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Feeling accomplished
Jan. 9th, 2005 05:07 pmWe have reservations on all the applicable trains in India. (I've updated my online itinerary with one small change.) We have reservations at a guesthouse for our first night, and I'm still debating whether I want to make reservations in the other cities or just wing it.
I wish I didn't procrastinate so much on these things. We ended up getting two of the last three seats available on one train, and two of the last four available on another. (And that was not even on our first choice train.) It's just that the Indian train system is so confusing: the official website tells you how much tickets cost and whether they're available, but doesn't actually sell them to you. There's a secondary, seedy-looking website that actually sells you the tickets, but they then courier the tickets to you at your address in India. Well, obviously I don't have an address in India! There are two ways around this for international tourists: (a) get an Indrail pass, which allows you to reserve tickets through your travel agent in your home country, or (b) make a reservation at a hotel that will sign for your tickets, and then send them the ticket info and a letter saying they can sign on your behalf. I went back and forth for weeks about which option is better. Option (a) is more straightforward; option (b) is much cheaper. We ended up doing option (b), which is why we have a room reserved in New Delhi already.
And I've already gotten the following e-mail from the proprietor of the guesthouse:
In related news, Maoist insurrectionists have been assassinating people in one of the states we're visiting. Fortunately, one of the many services CMU-Q offers its employees is a security specialist who will vet our vacation plans for us, so in a few days I should have word about whether it's OK for us to visit Bihar or not. I'll be very disappointed if we have to miss Bodh Gaya, but it's the part of our schedule with the most flexibility, so it wouldn't be the end of the world. Better safe than sorry, I suppose.
I wish I didn't procrastinate so much on these things. We ended up getting two of the last three seats available on one train, and two of the last four available on another. (And that was not even on our first choice train.) It's just that the Indian train system is so confusing: the official website tells you how much tickets cost and whether they're available, but doesn't actually sell them to you. There's a secondary, seedy-looking website that actually sells you the tickets, but they then courier the tickets to you at your address in India. Well, obviously I don't have an address in India! There are two ways around this for international tourists: (a) get an Indrail pass, which allows you to reserve tickets through your travel agent in your home country, or (b) make a reservation at a hotel that will sign for your tickets, and then send them the ticket info and a letter saying they can sign on your behalf. I went back and forth for weeks about which option is better. Option (a) is more straightforward; option (b) is much cheaper. We ended up doing option (b), which is why we have a room reserved in New Delhi already.
And I've already gotten the following e-mail from the proprietor of the guesthouse:
"OUR AIRPORT PICKUP CHARGES IN OUR GUEST HOUSE CAR ARE Rs.480/- .MY MAN WILL BE THERE AT THE AIRPORT TO RECIEVE YOU. HE WILL SHOW YOU YOUR NAME WRITTEN ON A PLACARD. SO AFTER SEEING YOUR NAME YOU JUST FOLLOW HIM. KINDLY SEND US YOUR FULL FLLIGHT DETAILS ASAP."We're not even there yet, and the touting has already begun!
In related news, Maoist insurrectionists have been assassinating people in one of the states we're visiting. Fortunately, one of the many services CMU-Q offers its employees is a security specialist who will vet our vacation plans for us, so in a few days I should have word about whether it's OK for us to visit Bihar or not. I'll be very disappointed if we have to miss Bodh Gaya, but it's the part of our schedule with the most flexibility, so it wouldn't be the end of the world. Better safe than sorry, I suppose.
