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Houston Chronicle

BARGAINS - Luxury in India
Chronicle News Services
Exotic Journeys is offering 11-day India excursions that take you to New Delhi, Jaipur and Agra. Beginning at $1,999, it includes airfare from New York, airfare between Delhi and Mumbai (Bombay), rooms in four-star hotels, room taxes (but not flight taxes), transfers, sightseeing and the services of English-speaking guides. Airfare from Houston to New York is extra. Departures are on selected dates through April 25.
Information : Call 800-554-6342; access www.exoticjourneys.com.

Excerpt from Baltimore Sun

About Pushkar program by Exotic Journeys, Chicago
Camels, bazaars, Taj Mahal at sunset
The Pushkar Camel Fair in Rajasthan brings the desert to life with camel races, folk dancing and Hindu religious observances, but the festival is just one of the highlights of a Nov. 7-21 tour of northern India offered by Chicago-based Exotic Journeys. Also on the roster are the bazaars of Delhi, the Taj Mahal at sunset and the palaces of Jaipur, among other attractions. Two nights in Katmandu, Nepal, plus a final night in Delhi round out the tour, which costs $2,145, including accommodations, some meals, sightseeing and excursions, but not round-trip airfare to Delhi.

Travel Section
TRIPS, TIPS & DEALS: If you're shopping for a camel...
The Pushkar Camel Fair in Rajasthan brings the desert to life with camel races, folk dancing and Hindu religious observances, but the festival is just one of the highlights of a Nov. 7-21 tour of northern India offered by Chicago-based Exotic Journeys. Also on the roster are the bazaars of Delhi, the Taj Mahal at sunset, the palaces of Jaipur, the wildlife of Sariska National Park, the erotic temple sculpture of Khajuraho, and the ghats used for bathing and burning along the Ganges at Varanasi. Two nights in Katmandu, Nepal, plus a final night in Delhi round out the tour, which costs $2,145, including accommodations, some meals, sightseeing and excursions, coach and air transportation during the tour, room taxes and baggage handling. Round-trip airfare from Chicago to Delhi adds approximately $995 plus taxes and fees.

Excerpt from Chicago Tribune

Travel Section : Deal for real - Essential India tour
Get it while it's hot -By Toni Stroud, Tribune staff reporter.
No doubt about it: India is hot, hot, hot in the summer. But the steamy weather makes for some bargain package tours, such as the "Incredible India" deal from Exotic Journeys. The trip covers round-trip air from the U.S., nine hotel nights, all ground transport, sightseeing and English-speaking guides.
Scheduled departure dates are May 17, 24, 31; Aug. 16, 23, 30; and Sept. 5, 12, 19, 26. (For a cooler-season option, see Trips, Tips and Deals on Page 13.)

THE DEAL: $4,244 per couple. Includes: round-trip air from Los Angeles, Chicago, New York or Newark on Air India or Singapore Airlines; three nights in Delhi at Vasant Continental or similar; two nights in Jaipur at Trident Hilton or similar; two nights in Agra at Trident Hilton or similar; air fare between Delhi and Mumbai; two nights in Mumbai at Kohinoor International or similar; all ground transfers by private car or motor coach; sightseeing and excursions in all cities; private English-speaking local guides; hotel taxes; air taxes and fees of $123/person.

Not included: entrance fees to monuments of $53/person. Contact: 800-554-6342; www.exoticjourneys.com

THE VALUE: Of package inclusions if purchased separately.

Air:
$2,712 ($1,334/person plus $22 processing and $22 shipping) for Chicago-Delhi-Mumbai-Chicago on Air India quoted by orbitz.com, assuming travel dates of Aug. 16-27.

Hotel in Delhi:
$506 ($150/night plus 12.5 percent tax) for three nights at Le Meridien New Delhi, assuming a stay the nights of Aug. 18, 19 and 20.

Hotel in Jaipur:
$270 ($125/night plus 8 percent tax) for two nights at the Rajputana Palace Sheraton, assuming a stay the nights of Aug. 21 and 22.

Hotel in Agra:
$124 ($59/night plus 5 percent tax) for two nights at the Agra Trident Hilton, assuming a stay the nights of Aug. 23 and 24.

Hotel in Mumbai:
Mumbai, assuming a stay the nights of Aug. 25 and 26.

Sub total: $3,896 .....

SO FAR...
With the dollar value on air and hotels at $3,896, the package, at $4,244, is "costing" us $348/couple, or $178/person ... or just under $20/person per hotel night. It's safe to say that most people who are seriously considering a vacation to India (as opposed to visiting family) would be willing to stop the calculations right here. There's no way that hustling your own ground transfers between airports and hotels and from city to city is worth saving even a fraction of $20/day, let alone lining up a trustworthy English-speaking guide in each city and seeing the sights. However, for the sake of crunching the numbers, let's see what it would cost to catch the trains from city to city (trains being perhaps more reliable than local busses).
In that case:

Delhi-Jaipur: $44 ($22/person) assuming best class by train.
Jaipur-Agra: $36 ($18/person) assuming best class by train.
Agra-Delhi: $24 ($12/person) assuming best class by train.
Sub total: $4,000 ......

AND NOW... With the city-to-city transfers, the package, at $4,244, is "costing" us only $244/couple, or $122/person...or less than $14/person per hotel night. And that still doesn't count hotel shuttles, guides or sightseeing. Really, that ought to be enough number crunching for anyone.

BEYOND THE DOLLAR SIGNS. If you're shopping bargain prices to India, this is one of the deals to beat. You could shave a few dollars by staying in lesser hotels, but at the end of the day you probably don't want to come back to a room whose AC might not be up to the challenge of India's hot and humid summers. tstroud@tribune.com Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune

Excerpt from National Geographic Traveler Magazine

The A-List: Best Travel Deals of the Week

Exotic Journeys: Luxury Train Tour of India from $4,490.
The 17-day "Royal Adventure—Palace on Wheels" tour features five nights aboard the luxury train Palace on Wheels and visits to Delhi, Jaipur, Chittaurgarh, Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, the Ranthambhore Tiger Preserve, the Bharatpur Bird Sactuary, the Taj Mahal at Agra, Khajuraho, Varanasi, and Kathmandu. Rates start at $4,490 (coach-class), $6,690 (business-class), or $8,240 (first-class) including round-trip airfare, airport transfers, the train trip, deluxe hotel accommodations (three nights in Delhi, two nights in Jaipur, and one night each in Agra, Khajuraho, Varanasi, Kathmandu); meals, city tours, monument entrance fees, English-speaking guides, cultural performances, Ganges cruises, and camel and elephant rides. (Save upto 15 percent.) Trips depart from New York, Newark, and Chicago; discount is offer only on September 25 departures.
Call +1 312 475 0655 or 800 554 6342 (US and Canada; www.exoticjourneys.com)