We were two females from the US traveling to India for the first time and went through India Trip Designer to coordinate our 2 week tour of the Golden Triangle. Below are a list of the aspects of our interactions with ITD that we found to be extremely delightful as well as a list of things that could be improved.
improved.
Highlights of working with ITD:
Manoj Sharma - He was very responsive throughout the planning process, which all happened online. There is a bit of a language barrier so the emails may be a bit confusing, but after a couple of extra emails to clarify, everything was clear. At the end of the trip, we felt relieved for having the peace of mind that our driver took care of us and all local tour guides and hotels were planned for us.
Foran Singh - He was our driver for most of our trip. Since I am not used to having such a service in my daily life it was such a great treat to be taken care of by such a gentle, flexible, and prompt driver as him. He helped to ease our anxiety about exploring this massive, foreign land. When we were fearful we were going to get mowed down by all the vehicles, animals, and people, Foran was always there to swoop us up. I wish I could take him home to the states with us. He was always respectful, helpful, and kind. Thank you Foran!
Ajay Dubey - he was our guide in Agra. He was great - funny, kind, and knowledgeable about Agra, his hometown. We would recommend him to others in an instant. In fact, you can request for specific tour guides from Manoj.
Sunny- Our guide in Jaipur was a character. He kept us smiling and was very knowledgeable about all the sites. He was a great story teller and appears to enjoy his work. We enjoyed your services.
Naresh - he was our guide in New Delhi. He was very articulate and knowledgeable about the city and his English was very good. We had no problems understanding him at all.
Ali - our driver in New Delhi for one day. Ali was very prompt and reliable. He made us feel like queens, driving us around the hectic city of Delhi and even stayed with us from 8:30am until our flight at midnight. We highly recommend him as a driver.
Things that could be improved:
Hotels - we stayed at “5-star” hotels. 5-star is in quotes b/c all of our hotels were problematic to some degree (ITC Hotel in Agra, Trident Hotel in Jaipur, The Grand in New Delhi, Tigress Resort and Spa in Ranthambore). This is based on our impression of another 5-star hotel that we stayed at in Hyderabad (Trident Hotel) prior to starting our tour with ITD, which was truly 5-star in every way. Even though we stayed at a Trident Hotel in Jaipur, which was the same chain as our hotel in Hyderabad, the one on Jaipur was not as good as the one in Hyderabad. I think that ITD, being the local agency, should’ve known the hotels that are rated 5-star but
are more like 4-star from the bonafide 5-stars.
I also wished there was more transparency with being taken to the different textiles, or gems stores. Just know that your tour will include trips to various shops for you to do some shopping. Although you do not need to purchase anything, there is some pressure to at least send some time there. If you do not want to be taken to any of them, I would let your guides know. That being said, we did find some of them educational and it was good to know that for the most part, there is some quality assurance with products purchased from the government supported textiles, gems industry.