After boarding our overnight train from Mumbai, we awoke in Southern India.  A rattling night on the rails made sleeping not much more than a doze. It was however an improvement on the Amritsar to Agra train we took some weeks ago. We pulled into Tivim 40 minutes late. We were beginning to think that…

Agra and our first Sleeper train experience In mid-September, we had our first experience of Indian trains with an overnighter from Amritsar to Agra.  It left on time but was two hours late by the time we disembarked at 10 am the following day. We booked our 1st class tickets online. Booking train tickets can…

It was mid-September, and we were in Agra.  Sitting atop of our rooftop palace, locally known as the ‘Vacation villa’.  We had been discussing the bed, the most comfortable hotel bed I had ever slept in.  We were packing away the Kurta, respectful clothes purchased for our wonderful early morning visit to the Taj Mahal….

Our planning for this trip was sparse and almost non-existent. But, we had always planned to spend very little time in Mumbai.  There was little we wanted see. We arrived from Ahmedabad. The train between the two cities is a common ‘express route’ so tickets and availability were plentiful.  When we arrived in Mumbai we…

Amritsar a journey of unexpected encounters and historical reflections I’m not sure that Amritsar was ever on any ‘bucket list’. But in September 2024 we found ourselves heading to Gatwick to catch the Air India flight there. The start of a long journey. Our return tickets were in three months,  home in time for Christmas….

Travelling from Jaipur we decided the easiest way to visit Pushkar was by bus.  The train line doesn’t come any closer than Ajmer. From there you had catch a bus anyway so we decided to do the whole trip in one go, by bus from Jaipur.  Having purchased our bus tickets online, and timetabled as…

It wasn’t a great start to a new city. Having finally arrived at the hotel the staff didn’t really seem to be expecting us.  A handful of polite and helpful staff made ready a room for us. But unfortunately, it was the worst hotel room I have ever booked into.  It seems that the Indian…