Journeying through India's Golden Triangle
how we turned our luxury trip to India into a budget-friendly adventure
Have you ever dreamt of indulging in the opulence of a luxury trip to India without breaking the bank? Well as promised in our vlog from Udaipur we’re going to share how we managed to turn our dream Indian adventure into a reality, all while keeping our wallets (relatively) intact.
Photo: The Leela Palace, Udaipur, Louise’s iPhone, April 2023
India had been a dream of mine for many years, and in 2018 we headed down to Cardiff to visit a travel agent specialising in luxury travel, with the idea of booking that bucket list holiday for my fortieth birthday in April 2019.
It wasn’t to be, for various family reasons, but then when in 2022 we decided to try again, I organised a new quote for the same two-week holiday journeying around India’s golden triangle.
It came through as £12,000 not including flights. This was not going to be affordable.
However, with the rather clever tactics (if I don’t say so myself) we’ve learnt over the last few years, we managed to shave almost 50% off the price of this trip of a lifetime.
Here’s how we did it.
Photo: Lukas Souza on Unsplash
The sky's the limit: Booking upper-class flights on a budget
On the flights to New Delhi alone we saved £6,000 by redeeming our Virgin credit card points.
For just £1,000 in taxes, we were able to enjoy not only the fabulous Virgin Upper-Class lounge at Heathrow Airport but also the Virgin arrivals lounge when we returned (a shower and breakfast straight after an overnight flight is the ultimate luxury surely). The flight was everything we’d hoped for. Champagne on board, lie-flat beds, cosy pyjamas and an onboard sky bar. The food was amazing (real knives and forks and a cup of tea in an actual mug!) and the service, well it was just perfect.
If you’re in the United Kingdom and interested in finding out more about how to do this, you can sign up for just $9.99 for Mark’s easy-to-follow course so you can unlock the secrets of airline rewards travel too!
Photo: Samode Haveli, Jaipur, India, Louise’s iPhone, April 2023
The art of hotel booking: Getting 5-star stays for less
I recently saved more than £200 on a three-day hotel booking just by setting a price alert.
We had booked a hotel stay in Washington DC (it was at this one in Foggy Bottom) and paid a few extra dollars to take the fully refundable option. I then went over to Kayak.com and searched for the same hotel, on the same dates, and toggled the price alert to on. Inputting my email address, I would now receive an alert, directly by email, if the price of the hotel on those nights went down. And it did.
About a month before our trip, the price for this hotel dropped significantly on hotels.com, so I booked the nights and then went back over to Expedia to cancel the original booking. Done, and in a simple step, I’d saved us over £200 on the price of the stay.
You can take this approach with any hotel booking, we used the same approach for our India trip and have even used it to book hotel stays when we travel to Bilbao and San Sebastian this coming April. The only time I wouldn’t use this technique is when we’re booking small, family-run hotels and accommodations, for example when we stayed in Aman Homestay in India. In those circumstances, you’re already paying a really good price to a local family who are trying to make a living, and playing the system just doesn’t feel right to me.
But hey, if you’re booking into the Hilton, or Hyatt, then you can save significant cash using this technique.
Photo: by Killian Pham on Unsplash
How to book an Indian train journey
We had originally planned our two-week Indian travel itinerary to include two train journeys around the Golden Triangle, one from Agra to Jaipur and then another from Jaipur to Jodhpur.
I’d booked the early fast train out of New Delhi, but we were so enjoying the wonderful hotel that we decided we wanted to wait a little longer to check out. By that point, there were no later trains available to book, so we jumped in a taxi instead. Now this is not necessarily a reflection on taxi journeys in general in India, however, we found ourselves speeding through the suburbs of New Delhi towards Agra at breakneck speed, weaving through traffic, with the radio blaring and a taxi driver who was visibly falling asleep at the wheel. Our eyes met in the rearview mirror and he hurriedly reassured me that he wasn’t falling asleep.
Not much later he pulled into a rest stop and disappeared for ten minutes to drink chai, presumably to wake himself up a little.
The moral of the story here may be to stick to the plans you’ve already made or don’t try to book last-minute train travel as the tickets will have sold out. Or it could be not to jump into a taxi in India. One thing is for certain, we enjoyed our six-hour train journey to Jodhpur a whole lot more than that hour and a half in a steaming hot taxi cab, and next time would opt for the train!
Booking train tickets in India is a little more complicated than at home, but with a little tenacity and patience is also eminently doable.
Photo: Chris Putnam courtesy of Canva
The first thing to understand is that there are several different seat classes on Indian trains, and not all trains will have all classes available:
AC1 or 1A: air-conditioned first class 2 and 4 berth compartments, bedding provided.
AC2 or 2A: upper and lower berths in air-conditioned open-plan carriages, bedding provided.
AC3 or 3A: upper, middle and lower berths in air-conditioned open-plan carriages, bedding provided.
EA: only available on a few Express trains, similar to Executive Chair class but with extra facilities such as seat-back TVs.
EC: Executive Chair class, comparable to European 1st class with seats 2+2 across the car width in air-con open-plan carriages.
CC: Chair Car, comparable to European 2nd class with seats 2+3 across the car width in air-conditioned open-plan carriages.
SL: Sleeper class with upper, middle and lower berths in open-plan carriages, no air con and no bedding.
2S: Second-class reserved seating with basic open-plan wooden or plastic seats.
GN: Second-class unreserved general seating. Basic open-plan wooden or plastic seats.
Since it was our first visit to India and we were tentatively dipping our toe into the waters of train travel, we’d booked seats in AC1 class to travel from Jaipur to Jodhpur, and so found ourselves in a coupe berth, with only two beds and bedding provided. The tickets cost us around £20 each for the private cabin across a six-hour journey, which coming from the UK seemed very good value. It’s worth noting, that we could have paid a lot less if we’d travelled in another class - we didn’t need the beds or the private cabin, but it was fun to experience. If we were to travel that distance again we’d probably book Executive Class instead (air conditioning was a must in the April heat).
The easiest way to book train tickets for India is via 12go.asia: you can put your destination and dates in, and it’ll give you all the different trains running that route, and the different classes available. You can also book and pay there and then, online. Booking opens usually 120 days in advance - but don’t leave it too late (as we found) because train travel is popular and they do book up well in advance.
Once you’ve booked your ticket, you won’t know your seat number until the seat allocation has been completed, which is often as little as four hours before you travel. You’ll need your PNR number (which will be printed on your ticket once it is released to you) to input into this website, where the seat or berth numbers will be posted just before you travel.
We loved our adventure on Indian railways and would travel this way again. Just don’t be in a rush, as trains can often run hours late! There is no way better, however, to see the Indian countryside.
Photo: Fatehpur Sikri, between Agra and Jaipur, Louise’s iPhone, April 2023
Booking experience transfers between Indian cities
Whilst Indian train travel is indeed inexpensive, easy and certainly an adventure, we also wanted to see as much as possible while we were there. Whilst getting from one city to the next via train was ideal, it can be harder to stop midway to visit something you want to see.
By chance, I went looking on Viator (where we book many of our food tours and other experiences) and hit on the idea that we could book a transfer that would also incorporate some of the more off-the-beaten-path sites.
This is how we found ourselves at Fatehpur Sikri between Agra and Jaipur visiting the stunning palace and mosques there. And this is also how we found ourselves at Ranakpur Jain Temple, on the way from Jodhpur to Udaipur a few days later. Combining a private transfer with an excursion proved to be a great way of seeing more of the country, especially where train travel was a little awkward without direct connections. Travelling this way wasn’t cheap, but it achieved the same as we would have done had we gone with the luxury travel agency, and it cost a lot less.
Photo: Footsteps at the Taj Mahal, India, Louise’s iPhone, April 2023
The world of travel is vast and full of possibilities, waiting to be explored without breaking the bank. By leveraging miles, points, and clever booking strategies and a bit of patience, it’s possible to embark on a dream journey without compromising on comfort or experiences.
And if you're eager to dive deeper into the realm of miles and points, don't forget to check out Mark’s new WhatsApp challenge.
Here's to embarking on your own unforgettable adventures, where luxury meets affordability in the most enchanting of ways.
Safe travels!
x
Coming soon…
Keep following along for a glimpse into Mark’s two days on the Camino Mozarabe plus a Camino de Santiago special post coming soon.