India Trip 2013 - Part 1 (Planning)

A sad freshman in college

A few months back, my brother-in-law Naveen, and his wife Raji asked us, Jan and I, if we would like to vacation with them in Rajasthan, India. Raji, it seems was to attend a conference in Jaipur along with her colleague, Inchara. At the end of the conference, we, along with Raji's and Inchara's family would join them in Jaipur. Thereafter we would rent a Tempo Traveler that could seat a dozen persons along with their bags and travel and sight-see three of the famous locations, namely, Jaipur, Bikaner, and Jaisalmer. We got on-board once we found we could get cheap airline tickets. The only black cloud in all this was, Devi our older daughter, would not be with us for this trip as she was still adjusting to her freshman year in college.



After many back and forth and few more detours, we finally came up with this plan.

1. Leave USA for New Delhi on 13th of November.
2. Spend 15th in New Delhi meeting some friends and family.
3. Travel by train to Jaipur on 16th and meet our fellow travelers, meet an old friend from my Lucknow days in 1980s, and finally sight-see the Pink City.
4. Spend 17th seeing more of Jaipur.
5. Travel to Bikaner on the 18th; see the Junagarh fort; visit the Camel farm; and stay overnight in Gajner Palace near Bikaner.
6. Travel on 19th to Jaisalmer and check-in at Suryagarh.
7. Spend 20th and 21st in Jaisalmer. See the fort, abandoned village, and ride on a camel.
8. Drive on 22nd to Jaisalmer and fly back to New Delhi the same day.
9. Meet friends from DCE and sight see New Delhi on 23rd and 24th
10. Fly back home on 25th.

After these dates were decided, Jan felt that she would like to spend a few days with her parents in Bangalore. So we decided to travel to India separately. Maa and I went as planned and Jan went a few days earlier to Bangalore and met me in New Delhi on the 15th. I decided not visit my parents in Chennai as they had been with us for 3 months from early August to early November. In fact their departure to India was timed to be just a few days earlier than our own.

We were excited!