1st February to 15th April 2024
Well, what a trip that was. Another trip and this one was to a destination that's been on Brian's list for a long time: India. Jackie, on the other hand had always had reservations about going there, the sheer mass of humanity and the poverty alongside ultra rich doesn't sit well with her. I can understand that, but it's a country with such a different culture and fascinating things to see, as well as the possibility of seeing a Bengal tiger that, for me, trumped those negatives.
The common ground we found between us was to arrange things beforehand and work with a local agent that arranged hotels, trains and flights, providing a man and car and guides when needed. There are a number of Indian based companies who do that so, after contacting three of them, selected one called Magic Tours of India who operate all over the country. We told them the main places on our list that we really wanted to see, the length of time our trip should take and that we preferred to travel by train and car where possible rather than flying and they put forward a proposed itinerary. It included all on our list, plus extra destinations that they recommended based on the things they now knew we liked. The other two companies offered similar itineraries, but their additions were a bit 'palace and fort' heavy, whereas Magic Tours included more wildlife, a trip to the southern point of India (always a winner for Brian) and some hiking in mountains, as well as all the honeypots so, they won. The result was a 51 day trip across the north from the Pakistan border to Kolkata near the Bangladesh and then a flight to Kerala and a tour across the south of India finishing in Chennai, the old Madras.
While there we decided to take a short flight across to Sri Lanka and add on a tour of that country followed by another flight to the Maldives. To do that we booked with the UK based company Explore who offered a 22 day in depth trip of both countries and took care of the international flights for us from and to our local airport of Birmingham, UK.
Here's a map of our route. If you click the rectangle in the top right to make it full screen then the box top left with the right pointing arrow, it'll open up a list of each destination. Clicking each one will open a box where we've included details of what we saw at each location along with photos:
As with other trips, below are links to blog posts that we wrote as we went along, so click on each one to open a new page of each one. Happy reading:
1st February - Countdown & arrival in Delhi - click here to open a new page
2nd to 4th February - Delhi - click here to open a new page
5th to 8th February - Amritsar - click here
9th & 10th February - Shimla - click here
11th to 15th February - Toy train from Shimla & Jaipur - Click here
15th & 16th February - Ranthambore National Park - Click here
17th to 19th February - Agra - Click here
19th to 21st February - Lucknow - Click here
21st to 23rd February - Varanasi - Click here
24th to 28th February - Kolkata - Click here
29th February to 3rd March - Munnar - Click here
3rd & 4th March - Periyar (aka Kumily and Thekkady) - Click here
4th to 7th March - Kochi and Alleppey Houseboat - Click here
7th to 10th March - Alleppey & Kovalam - Click here
10th to 12th March - Kovalam & Kanyakumari - Click here
12th to 14th March - Madurai - Click here
14th & 15th March - Chettinad - Click here
16th & 17th March - Thanjavour to Pondicherry - Click here
18th & 19th March - Pondicherry - Click here
20th & 21st March - Mamallapuram - Click here
21st & 22nd March - Chennai - Click here
23rd March - Round up of India - Click here
23rd to 26th March - Negombo to Anuradhapura - Click here
26th to 30th March - Anuradhapura to Kandy - Click here
30th March to 2nd April - Kandy to Ella - Click here
3rd to 5th April - Ella to Koggala Beach - Click here
5th to 7th April - Koggala Beach to Colombo - Click here
7th to 14th April - The Maldives - Click here
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