Comments on: India Rail Video, A First Timer’s Experience

By: Trisha Miller

Trisha Miller — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 17:51:44 +0000

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 =-.

By: davendeb

davendeb — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 05:28:35 +0000

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!

By: davendeb

davendeb — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 05:25:08 +0000

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.

By: davendeb

davendeb — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 05:00:21 +0000

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!

By: Earl

Earl — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:15:05 +0000

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 =-.

By: Shannon OD

Shannon OD — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:42:42 +0000

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) =-.

By: Rahul

Rahul — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:01:49 +0000

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.

By: Audrey

Audrey — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:35:01 +0000

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 =-.