Honeymoon in India 26 days..........

Viajera

Hello All,

Me and my fiancee are going to India for 27 days. We'll be leaving from San Jose, CA on Dec 9th, 2005 and flying into Mumbai/Bombay on the Dec 10th. We fly out of Bombay on Jan 3rd.

- Mostly I'm trying to find out if this is too much to do in the period of time we have?
- Places I should go instead and/or avoid?
- Planes, Train suggestions. Does anyone know how long the trains are from bombay to Jaipur to Udaipur, to Agra?

About us/other stuff:
- We like semi comfortable/clean rooms. I can stay in a Motel 6 as long as my sheets are clean and there aren't bugs.
- We're going on our honeymoon before our wedding...this is a bit odd I know. We can afford to splurge a bit since it's our honeymoon I'm planning to take at least at least 75.00 per person, per day. I don't know if I'll spend it all, but I'm willing too if needed. Can be more if needed.
- Willing to pay for airplane tickets if it makes sense for the sake of time.
- This is our first trip out of the U.S. and I'm extremely excited to see India and all it has to offer. I know I will love it!
- We're both taking a backpack
- Some of the things we're interested in is Backwater tour in Kerala, Taj Mahal, safari of some sort, Elephant washing, etc.
- My fiancee was born in Thailand and wants to go for a week...is this doable??
- We're going to a friends wedding in Hyderabad Dec 23, 24, 25

So far my itinerary is as follows:
The itinerary so far is Bombay to Jaipur to Udaipur, to Dehli, to Agra, Thailand (???), to Hyderabad (wedding), Kerala, Goa, Bombay.

I need advice on trains/planes.....etc. Can I book these once I'm there? I'm fairly flexible.

Please advise......I appreciate all suggestions.

Thank you,
Diana

Shaktipalooza

Seems like about 90% of the people out there consider Agra to be not worth the venture. I've never been there, always avoided it.

A couple of strategically purchased plane flights can certainly make your travels easier. Have you thought about flying into Delhi instead? Unless you're for sure travelling down to Kerala this might be a better start point. Lufthansa should have flights from SFO > Frankfurt > Delhi that will cut your travel time down quite a bit (roughly 21 hours total). check out weflyhome

$75 per person per day and you could be living really large in India for sure. Personally I enjoy paying in the $50-$100 range for some truly unique and wonderful hotel experiences. In the lower price ranges you can find good accomodations too.

27 days? I'd promptly forget about going to Thailand. Backwater tours are a fantastic idea for your honeymoon. I'd take one anyday over a trip to the Taj.

Bombay, Rajasthan, Kerala, Hyderabad, Taj Mahal. Even within India these are some very very far flung destinations on your tick list. 27 days is impossible to visit any Indian sub region in any depth. You will most certainly want a flight to/from Kerala and/or Hyderabad. The wedding would be great fun, is it a Telugu ceremony?

You can go to the tourist/foreigner windows and arrange tickets when you are there. They maintain a quota of available tourist seats but we have had occasions where a last minute purchase (less than 24 hours) was sketchy. Not very enjoyable being on a waiting list when you really really would like to be off to the next destination.

I'd suggest busting out your guidebook to get a feel for train travel times. If memory serves me correctly I believe it's about a 21 hour train ride from Mumbai to Jodhpur (or was it Jaipur). Trains from Kerala to Hyderabad would travel to Bangalore first (14 hours?) then to Hyderabad (12 hrs?). Any trains connecting North to South will run at least 30+ hours.

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wonderwomanusa

You'll want to get your itinerary settled so that you can make your reservations to Hyderabad soon; Christmas is a big holiday travel time there, too.

Why not save Thailand for last and go back to California from there. If you haven't yet bought your air tickets, this might work out a bit better for you -- you'd probably want to fly Hyderabad to Calcutta to Bangkok (I don't know if this is possible but it is a logical progression).

You really are trying to do a bit too much, so you'll have to prioritize those cities and then see what it looks like.

machadinha

Doing a "bit" much is putting it very mildly. I've seen some crazy itineraries here but including half of India and Thailand in a short month is really overstretching it if you don't mind my saying so. Sure, it's technically doable, but Thailand isn't next door, I was surprised how flying there it's about twice as far as India coming from Eastern Europe (or that's what it felt like). Getting in and out of Bangkok is a hassle in itself (hardly avoidable however as it's the hub to basically anywhere, unless you fly in on some package resort deal and stay there) so ask yourself what do you want to do in Thailand at all. The fact that it's your first trip abroad doesn't make me more optimistic, I was just private messaging with someone who plans to visit Thailand for a week but he obviously knows his way around.

Likewise, Goa and Kerala are not places, they're states. Meaning that it's not just the getting to the general region (presumably an airport in your case) but then getting to your actual destination as well. I suppose it could all be doable if you have it all pre-booked and have the $$$ to accommodate the complimentary private cars and all. Other than that and as noted I'd bring it down to realistic dimensions so as not to be facing a divorce by the time you leave

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Viajera

I'm really working on cutting down my itinerary...thanks for your suggestions

dshah

I heard that some of non-standard hotels secretly video record the couples on honeymoon. I could be wrong, but there have been scandals like it

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