an extremely good value, thanks to his advice. Before deciding to use him I had actually booked a few of the hotels myself and had gotten quotes for a car/driver. He was able to arrange everything for less than I would have been able to independently. This guy is really genuine. I have to say that I truly believe his first priority is your satisfaction and enjoyment, not the money. This may be because he is attempting to establish a customer base and he knows that this is the way to his ultimate success, although now knowing him, I'm also sure it is due in part to his personal nature and professional pride.

Along the way I met several travelers, although I have to say that tourism is VERY slow there. One couple had been there 2 weeks, about the same as us at that point. They were traveling by train and had booked hotels themselves. After several conversations, we were amazed to find how little they had actually done and seen compared with us. Come to find out, their total trip cost was about the same. I really felt sorry for them. They had to pay for rickshaws and/or taxis to get around in various cities, while we had a driver at our beck and call. And in Ranthambhore, where we met, they had literally stayed in the camp for 4 days, venturing out only for the prearranged safaris to the park. They had not had the opportunity to walk around any towns, meet local people or really find out anything about the wonderful culture.

My husband says that I should let people know "If they don't have royal blood and want to get an idea of how royalty lives, they should visit Rajasthan." I am still not sure if this royal treatment was attributed to the wonderful hospitality of the Rajasthany people or due to the efforts of Durjay and his staff, but it was a magnificent experience!

Before agreeing to use Durjay, I was fortunate to be able to speak with several budget and luxury U.S. travelers who had used him. If you contact him, I'm sure he'll give you those references and I'll be glad to give anyone more information if they request it.

I have to chime in on the excellence of Durjay Sengupta and Compass Tours and Travels. I was planning a trip to Delhi and through Rajasthan and found his info here on this board. I tried working with a few other agents previously and it was hard to get hold of them or to get clear answers. Durjay was reachable even at odd hours and spent the time to discuss the travel plans. Initially, my wife and I were discussing with him whether to take a car and driver from city to city on our own or whether to go on the Palace on Wheels. For time reasons primarily we ended up going with Palace on Wheels. At no time did Durjay push us towards the car and driver which would have been better for him -- he sincerely wanted us to have the best trip. When we decided on the train, he was still enthusiastic about helping us with the nights on either side of our trip in Delhi and airport transportation.

We were low time and high budget travelers this time around but after checking with other folks, Durjay got the same praise. One of the things we really liked was that pricing and costs were very clear. When any Indian travel agency books a hotel, tour, etc... they generally get a discount of 10% or more. Durjay explained to us that he charges the price we would have gotten (undiscounted) but then adds in extras. For example, we had a day in Delhi with driver and guide at no cost. This was a nice change from some other agents we talked with that had a la carte pricing but you could never be sure exactly what the total would be.

Last point I'd make is about wiring money. It is always scary to wire money sight unseen but in this case we jumped in and had no problems. Durjay made us feel comfortable and his references were strong.

I completely agree, Durjay does a great job. See my story under travel articles.

I have just recently emailed Durjay after reading all of the above positive feedback. I have been very pleased with his quotation and will probably be using him when we make our first trip this summer.

The question I have is weather or not people who used his services felt as thought they did not "experience" India as they may have bartering for rickshaws, taxis, etc. My wife and I are fairly independent travellers and have usually booked our own accommodation and trip etc. We have recently taken a tour holiday to Turkey and were very pleased. We had the help of the guide but enough flexibility to see some of the sights and cities at our own pace. Any thoughts?

I have done my trips both ways. The "get down with the people" way of experiencing India is a whole lot of fun....but as I've gotten older and had less time to be on the road (3 weeks vesus 2 months) I've found the "get an agent and make up your own tour" route to be better at this time of my life. Last trip I was able to get out into more rural areas with ease, and hope to do it again on the next trip.
May-be Traveler and Cadir can comment on where they went on their trips...I'm looking to do rural Rajasthan next and could go for some tips.

I have not done a tour of India completely on my own, but I would vote for the "get an agent" route. Most of the time that I wandered around on my own without a guide I was shopping or walking around before or after dinner which was no problem. During the day especially at the tourist sites in the big cities, the beggers and hawkers would have been pretty hard to take without a waiting car and a guide and driver to help shoo away the really obnoxious ones. I look like the typical rich westerner which was part of the problem but I never got the feeling that I was not experiencing the authentic or real India. Also whenever I wanted to get out of the car, take a rickshaw, go into a shop, even walk around Falkland road the guide was happy to oblige. The guide also knows the going rate for goods and services. For example if you walked up for a boat rental at dawn on the ganges in Varanasi it would cost you 700 rupees every time. The guide can get it for 100 rupees. I actually think getting an agent saves you money in the long run.

Thanks for all of the replies, very helpfull

Hello,
I would reccomend trying several people and seeing about prices, whose style you like the best, who u feel most comfortable with etc. For my part, I reccomend Bonita- a Westerner who has lived, travelled and made tours for people for 15-20 years. Send her an email, she truly is the best. feel free to pm me for any more info or contact her with any questions. Her email address is dreamingofindia@aol.com



peace and joy, Josh

Just to respond to edsita - We did do "rural" Rajasthan, seeing highlights in major cities like Jaipur, Agra, Jodhur, Udaipur, but spent most of our time outside the major cities. That's where Durjay and his crew were most helpful. It was so much easier to acess these areas like the Bishnoi villages, Kishinghar, and Karauli. We did so many spontaneous off the beaten path adventures like stopping by to visit an Ashram, stopping at a farm to speak to a farmer who was driving his cows around a step well - we saw how it worked and he gave us a tour of his farm, stopped to watch the poppy havest. I could go on . . . The point is that I know we wouldn't have done all these things as "independent" travelers. The difference was having a wonderful local guide in our car - he saw our interest passing the Ashram and said "Hey, let's stop here and take a look around." Simple as that and what a wonderful experience to be able to see so many facets of the culture first hand!

I emailed Compass yesterday with a outline of our trip plan and they emailed me back with something not resembling what we wanted. Not impressed so far. Varsha noted she had quoted us a "special price" but what's the good of that when they don't read and comprehend prospective client's email?
So far, not good. We'll see. BTW the special price is comparable with others we've received so will post later with an update.

Varsha at Compass emailed me with an apology for not reading my email and came up with an itinerary which may have suited us except for the price which was marked up about 15%. This must be their commission to clients and then they get a commission from many of the hotels. On a tour costing $635 for 2 for 12 days staying in budget hotels except for one night and one night on a train, in Rajasthan, I figure we can save a large amount by organising our day trips and transfers to the next destination ourselves. It was a worthwhile exercise! Think we may fly & train it!

I wonder if Varsha lurks at Indiamike.com ?