Rant about packaged tours

I've always had a very low opinion of travel agents and standardized package tours. All this "Best of Europe in 19 days", "Experience America in 12 days", "Amazing Australia in 5 days" totally takes the romance out of travel. I understand that not everybody has the time or resources to actually experience a country or region as they are travelling through it, and ultimately I am part of the the minority (the ones who want "Indian vegetarian only, cram in 12 countries in 14 days with no free time, Hindi guided tours" are the absolute majority).

However, just when I thought some of these package tours couldn't slip any lower, I saw two ads last week which actually lowered my opinion of these tours further. The first one, (which I will discuss at length) had these salient features.

1. The main point of their ad was how they crammed in the same number of countries and cities in a lesser time frame as compared to their competitors. The ad went on to detail each possible package (for example, how ABC's Amazing Europe in 19 days is being covered by us in only 15 days, and XYZ's Enxhanting Europe in 21 days is being covered by us inly 16 days, or something like that). There was then a detailed table showing how they managed this wondrous feat.

2. Once they were done with country counting and city counting, they went on to the final recourse for country counters- monument counting (within a city). Which means that within their race against time to cover x countries and y cities in z days, their additional USP was that they managed to cover more "sights" within those z days. The aforementioned detailed table also went on to explain how they managed 29 more sights in 14 days. Of course, it is a different matter that they counted "souvenir from Paris" and "souvenir from Chamonix" and "lunch in Disneyland" amongst their 29 additional offerings.

3. There was the usual price comparisons and free-bies and add-ons, which is perfectly understandable.

4. (and the last one takes the cake). The ad assures would be customers that all fellow travellers, all food and even the guide in the trip would strictly be Gujarati. I wonder why the ad was in English then, and given that this was a Mumbai newspaper, I also wonder what would happen if any of the several million non-Gujaratis in Mumbai wanted to go on the same trip. Would they politely be redirected to a "Bengali only trip"? Sheesh, and I thought the most magical thing about travelling, whether abroad or in India, was to discover something new each time. Apparently, the majority doesn't share my opinion.

The other package tour ad reflects mere incompetence on part of the travel agent, rather than anything else. It was a Malaysian GP F1 package, the likes of which have been around at least for the last 5-6 years. One of those "2 nights/3 days in Kuala Lumpur, including qualifying and race tickets, sight seeing in KL, transfers blah blah" packages. No problem with that. Except that the ad was published in the paper on 23rd March, which as F1 enthusiasts would know, was the day of the race. By the time most people would have opened their sunday papers on 23rd, Felipe Massa was probably out of the race by that time, leave alone reaching KL in time to see the race.

If the travel agent is not even competent enough to take out an ad on the right date, how can I be confident that they will send me, one of their several thousand customers, on the right flight.

IPL thought for the day

I was just thinking: sometime during the ongoing India South Africa test series, if Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn are bowling in tandem, and any 2 of Dravid, Jaffer or Kumble are batting, we could have a situation where all five people on the pitch (Two batsmen, two bowlers and wicket-keeper) are all from the same club (being Bangalore Royal Challengers of course).

I wonder if there has ever been any parallel to this in any form of international cricket.

Off the beaten track

'Off the beaten track' would almost be an understatement for some of the places I happened to chance upon in recent weeks. And in 'back of beyond'-land, traveling without a guidebook has its own magic. For one, no Bill Bryson set foot here to pen travelogues which are 'annoyingly free of mistakes'. Lonely Planet barely ever sent its various independent correspondents here. Even if they did, the charm is in discovering random places yourself, something I very fruitfully discovered.

Anyways, 3 picks of the lot.

1. Marine national park. Some 450 odd square kilometers of coral reefs, isolated beaches and breathtaking maritime scenery, the likes of which I haven't ever seen before. The few visitors who do make their way to Marine national park troop down on a day trip from Jamnagar to Pirotan and back. But the more adventurous (meaning me) try something different.

I heard of this place Momai only because an environmentalist I met in Mithapur told me about this place. It is so out of the way that even most local people had never heard of it, leave alone been there. Once the onerous task of finding a driver who knew how to get us there was out of the way, getting there was the next part. The road to Momai isn't even motorable entirely. At some point, after earnestly trying, the car gives up on the road, and vice versa. A short trek across a mud path, copiously dotted with cacti, and I descended a hilly path to one the most serenely beautiful beaches I have ever seen. The complete lack of nearby civilization ensures that there never are too many people around.

Furthermore, since hills block off access to the beach from both sides, it's impossible to walk down to this place from a nearby beach as well. And most of the nearby islands in the Gulf of Kutchh are off bounds to casual tourists without permits (from the forest department, and they aren't very easy to secure). What that effectively means is that marine life is impeccably preserved around here. You can practically walk off the beach into some pristine coral reefs, and oysters (of the pearl variety) frequently get washed up on to the beach.

How long I wonder, before the 5 star chains "discover" this part of the world and "make" it the next Goa.

2. Various bird migration routes.

The time of the year I visited coincided exactly with post-winter migration time. Also, the abundance of salt pans (which I used to visit or pass through regularly) makes this place so conducive to seabird nesting. Apart from flamingos, bustards, storks, cranes and seagulls, I am not even sure what else I might have chanced upon. I was never too much into bird watching (not the flying kind for sure), but having a family of storks randomly nest on your balcony sure is a welcome change from your usual cityscape.

3. Vasai (not to be confused with the Mumbai suburb of the same name): Actually, it was work which took me to this village. Amongst the thatched huts and cacti, a Jain temple, over 1000 years old, is quietly nestled. In fact I wouldn't even have noticed its presence if not for the familiar blue and red board of the archaeological survey of India. Needless to say, there wasn't even a whiff of any touristic presence; even the door to enter the place was locked. Some random villager did happen to have a key, and some enthusuastic and resourceful scouting on the part of a couple of villagers managed to get us entry to the place.

Now being well off the touristic track, and this part of Saurashtra never having come under any foreign invasions (in fact, not even under British rule), meant that for a change here was a pre-historic temple well preserved. In fact, even Ellora is nowhere near this well preserved (of course, Ellora is several dozen times bigger).

This whole place has a very Indiana Jones feel about it. In fact, the local legend claims that solving the frieze pattern in the temple leads to uncovering some hidden treasure. Very Treasure Island esque, if it is to be believed.

Wild things

And I outdo myself yet again. After the sunset series, two of the subjects which have long been eluding me in my photographic conquests (being birds in flight, and animals in the wild) have been dealt with sufficiently. Please see below for details.

PS: The lioness was captured (photographically of course), in Gir national park and the seagull was in a ferry off Okha in the Gulf of Kutchh.