[I244]India Eyewitness Travel Guide

There are so many things that go into planning a perfect trip, with so much time money and energy going into the whole plan, it's only fair to expect the best from it.However, with myriad of choices and decisions to be made it's only prudent to have a checklist of things that would help in having a great trip

In general I look at the process of any vacation, broadly separated in 3 distinct parts, namely - Research, Purchase and Experience

While you are in ?Research? mode for your vacation to India , I suggest the first thing you need to do is read up about India and get a basic idea on places you want to visit and what interests you . Once you have accomplished that the next thing is to have an idea about your budget and approximate spend that you will be doing on stay and travel .After you have an idea about these two things you are in a position to build a list of your questions and wants, and start testing the water to enter the next part of the process ? ?Purchase?.

?Purchase? phase involves selecting the agents websites that you would seek answers to your questions and request a quote from. Some of the things to keep in mind are ? is the agent able to answer your queries , give customer references, what is the level of transparency exhibited in terms of display of price on their website or when you talk to them , the mode of payment ,etc. It's imperative to know that there are ?No too good to be true deals? unless until they are prevalent everywhere or you are comparing apples to oranges. It is essential to have a list of the exact hotels or services that an agent promises to provide. In a country like India where there is a large disparity in service and general standards, a hotel referred as ?similar hotel? can be largely different.

Last but not the least is the ?Experience? phase. Other than the obvious delivery of what as promised to you not meeting the expectation, the other reasons that your Experience did not meet your expectation can be largely attributed to ?You?. It is imperative that you explain the agent your expectations in detail, any shortcoming in that would definitely lead to unfulfilled expectations. It is also important that you overlook small trivial things especially if you are on a Budget. In a country like India, expect large disparity in service levels, and luxury comes expensive. It always helps to talk to references and understand how close was an agent in delivering on their expectations.

So avoid the pitfalls of the above described phases and get the most out of your travel.