13 Apr 2023
The tour was supposed to commence at 7.30 am, but apparently my booking had been forgotten. After several telephone calls I was advised the tour would be sorted out in about 10 minutes. Alas, a car turned up at about 9.45 am. I had to call the tour company again shortly after we joined the new 10 lane freeway when the driver pulled over in a country town and took a 20 minute break to have some idli. The lady at the tour company was completely disinterested. "Atithi Devo Bhava" must have been on strike and following his meal, I was very tempted to instruct the driver to make a U-turn and return me to my hotel. Anyway, once at Mysore connections were made with an excellent guide who showed me around the key sights and answered all questions. That said, having been collected from the hotel over 2 hours late, the actual sight seeing took place after the day had warmed up and some of the attractions were closed before I could see them. Lunch was organised at a decent hotel. After bidding the guide farewell, the driver did an excellent job taking me back to Bengalaru along the same new 10 lane freeway. IN SUMMARY: the guide was excellent, the driver improved during the day so I give him a "very good" (very efficient in congested traffic) but the tour company was hopeless. Other advice I can offer is: go to Mysore as it is very much worth it and try to use a local company in Bengalaru. This particular tour company seems to be based in Delhi.