How it works

 HOW  A CUSTOMISED VACATION WORKS

My  heartfelt  thanks for your overwhelming response to the idea of Customised vacations.

The focus is on individuals  with an emphasis on independent travel. There is no set departure date,  no prefixed itinerary,  no tour manager  shepherding  fifty of you  around  – you decide when to go,  where you like to go,   your budget,  with whom you like to go – and I will give shape to your dream holiday and complete all your bookings,  airfares, trains,  hotels,   entrance tickets to sights,  etc.

    You can skip Paris entirely,   or spend a week in its museums.       Ditto for other destinations,    if you cannot stand monuments,  or don’t like beaches,   or have no interest in big cities,  you can drop them  entirely.    I can book your hotel right next to an Indian restaurant,   if that matters to you.

How it works – I will discuss your plans with you and send you a detailed  itinerary and  estimate of costs.    If it looks acceptable to you at this point and you wish to go ahead,   I will charge a  commitment fee of Rs 10,000  or 10% of total cost,  whichever is less.    Once this is paid,   all your bookings will be completed and tickets and detailed itinerary handed over .     My charges are 10% of total billings,   less the commitment fee already paid.

I request  the following information –  (a) when and for long do you intend to travel (b)  how many people are travelling  -  no of adults / children with age,    (c) where do you want to go (broadly,   Europe / Thailand / Fiji etc).    (d) which city you live in – Chennai,  Delhi, Mumbai  etc.     If you have any specific dreams / interests / likes / dislikes,   you can let me know  eg.   Dream to see Prague or Swiss Alps,  like mountains or enjoy  beaches,  love shopping,  crazy about adventure sports,  hate museums etc.

Pls send any enquiries to rbharathi@gmail.com   to discuss your plans.

What will the vacation cost?

Break free of packaged tours - treat yourself to a gorgeous, full-service vacation for LESS THAN HALF the price of a package tour

Some indicative budgets with ALL INCLUSIVE costs per adult. Children under 12 will be HALF THE COST.

Europe            9 days - 0.7 lakhs to 1 lakh, depending on ctry
Europe           17 days - 1.5 lakhs

South Africa  15 days - 1 lakh

USA                 17 days 1.8 lakhs
AUS                 17 days 1.5 lakhs

SE Asia             9 days 0.7 lakhs
                        17 days 1 lakh

Even RIGHT NOW for THIS SUMMER (MAY JUNE 2015) vacation. 

By All inclusive I mean - Air fare, Visa, decent CITY CENTRE hotel (not in a remote suburb), ALL meals (not just breakfast), local travel (at your terms - not in tourist buses) , sight seeing (including ticket prices to major museums, sights etc)

Obviously shopping and big ticket adventure items (hot air ballooning, sky diving, etc) will be extra.

Number of days are ACTUAL days of holiday - not counting day of arrival and day of departure.

Write to rbharathi@gmail.com for details.

The economics of an overseas holiday

The other day a friend called.    He was travelling to Mangalore from Mumbai over the May 1 long weekend.     He cribbed that a ONE WAY Mumbai Mangalore air ticket was 10k,  and Club Mahindra Resort in Coorg was charging 15,000 per night.    I was astounded......   over the last decade,  my experience has been that  India has become increasingly pricey,  and overseas travel has become increasingly affordable.

TYPICAL  INTERNATIONAL  ECONOMY  AIRFARES,   RETURN INCLUDING ALL TAXES AND FEES, ONE MONTH PRIOR BOOKING,    COMPARE WITH WHAT MANY DOMESTIC LONG HAUL AIRFARES COST IN HIGH SEASON.

Dubai  :-    12k to 18k.

Rest of Middle East,   upto Egypt : -   15k to 25k.

Europe :-    30k - 45k depending on carrier.  

USA :-  40K – 55k depending on carrier,   to New York.    Some airlines can get this as low as 32-35k.

South East Asia including Hong  Kong :-    15k to 25k,    you can get as low as  6-10k depending on departure city and advance booking period.    For 5k extra, you can get an  additional South East country,   upto Philippines or Bali.     10k extra  will get you to China,   Korea and Japan.     

East and South Africa  :-  25k – 35k

Australia :-   25-35k,     you can get as low as 15-20k  depending on departure city and advance booking period.        Another 15k and you can add New Zealand or Fiji  to your Australia itinerary.

A cruise :-  Which is an all inclusive holiday in that acco,  food,  transportation  and entertainment is paid for,  USD 50/ night in the Caribbean and Mediterranean,    and as low as USD 100/night  in other geographies.     3th and 4^th passengers in same cabin pay much less,  often only port taxes and food.  

How  To Budget for an overseas holiday.

a)      Figure out your airfare from above list and visa cost (ranges from free to  6-10k for USA,  UK,  Europe,  Australia,  NZ).  This is a fixed cost irrespective of how long you are travelling.

b)      DAILY BUDGET  :  For two or more adults travelling,   a reasonable clean hotel in city centre location,  decent  food,   internal travel,   sightseeing  (but excluding shopping  and big ticket adventure items like hot air ballooning in Masai Mara) can generally be managed for

USA,    Canada,  Australia,  New Zealand,   Japan  :-   USD 100/adult,   + USD 50/child

Europe :    Euro 100/adult,   + 50 euro / child,    UK would be 20%  more pricey due to expensive sights and strong currency.                                                                                                   

Almost all of Asia + Africa :  USD 75/adult + USD 25/child.    WILDLIFE SAFARIS WILL COST EXTRA.

Shoestring  backpackers  and couchsurfers can do it for half the amount indicated above.

    

How a Self organised Europe trip looks

Earlier, I had written about how a tour operator's Europe tour looks like and what are the issues you have to watch out for.  You can read that post here. 

The salient points that I had mentioned was that this was effectively a 9 day trip, which would cost you about INR 2.5 lakhs per person. Also, this would be an uncomfortable trip because you would be spending huge amounts of time in a bus, and you would be staying in outstation towns rather than in the marquee cities. Also, you would not be seeing any museums, palaces, etc in Europe.

As a counterpoint, I will show you a recent trip I organised for a family group of 14 people to Europe. The group consisted of 8 senior citizens ( above 65 years), 2 juniors (below 12 years) and 2 adults.

Highlights : 

1. 16 day trip (day of landing in Europe and day of leaving are not counted) 
2. India - Europe - India travel on a full service airline.
3. Within Europe travel on high speed bullet trains - TGV,  Railjet etc
4.  Accommodation in all cities in a central location 
5. Visits to all major sites included - Palaces and museums, all premium cable car rides  in Switzerland, Eiffel tower, Chateau Versailles,  Montparnasse, Colosseum, Sistine chapel, Uffizi Gallery in Florence, etc
6. All meals - Indian meals,  Mediterranean cuisine,   everybody ate what they liked.

Cost - Rs 1.8 lakhs per head. 

(Including 40 K airfare + 8 K Visa + trains + sightseeing + Food+ city centre acco + local travel...everything) 

Days	Day's itinerary	City
0	Arrive at Paris airport,  I will receive you and transfer to hotel, dinner, rest.	Paris
1	Breakfast at hotel,  dep by 9 AM,   by train to Notre Dame cathedral.  Then Champs Elysees and Arc de Triumph,   see Tuilieres palace and Louvre museum, Seine river cruise and Eiffel Tower.	Paris
2	Full day trip to Versailles Palace.	Paris
3	11am departure for Interlaken,  Switzerland by TGV train.  4:30hrs.	Interlaken
4	Day trip to Jungfrau region - Schilthorn cable car / Swiss Alps	Interlaken
5	Day trip to Zermatt - Matterhorn peak / Monte Rosa / Aletsch glacier views - Swiss Alps	Interlaken
6	Shift to Luzern,   day trip to Mt Titlis, Swiss Alps,  Luzern sightseeing	Luzern
7	To Zurich (45minutes),  onto Innsbruck, Austria by train  via scenic Aarlberg Pass (4hrs)	Innsbruck
8	Swarowski Crystal World,  Hofburg Summer Palace,   Innsbruck sightseeing	Innsbruck
9	Dep 10:30am for Verona (Italy) via scenic Brenner Pass,  by train (4hrs)	Verona
10	Venice day trip, Murano glass viewing,  Gondola ride.	Verona
11	Dep Verona for Florence (train,  2 hrs).  Florence sightseeing - Duomo	Florence
12	Uffizi Gallery	Florence
13	Pisa  daytrip - Climb the Leaning Tower of Pisa,  the churches	Florence
14	Depart for Rome (1:30hrs, train),  Rome sightseeing	Rome
15	Sistine Chapel,  St Peter's.	Rome
16	Trevi fountain,  Spanish steps, Colosseum, Catacombs	Rome
0	Dep Rome for Bombay or Chennai or Dubai

Decoding a tour operator - How a tour operator ‘operates’.....

Decoding a tour operator - How a tour operator ‘operates’..... 

Here we are taking a case example of a random tour operator. All of them follow a similar procedure.

Remember – the tour operator is running a business, and he wants to make profits. It is up to you to check on the offerings and the final actual cost. Caveat Emptor – Buyer 'Be aware'!   

They start with a low price to interest you

But when you get into specifics, you realize that the actual price changes as you get into proper vacation time (school vacation time in April or May) and you choose your departure city

Note the ‘on request’ pricing – they will increase prices so significantly at those times, that they don’t want to put it on record right now.

ALSO – These rates are for Twin sharing. If you are travelling alone, you will have to pay ‘single supplement’ charges extra. Which can be quite steep.

As you change cities, the price changes significantly. The price from Hyderabad is 10 - 15k more already. And the whole of May is ‘On request’

Then you realize that their counting of days is suspect. This price is advertised for a 11 day tour, but on perusing their itinerary, you can see that the Day 1 is actually Day 0. You have just arrived into Paris in the evening and are going to have dinner and go to bed. 

Day 1 – arrive by flight,  be greeted by Tour Manager,   have delicious Indian Dinner and retire to your hotel  room.   

Last Day – after breakfast,    go to airport for return flight home,  laden with memories of a lifetime.

So on a  8-10day itinerary,   two days,   20-25%,   is just  Gone With The Wind.   Poooof....

Bonus point : Always keep an eye out for the bullshit .

 

For instance, check out the text in red on the website-  here they are talking about Paris being the ‘glamour capital of the World – Paris known for fashion houses, art museums, elegant avenues, beautiful monuments and exciting cabarets.’

This is a general statement. They are nowhere saying that they will take you to the fashion houses, art museums, elegant avenues, beautiful monuments and exciting cabarets.  Remember – the museums are extremely expensive! As are many of the monuments and cabarets!

Other important  points :

Look out for Peak Season Departure surcharges – anytime when you would want to go anywhere,    is “peak season” which includes all school holidays, summer,   Christmas,   Diwali, etc.   This quietly adds a couple of hundred dollars or Euros per person to the stated fare.

Taxes extra – Govt of India service tax 3.09%,   other local taxes, taxes on airfares.... bring them on.

Tips extra – for the tour manager and   the coach driver,  ten Euros per day is hundred Euros per traveller on a ten day itinerary.   A family of four will sink at least 400 euros. About 26000 INR at current rates.

Where will you be staying: See Venice,  Rome,  Florence..... and stay in Padova,  Vicenza,   Arezzo. It is far cheaper for them to put you up in back of beyond Arezzo than in a hotel in Rome.   You will get your Indian dinner, but you won’t be able to experience Rome at midnight,   because you don’t have your own transport to get from your Arezzo hotel to Rome and back.

Forex purchases – you will have to pay the foreign exchange component on your trip cost to your tour operator at his exchange rate calculations- which will be above market rates - at least five percent higher on USD,  up to 10 percent or worse on the non-hard currencies.

Day 3 –  ‘Day at leisure in Paris’  - basically means that the tour operator does nothing!

‘OR’ – go to Disney park or Disney studios

Here the scam is ‘Day at your own leisure or for shopping’  – these are the couple of days when the Tour Manager will abandon you to your hotel room, or in a shopping mall, enjoy your day as you like and by the way, pay for your own lunch. This is what he means when he says that he will provide 10 dinners, but only 7 lunches in the trip!

Bullshit  alert: Look out for the ‘OR’ ! this means money. Pay extra for Disney and Lido. Ask specifically about Eiffel tower and Montparnasse – is it included or not?

Day 4 : ‘On to scenic Switzerland’ means a long long day in a bus - Coach Class!

650 odd kilometres, 6-7 seven hours in bus as per Google maps, the actual time will be higher as you will stop for lunch, toilet breaks, etc. Check the map below.

You can get between Paris – Lucerne,  Lucerne-Innsbruck,   Innsbruck-Padova,  Innsbruck-Munich,  Venice-Rome in under four hours if you are taking a 300kmph  TGV or similar train,  but the operator will put you in a coach since it is cheaper,   and you will spend six-eight  hours  seated in a coach with fifty others  to get from one city to another.

Day 5: ‘Leisure’ ...Another day for the tour operator to do nothing. OR pay through your nose to go to Jungfraujoch

And spot the word : Anything with an ‘OR’ in caps and bold means a chargeable extra. Optional Extras – anything worth doing will be an optional extra, so keep shelling out....   Jungfraujoch-   if you don’t  want to pay,  you can sit in your hotel room.

Another bullshit – What exactly is ‘central Switzerland’ ? They are not committing where you are going to stay the night.

And remember, these extras are very expensive! The tour operator can charge upto a 100% premium over and above the ticket costs / entrance fees.

Day 6: Visit to Mt Titlis  - take a photo with the Shahrukh Khan cutout. Make sure that there is no extra charge for the Titlis visit. ‘Orientation tour’ means that they will take you by bus through Lucerne and point out the sights.

Important point : You will not be staying in Lucerne, but in some village in Locarno or Bellinzona, where the tour operator has got a good deal with a hotel. So you will not be able to go for a evening walk on the lakeside in lovely Lucerne.

Day 7 : While you will visit Pisa and Florence, the entry fees to the tower of Pisa and the museums of Florence are not included. Thats because you will not enter the Leaning tower and Uffizi museum, but only see it from a distance. The tour operator will probably hustle you from place to place. At times, you may not even get out of the bus – but just see the place from the window!

Important point : You will not be staying in Florence – but in a village called Arezzo – 77 km from Florence!  So you will not have any chance to see Florence in the evening, because you will be in a hotel in a village.

Another important point:  Its 930 kilometers from Locarno to Arezzo -  9 hours in a bus, even by Google maps! The actual time can only be more. Prepare for early morning departures and whole day cooped up in a bus.

Day 8 – Visit Rome and Vatican. The only thing he will show you is the Colosseum . Remember, Rome is one of the greatest architectural and historical sites in the world – and you will not be seeing any of it.

Also – the bus will not enter Rome. The tour guide will take you there on public transport. Check the ‘Notes’ section at the end.

Vatican city is as good as a suburb of Rome. Cross a street and you are in Vatican city.

Spot the bullshit: They are merely saying that Vatican city includes the magnificent St Peters basilica – they are nowhere saying that they will show you inside the basilica. Which they may not, because there is always a huge line to enter the basilica and it will take hours.

Important point: Arezzo is 200+ km from Rome – so it’s a 500 km road trip which will take at least 4 hours, as per Google maps. And you are back to Arezzo for the night – you are not in Rome.

Day 9 : Venice.  Another 400 Km bus journey. And remember – you are not staying in Venice, but in Vicenza – 86 km away from Venice!  Check the map below. The names sound similar, so tourists get confused.

Also – remember – romantic Gondola rides have to be paid for by you. And they are expensive!

Day 10 – Innsbruck and Munich

Another 500 km bus journey!

And read the fine print

You will not be visiting the Swarovski crystal museum – but only the crystal shop! And that too only after May 1^st . The museum costs money – the shop is free to enter!

Also – in Munich, you are not entering any building, but only seeing them from the outside – from inside the bus. You will marvel at a road and a TV tower and the walls of an Olympic stadium.

Day 11 – FLY BACK HOME!!

Then why include this in number of days?!!!

This is essentially a 9 day trip – out of which 2 days are ‘days at leisure’ and the rest is  heavy bus travel.

Your actual cost for this trip will be closer to 2.1 lakhs per person,minimum (based on the 1.42 lakh advertised fare...if you are getting a higher fare then add that differential amount)  -  without any extras. Adding Disneyworld and Jungfraujoch  and Lido show and so on– it will probably go up by as much as 30 to 40 thousand INR  per person. 

Conclusion

The moral of the story is that one should be very clear about what you expect and what you are going to get when you go in for a package tour.

Caveat Emptor – you -the buyer - have to be aware of what is and what is not included.

If you cannot function independently due to issues of language, age, health or confidence; and are completely dependent on Indian food – then a package tour may be the best option for you.

But if you are able to function in English, and have basic fitness and are not completely closed minded about food – then it might be a better option for you to travel independently.

It would be significantly cheaper, (upto half the price) and you can have a much better travel experience if you plan a trip as per your own needs, interests and abilities.

You can explore the European cities by yourself – the streets, the markets, the monuments, the museums, the bars, the restaurants...you have to see them to believe them. You can stay in the heart of the city so as to experience the real pulse of the city.

You can experiment with living in B&Bs, boutique hotels, Youth hostels, etc.

 You can travel by high speed trains – European trains are a real pleasure! Public transport is pretty good in Europe. Or you can even try renting a car and doing a self drive.

 If you are lost without Indian food, with a little research you can identify Indian hotels almost anywhere. Or you can try MTR ready mixes or self cooking in your apartment.

If you are vegetarian but OK with non Indian vegetarian food, then there are enough veggie options in sandwiches, pizzas and pastas.

Planning all this can be a real labour – but don’t worry! We can plan it all out for you – all you have to do is go and enjoy your custom-planned, independent holiday!

Email rbharathi@gmail.com for details.

Review from Zakia Vaidya - New Zealand couple trip and Bali hen trip

What is your next holiday destination, Mami?' asked Bharathi.
I said ' I and mama are not on the same page,' just to avoid the further discussion.
'Meaning?' she persisted.
' I want to go to on a cruise and mama wants to go to New Zealand.' I said, just for the heck of it.
'Oh! I will find you a cruise in New Zealand!!' her eyes sparkled.

At that time i didn't know that after a week or so she would phone and announce that she was visiting us after office time to make our NZ itinerary.

That is Bharathi! you utter the first syllable of any holiday destination and she sees to it that your air tickets are booked, accommodation taken care of, visa obtained and detailed itinerary and enough forex in your purse, and you find yourself on the airport happily wondering how did that happen?

Before this, Bharathi had arranged our Malaysia trip. During those days Air Asia used to have their famous sales, when Bharathi used to be ready like a hawk with her laptop grabbing the best deals. She had surprised us by getting a ticket to KL from Mumbai for 2500! (alas! those days have passed)

So off we went to NZ with a perfect, detailed programme. We are used to traveling abroad since our son stays in US, but when in US we are never on our own. This time we were going to a new destination without anyone to guide us. But we had a meticulously written document by Bharathi. It told us from which gate to come out of the airport where we could find the cab which she had already booked. We had reached Christchurch at night and the cab deposited us in front of the inn. Her notes told us that if we were facing the inn we would find that to our right on first floor there would be a room where we could see light, there the door would be unlocked, we were supposed to just go and relax!

We had a whale of a time in NZ. We spent 21 days covering both the islands. Christchurch, Dunedin,Queenstown, Aukland, Rotorua, Bay of Islands. we went on a cruise in Bay of islands. we drove down in the southern island. Enjoyed the food she recommended. went parasailing.            

 In short, we enjoyed thoroughly.

After a few months when Bharathi announced that she was arranging a 'all girls' trip to Bali Singapore, i eagerly said 'yes!'

Those 15 days were some of the happiest days of my life. i did some crazy things which i wouldn't have done at my age.....like snorkeling, white water rafting and swimming in an unknown river! Although Bharathi was very keen, i chickened out and didn't try diving.

Yesterday she gave us a book on Egypt. My husband had mentioned some time back that he wants to see the pyramids. Now that she knows that i am sure she will pack us off to Egypt very soon!