The Travel Independently Blog

As I was planning this trip, you may remember that I researched flight options to make sure it was possible to get from Bangkok to Bagdogra in one day. The schedules of the airlines made the choice of which airline to take very simple: only one could do that, Jet Airways.

So it is time to buy those tickets. I went to the Jet Airways web site and input the flight information. This required a multi-city itinerary, as we need to fly from Bangkok to Kolkata, change planes and fly onto Bagdogra where ground transport will take us to Gangtok. Ten days later, we fly from Bagdogra to Kolkata, and three days later. We fly from Kolkata back to Bangkok.

I found the Jet Airways website easy to navigate. I always wonder whether I will be able to buy intra-Asia tickets online, as sometimes there are issues with credit cards. I do have a back-up plan if my credit card is not accepted, I have a travel agent in Bangkok who I have used for purchasing tickets when needed. But this time, it all went smoothly, I booked and purchased our tickets, and the electronic ticket was delivered to my email in pdf format. Jet Airways requires a printed copy of the e-ticket to enter the airport.

Technorati Tags: Bangkok to Bagdora, Bangkok to Kolkata, buying intra Asia airline tickets, Jet Airways, Kolkata to Bangkok

Glenburn requires an international wire transfer to make a deposit. Other properties I research in Sikkim and Darjeeling also required wire transfers. We are accustomed to make deposits by credit card, so I needed to do some research.

I planned to make the wire transfer out of the bank at my brokerage (E*Trade). I conduct virtually all of my business with the brokerage and bank online. I found the web page about wire transfers, international transfers cost $25, which seemed quite reasonable. It looked like I could make the arrangements online. For security purposes, I had to request an authorization code they emailed to me. As I moved through the process, I suddenly realized they wanted to transfer money out of my brokerage account rather than my bank account.

I went back and couldn’t find a link to make the transfer from my bank account. I could always transfer money from my bank account into my brokerage account, if necessary. So it was time to talk to someone. I had a very helpful conversation with a service rep. He said I couldn’t make that transfer online from my bank account, but he could do it for me. As I started to give him the details, he stopped me and said, I can only make this transfer if this transfer is into a foreign bank account with your name on it. Oops – this wasn’t going to work. In order to make an international wire transfer to an account I did not own, I would have to create a signed set of instructions, have my signature notarized and mail it to them. I decided to talk with my local bank.

My local bank (US Bank) said, sure, they could do it. Their price was higher, $50. But I just needed to bring in the instructions and they would do it. I asked about a premium on foreign exchange and they said there would be none. Mentally, I was comparing the cost of putting a transaction like this on a credit card, vs. the wire transfer. The amount of the transfer was about $1600. My Visa card would charge 3% ($48) or my American Express card would charge 2.5% ($40) so the cost of the wire transfer ($50) was fairly comparable. However, when I received the statement from my bank on the actual cost of the wire transfer, the exchange rate I received was 1.65% ($27) over the listed exchange rate on the day it was made.

Also, once I got the confirmation from Glenburn on the amount received, some bank that it passed through added an additional charge of $7. So all told, it cost $84 for the wire transfer, which works out to 5.25% of the amount transferred. The cost of the wire transfer worked out to be about twice the cost of putting it on my credit card.

When I make the final payment in October, I think I’ll do it through E*Trade so I have a direct comparison of costs.

Technorati Tags: hotel reservation issues, international wire transfers, making hotel reservations

Travisa emailed us once they had received our passports and visa applications. Their website also allows you to track your passport through the process. They emailed us when they sent our packets to the Indian Consulate and when they received our completed visas from the consulate. They notified us the same day they received our passports that they had mailed them back to us via Fed Ex. Fed Ex, of course, also has tracking information. Thus, we could follow our passports on their journey every step of the way.

We received 10 year visas. When I get a new passport in two years, I will send off both my new and old passports to Travisa and have my 10 year India visa transferred into my new passport for a $25 fee.

Because we are going to Sikkim, we also need Sikkim permits. I asked them about this in an email and discovered that we could have arranged to get our Sikkim permits at the same time. We did not do this, so we plan to get our permits at Rangpo on our drive to Gangtok, but I hope this is useful information for other travelers.

Technorati Tags: india visa, Sikkim, travisa

I wanted to make our reservations for the Sikkim and Darjeeling part of the trip first. All of the places we are staying are small, so (as we learned from our Glenburn experience) fill up fast – even far in advance. A friend told us Glenburn could make all of our Darjeeling and Sikkim reservations for us, which would mean that all of our transport would be coordinated. So I asked the woman who replied to me from Glenburn if she could also reserve us rooms at Norkhill and Mt. Padim. Indeed, she could, and she quickly had those reservations confirmed.

Next to reserve is transport. The Glenburn package includes transport from your last accommodations to Glenburn and from Glenburn to your next accommodations or, in our case, the airport at Bagdogra. So we need transport from the airport to Gangtok and from Gangtok to Mt. Padim at Pelling.

After hearing about the helicopter transport, that’s what we wanted to do. We asked her to make those reservations. Apparently, this is not an easy process. I guess it’s hard to get a response back from the Sikkim Tourism Authority that offers this service. Eventually she did get a response, but the response was that they wouldn’t open reservations for our date until October or so. The other thing we learned is that the luggage limit on the helicopter is 15 kg. per person. Given that we need to carry clothing for a range of weather, we decided we didn’t want to be stressed about a luggage limit.

Also, there is the issue of the Sikkim permit. If we go by ground, we can have the permit issued at Rangpo as we enter Sikkim. By helicopter, we need the permit in advance. Usually, people get the permit in Kolkata, but we won’t be in Kolkata before we go to Sikkim. Another thing to consider is that the helicopter can be grounded by bad weather, so you need a back-up plan. So going by ground seemed most practical even though the drive is 4 – 5 hours.

One more decision to make – did we want an Innova or a Sumo for our transport? I quickly Googled those vehicles. One of the things I’ve learned in my travels is that if we are traveling distances or over bad roads, we want the most comfortable vehicle we can get. The Innova, while a few dollars more, clearly looks to be the more comfortable vehicle.

With that decision, we asked for a final invoice; Glenburn requires a 50% deposit to hold reservations and we would need to do a wire transfer to their bank account in Kolkata.

Technorati Tags: india, making hotel reservations, Sikkim

I try to read as much as I can about places I visit. Typically, I can find several dozen books, so the task is to choose the best. I usually find a combination of history, fiction and memoirs.

Finding books is a bit more difficult for Sikkim than for other places we’ve visited. I’ve done a thorough search for books on Sikkim, and have turned up only a few, none of which are available directly from Amazon. I ordered two books from IndiaClub.com. One arrived in a week or so, the other arrived in a couple of weeks, shipped from Delhi. Next, I did a more thorough search and turned up a number of books I could get from Amazon resellers. I ordered the books, and have received all but one of the books, which is being shipped from Delhi.

Here is a list of what I’ve found:

Sikkim: A Traveller’s Guide, Photographs and Essays by Sujoy Das, Text by Arundhati Ray. Permanent Black, New Delhi, 2001 (This is the book most often recommended)

Garuda & Winged Horses by Somnath Guha. Srishti Publishers, New Delhi , 2001

Memoirs of a Political Officer’s Wife in Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan by Margaret D. Williamson. Wisdom Publications, London, 1987

Mountaintop Kingdom: Sikkim Photographs by Alice S. Kandell, text by Charlotte Y. Salisbury. Norton & Co, New York (no pub date listed)

History of Darjeeling and the Sikkim Himalaya (this book not yet received; being shipped from India).

I also ordered one DVD from Amazon, The Lion’s Roar, a documentary about the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa filmed in 1985

The next task is to read and digest as much of this information as possible!

As I mentioned earlier, in my reading I found that there is a separatist group in Darjeeling that is demanding the formation of a separate Gorkha homeland. Periodically, this group calls a bandh to put pressure on the government to resolve the issue. A bandh is a political strike that stops all traffic. While Sikkim is not party to this dispute, the road from the airport in Bagdogra or the train station in Siligari leads to both Darjeeling and Sikkim. So if there is a bandh in Darjeeling, you cannot get to Sikkim.

Since it is impossible to predict when there will or will not be a bandh, we need to have some contingency plans. This is one of those times when I wish my schedule were more flexible. But we have fixed dates in and out of Bangkok and need to work within that framework.

Sometimes, the separatist groups names a date when they are going to have a bandh. In this case we might know far enough ahead of time to rearrange some of our itinerary as needed. But other times they just call a bandh with little warning.

So, where can we be flexible? The current plan calls for flying from Bangkok through Kolkata, on to Bagdogra, then drive to Sikkim and Darjeeling for 10 days. Next, a flight back to Kolkata and four nights there before returning to Bangkok for five days. So we have three puzzle pieces: 5 nights in Bangkok, 10 nights in Sikkim/Darjeeling, and 4 nights in Kolkata. Those could be re-ordered in a number of ways. We would need to have flexibility in our hotel reservations (and I’ll be checking on that).

Another option is to change locations if there is a bandh. I’ve already researched Assam. Perhaps we could go there instead. This would require a flight from Kolkata to Guwahati instead of Bagdogra. Of course, it would also require both canceling hotel reservations in Sikkim and Darjeeling and making new ones in Assam as well as changing our flights out of Kolkata.

But when do you decide? A month ahead of the trip? Weeks ahead? Can I wait until I arrive in Bangkok to change plans? Until Kolkata? Until Bagdogra? I guess that depends in part on how willing hotels are to change dates or refund deposits. It also depends on how long we are willing to wait to know where we are going. While I’ll gather all of the information I can when I start making reservations, I’ll have to make that call as the time gets closer.

Technorati Tags: bandh, contingency plans, darjeeling, independent travel research, kolkata, Sikkim

Input from other travelers is helpful. And for me, the Fodors forum is especially helpful. I’ve been posting there for years, as have many others. And many of us have met each other at get-togethers all over the world. So I have a cadre of fellow travelers whose opinions I respect.

It was from my request for input that I was referred to the blog post of a fellow Fodorite about her experience on the Darjeeling Toy Train. That, combined with other research convinced me that the Toy Train might be fun, but I shouldn’t count on it as reliable transport. Another Fodorite suggested I consider Darjeeling and Sikkim. Sikkim has been on my list of places I’d like to visit since I was a child. I’d looked at it briefly, but it appeared to be too cold in November-December for what I’m looking for.

Still, it was something to put on the list for future consideration. Another poster noted that Assam is less-touristed than Darjeeling, which is what I’d concluded. So I received a variety of responses to my request. Some of the info provided confirmed my sense of the places, some dis-confirmed, and some raised more possibilities. I did a bit of further research on all of the salient points raised by others.

I had timed all of this data-gathering to be done when we left for our annual trip to Kauai. This was a time to think and talk about the options and come to a conclusion without the tasks and pressures of day-to-day life. I took my Lonely Planet Guide and we had a laptop and free wi-fi, so we were set to work out a plan.

I’m the travel planner, but my partner and I are true travel partners, so we make our travel decisions together. I presented Cheryl with the info I’d gathered and the Lonely Planet and she took some time to digest it. Then we talked together about our thoughts and feelings about the destinations.

Cheryl’s reaction to Assam was that it would be interesting, but not exciting. Darjeeling and Sikkim sounded exciting to Cheryl. Darjeeling, and especially Sikkim sounded exciting to me, but the weather was a concern. The Tibetan Buddhist influence is something we are both interested in. So it was time for more research.

The internet is a wonderful thing, but we can all be deceived by assuming the info is correct. I went back to my favorite weather site, then went on to several other weather sites to check the weather in Gangtok and Pelling. One problem with the data was that some sites only gave an average temperature for each month. At high altitudes, especially, that isn’t very helpful. If the average temp is 50 does that mean it varies between 40 and 60 or 25 and 75? We also discovered at least one weather site that had the centigrade temperatures listed as Fahrenheit – that makes a big difference.

After lots of research on weather and local news sites, and some posts from people who were in Sikkim or had been there in November through January, it began to look like the weather in Sikkim would be pretty good. Yes, it would be cold at night, but day times should be very pleasant, 65 – 70, and rain is scarce at that time of the year.

So now we had a first choice destination. Can we make the logistics work?

Technorati Tags: assam, darjeeling, Fodors travel forum, Lonely Planet, NE India travel planning, Sikkim

As a child, I remember seeing a photo of the temples of Bagan at sunrise, peach-colored mist rising among the towers… I knew I had to see the place with my own eyes. It took many twists and turns of fate and probably 5 decades for me to finally get to Bagan.

A number of months ago, I wrote about places that are as wonderful as we thought they would be or are disappointing to us – Larger Than Life or Smaller Than My Vision. I think that places we have dreamed of for years are especially in danger of disappointing.

But Bagan was no disappointment. That first morning, we took a horse cart to watch the sunrise over the plains of Bagan. Standing atop a temple, I looked out over the seemingly endless array of temples in the rosy mist. It was an echo of the photo I’d seen as a child. As we left that temple in the horse cart, over the dusty lanes, I felt I was breathing in the atmosphere of that photo. I realized that just that experience was enough – it fulfilled the dream. Of course, we spent the next three days visiting dozens of temples and loved every minute of it, but the experience of simply being there is what stays with me most.

Technorati Tags: Bagan, Burma, Myanmar, pagan, SE Asia Travel

You can’t get there from here or trying to travel independently in a place that doesn’t want you to be independent.

It’s been a while since my last post here. I have to admit that I got caught up in planning my next trip to my favorite part of the world, SE Asia. Finally, I decided to visit Burma. I won’t go into all of my machinations about whether or not to go, as that debate spanned some twenty years, but I do want to tell you about my experience booking this trip.

When Burma first opened to tourism over two decades ago, they allowed only group tours to enter. At first there was a strict limit of 7 days in the country. As time went on, the rules loosened gradually, but even today by far the majority of travelers to Burma go as part of a tour group. If you aren’t going as part of a tour group, they would prefer that you have a travel agency just book your itinerary for you.

I wanted to travel according to my own plan so I really had to work to get the travel arrangements I wanted. I usually book all of my own flights and all of my own hotels over the internet. For Burma, this was a real challenge. Because most email is blocked in Burma, emails to hotels may never be received. E-mailing is often an exercise in frustration. I was able to book one hotel directly via e-mail; another I found a Thai booking site where I could reserve and pay by credit card in advance – a great advantage in a country where credit cards are basically unusable. And my third hotel I was able to book via a phone call to The Leading Hotels of the World.

Air tickets were harder. There is no way to book intra-Burma flights online. Indeed, it was impossible to find a current timetable, let alone one for a month or two away. Eventually, I found a posting of what flights flew last week. I have a travel agent in Bangkok I’ve used for booking intra-Asia flight when needed. I wrote to him, and after several weeks of trying, he told me he was unable to book my flights. At that point, I emailed a travel agent in Yangon. They were able to tell me the times of the flights and book them.

And no one told me that there are no non-stop flights among all of the major cities. Of our three internal flights, two had stops on the way. And there are few choices about when to fly. It is not uncommon to have only one flight a day between two of the four major destinations in Burma. So our time in each place was a little different than we had originally planned.

Still, we did eventually get all of our hotels and flights and we had a wonderful time.

But I learned that a country that would prefer that you not travel independently can make it difficult for even the most stubborn independent traveler!

Technorati Tags: Bagan, Burma, Inle Lake, Mandalay, Myanmar, Rangoon, Yangon