Review: Tour of India, Taj Mahal, Ganges Ghats, Temple & Palace Tours, Spice Plantations, Local Culture & Cuisine

My wife and I have travelled internationally for nearly 25 years and have generally created our own itinerary and logistics. This year we decided to visit India for a month and do a circumnavigation from North to South.  It was obvious from the outset we would need a travel partner to help us create trip of a lifetime.  Fortunately, once we connected with our travel planner I knew we were in excellent hands.  Over a period of several months we exchanged emails defining our approach to travel, experiences we wished to have in addition to the standard tourist sights, especially school visits, various lodging that provided opportunities to have more face-to-face engagement with the proprietors, and a flexibility to be open to the moments of serendipity that often come in our travels.  Our expectations were exceeded in every area. 

The logistics of our trip were flawless: representatives met us and dropped us off at airports, drivers were professional, skilled and put our fears of “near death” on the Indian roads immediately to rest, our lodging from luxury to guesthouses matched the locations perfectly and our guides were personable and with deep knowledge of the areas we visited.  Additionally, our travel planner picked up a last-minute idea we mentioned to our representative and within an hour had made arrangements for us have a houseboat trip. We were overjoyed with her responsiveness, the attention to detail, thoughtfulness to align our interests and desires perfectly with an itinerary that satisfied our every need. She was our “guardian” travel angel.