India Rail Video, A First Timer’s Experience
We had heard the horror stories of traveling in India. We had heard a lot about India before we traveled here. After spending a month in the country, we have thrown out everything that we have ever heard about the country and created our new thoughts on India.
It has been easier than we had imagined. The people that we have met have been friendly and helpful and it has been just a wonderful experience.
The biggest problem that we have faced so far is making a reservation to travel.
The trains in India are very busy and you must book several days in advance. That means that you have to be very organized, (which of course Dave and I are not) What a person really needs to do, is book their ticket out of a city the day that they arrive at the train station.
The one problem is that we never know how long we want to stay in a place. So this would never work for us. When we arrived in Hampi, our rickshaw driver suggested that we do that, but we had no idea how long we wanted to stay in Hampi. After trying to book a train a few days later, we couldn’t leave for almost a week…now we are taking the bus:(
You see in India, Twenty Million people take the train every day!
Trains are always overbooked and there is a wait list. Sometimes a wait list is 60 people long! According to India Rail, we can book online, but their website does not take our Canadian Credit Card. Booking train stations are often far away, and you are at the mercy of high commissions with travel agents.
We tend to feel trapped and it has become a bit of a problem for us during our travels. We like to move on whenever we feel like it, but in India (especially during the holidays) things don’t work that way.
So, even though we have enjoyed our train travel experiences and we would love to travel on India Rail more often, our advice to you is to plan your route thoroughly, book your tickets in advance and know where you are going and when you want to get there. It will make you a very happy person indeed.
Believe the stories that you have heard. If you don’t book a train ticket in advance, chances are slim to none that you will get out of a place and on to the next destination for fun and adventure in India.
Enjoy our video of our first night on a sleeper train in the 3 tiered air conditioned class.
8 Responses to India Rail Video, A First Timer’s Experience
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Our visit to India (March-May 2008) was so different than Dan’s visit in 1997 (and even more different from when I lived in Chennai as a baby in the mid-1970s). India can still be crazy and overwhelming, but our recent visit was remarkably easy compared with horror stories we had heard.
I’m really sorry to hear that your Canadian credit card doesn’t work on the online train reservation website. We booked almost all our train travel online (US credit card) and it was really surprisingly easy (I have to admit, we were skeptical it actually worked the first time). But that meant we had to stick to an itinerary since trains sell out months in advance sometimes.
It’s hard to believe you’ve already been in India a month. Enjoy the rest of your time there and enjoy the holidays!
.-= Audrey´s last blog ..Tarija, Bolivia: The Lowdown on Bolivian Wine =-.
One thing people do in case tickets are urgently required is to book through the Tatkal System on irctc.co.in or at the stations. Booking for tickets under this scheme starts 2 days before the date of travel at 8 am both at the website and the stations.
You can check availablility on all trains on the site http://erail.in/ (this 1′s convenient for checking availablility and there’s ease of use) and then proceed to irctc.co.in to book the ticket or makemytrip.com (no booking available on erail.in) although you can use other travel sites like makemytrip.com – which i admit shows all the trains with current status of reservations and you can choose any train and then use your credit card – i think your canadian credit card should work at makemytrip.com.
Thanks Rahul. The Tatkal is excellent to know about. We ended up using that from Hampi and even though it is a little more expensive, it is very worth it. We are going to try that out of Mumbai on the 27th. Fingers crossed I hope it works. We just found out about Make My Trip too! Excellent advice. I think that after the holidays things should get better. We have tried several times to get on the irctc website, but it seems to be overwhelmed with people for the past couple days and is frozen. Thanks for the erail information. Everyone’s help is greatly appreciated!
Great video – Deb you’re lucky – the top bunk was my favorite because I didn’t have to worry about people using my bunk to step down during the night!!
Merry Christmas!
.-= Shannon OD´s last blog ..A Little Route…My RTW Travel Route 2008-2009 (Part Three) =-.
As a last resort, you can always ask for the station manager, tell him/her what train you want reservations for, hand them your passport with a 100 rupee note sticking out of it…and 9 times out of 10 you’ll have your train tickets within a few minutes. I know this method isn’t for everyone but it has come in handy several times that I found myself ‘stuck’ and seemingly unable to leave a particular Indian town.
Well, I finally have some time to catch up on all of your India adventures thus far, so I have some reading to do!!
.-= Earl´s last blog ..Stop A Wastin’ Time in the Pursuit of Blame =-.
Thanks Earl. That is good advice and I think that we may be using it. That is exactly how we feel sometimes…that we are stuck with no way out. It can be very frustrating. We have been loving India, but every time we go to leave a place, we have such a hard time. Even when we arrived in Mumbai yesterday, we went straight to the train station to book 4 days in advance. No luck and the next train doesn’t leave to our destination of choice for another 3 days after that one. We left in frustration.
Today we look for a bus. I hope that it settles down after the holidays.
Thanks Audrey. I think that we may have figured out the credit card issue. A friend of ours from Canada told us what link to go to where our card will be accepted. We are going to give it a try. The only problem right now is how busy India Rails website is. It keep timing out and we can’t get on. It is just too busy.
Hopefully things get better, this is no way to travel!
Shannon – You are right, I never thought about that. I will always try to secure the top bunk now. Great advice!
I’m certainly learning a lot from your experiences! And I have to say that I admire the fact that you’re keeping such a positive attitude (at least in your posts and video), considering all the challenges you’ve faced
.-= Trisha Miller´s last blog ..Our Holiday Wishes for You =-.