Long travel days on India tour

I took a month-long tour to both North and South India with Adventures Abroad in February ’06. The basic cost of the tour was $4,870, but my total of $6,203 included single accommodation and an extra night in New Delhi pre-tour.

I cannot recommend this tour on several counts. I found the pace very strenuous, though very hardy travelers did not. As an example, on one day we started out at about 8 a.m. and did not reach our hotel until 8:30 p.m. The following day we departed about 8, and after a long day of bus travel we had a 5-hour train trip and arrived at our hotel after midnight. The next day we spent another 12 hours in reaching our destination.

While long hours on the bus were broken by at least one sightseeing stop each day, we spent much more time on buses, trains and planes than in seeing places of interest.

Another poor aspect of this tour, in my opinion, was the accommodations. In spite of our being assured that all hotels would be 3- to 5-star rated, many did not live up to this ranking. Also, hotels often were poorly located, so much time was lost getting from hotels to sightseeing locations, train stations, etc. Usually, there was nothing of interest near the hotel, so during free time there was little chance to do anything but remain in the hotel.

This tour was somewhat limited to temples and palaces. We had only brief visits to museums, and there were none of the activities that can enrich a tour experience, such as visits to schools, farms, homes or even factories.

It also was difficult to get information from their home office. In spite of repeated requests, I was unable to get a final detailed itinerary until after arrival in New Delhi, and hotel information (sketchy and inaccurate) arrived only a few days before departure.

In fairness to Adventures Abroad, there were some highlights: the Taj Mahal, a day and night spent on a houseboat in the waterways of beautiful Kerala state, and several magnificent palaces. Also, other tour members were more satisfied than I was and enjoyed the whole experience more.

I am sending a copy of this letter to Adventures Abroad and have expressed the same thoughts in replying to their tour evaluation questionnaire.

NANCY B. LOVELL
Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Before ITN sent a copy of the above letter to Adventures Abroad, the company mailed ITN a copy of their reply to Ms. Lovell, as follows.

Thank you for your feedback regarding your recent tour of India. Such information is the best tool we have for improving the quality of our product.

We acknowledge and appreciate your concerns regarding the pacing of this trip; we have had similar responses from others over the past season. This tour is always under review due to the phenomenal number of variables at play in India — the itinerary rarely ever operates the same way twice. We are currently reviewing the logistics of this series (as we do every year) and will be carefully assessing every journey, overnight point and mode of transport used. India is a huge country packed with highlights, and it is always a challenge to provide a tour that does the destination justice at a comfortable pace.

We also appreciate your comments regarding the accommodation used. Contrary to your assumption, however, we do not promise 5-star hotels in any of our promotional literature for India. That said, we do occasionally stay at a hotel with a 5-star rating (ex., the SAS-Radisson in Khajuraho). We have reviewed all of our materials and amended them to indicate that on average we can promise 3- to 4-star properties.

We apologize for the substandard Bambolin Hotel in Goa. Goa, as most of India, is enjoying a tourism boom, and there is a shortage of hotels of the standard that we generally seek out. Many places like Goa now require a minimum 3-night stay, even a 7-night stay during high season. For the purposes of a busy tour, this creates considerable supply problems for us. The same can be said for major cities like Delhi. We are working very closely with our local India partners to address these challenges, with the hope that the building of new hotels and our growing volume to India will ensure a more consistent range of comfortable, clean, well-located hotel choices.

We will also consider your suggestions/complaints about the itinerary content. This is somewhat subjective, of course, as each individual has different priorities. We do our best to include the things that are widely regarded as “highlights” and allow our Tour Leaders some leeway to take advantage of special opportunities along the way. Unfortunately, these things are impossible to predict/promise, especially in a program that is already ambitious. We will, however, remind our field staff to bear in mind the interests of group members that may go beyond the classic sites.

We regret your dissatisfaction regarding the difficulty in receiving information from us. As noted above, variables are many in India and we often have to make changes right up to the time of departure (as we indicate in our Terms & Conditions and predeparture materials). We apologize for the confusion and frustration that you experienced.

Again, we thank you for your feedback and the copy of the letter that you sent to ITN. We hope that the various problems that you experienced will not deter you from traveling with us again. As you indicated that (“at your age”) you are no longer planning any such extensive trips, please allow us to recommend one of our many less strenuous journeys in the future. Please contact me if you need any further information or clarification.

MARTIN CHARLTON, Assistant Manager, Adventures Abroad, Box 101, 1124 Fir Ave., Blaine, WA 98230