2022 October 27-November 15 Northern India/Nepal Tauck

We booked this Tauck trip with Bonnie Buchanan at cruise one on June 1, 2020, for a cost of $26,558. We booked our business class air on Dec. 31, 2021, at a cost of $7883.68 with American airlines. We waited for this trip through the difficulties of covid and the uncertainty om my falling and shattering my femur on June 22, 2022, just 4 months before the trip was to occur. With the blessing of the doctor…we proceeded.

We left our house on October 27, 2022, at 6:00 am and headed for the airport. We left on time and arrived in Charlotte. We left Charlotte and arrived NYC. We had reserved a wheelchair at each leg of the journey, and we did receive one in NYC.
We left NYC an hour late because the lavatories were not working. Maintenance was working on the issue...but then the captain announced that the crew was almost out of limited time...he had 20 minutes to get us in the air. God bless him...he did it with 3 minutes to spare. The flight was uneventful. The food was terrible.

We arrived in Delhi about 9:45 pm. I went to the wheelchair guy… Who promptly said i am not on the list. WHAT???? they confirmed in NYC...I was already on the list in Delhi. SOOOOO...I WALKED...yes ladies and gentlemen...I WALKED FOREVER....lol Oh boy is my leg screaming...but I did it!

We got to immigration...and We had all of our paperwork in order...except there is a little pink form you get when you arrive that asks for the exact information you already have on your visa...but of course they MUST have that little form to proceed. Normally it is no big deal...but when you have been traveling and WALKING for 30 hours...all you want to do is get to your hotel and SIT DOWN.
We got our bags...yes, all bags arrived with us! We met the Tauck Rep who called the driver, and we were on our way to the Imperial Hotel. Delhi is the smoggiest city I have ever seen. The traffic even at 10:00 pm is horrific. There are stray dogs everywhere.
We checked in... were assigned room 256... unpacked our bags and are called it a night after 30 hours of travel.

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Comments

  • We had breakfast in 1911 restaurant. We met with the Tauck group at 1:45. We have fifteen in our group. We have a family of eight, a single lady and 3 couples. We were given our duffel bags. We got on the Tauck bus and did a tour of New Delhi. We went to the place where Mahama Ghandi was murdered. We had cocktail hour at 6:30. Then we had dinner. It was a fixed menu of all different Indian food. We came back to the room about 9:30.


  • We had breakfast at 1911 restaurant. We went to Old Delhi. We visited Humayun’s tomb. Then we visited Qutub minar. We had lunch at Olive’s restaurant. We arrived back at the hotel about 3pm. The trip has been extremely hard on my leg and the time change has been difficult on my body.




  • Cathy: Which airline did you fly to Dehli?

  • Great pictures, especially your Halloween blouse! Keep the posts coming!

  • Cathy, was so concerned to not hear from you! If you managed to tour Delhi I’m sure everywhere else will be breeze. Did the Indians understand the Halloween concept?

  • milmil
    edited October 2022

    cathy LOVE!!!!!!!!! the pictures, India is incredible.
    The Sadhu with the white skirt looks a lot like one I took a picture with at Varanasi.
    Have an Amazing trip.

  • Cathy—Wonderful pictures and report! Keep posting as time permits & rest your leg when you can. BTW, I had the same local Indian guide for my Portrait of India tour in 2018.

  • Cathy: Loving your report and fantastic pictures. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to provide a detailed day by day report. This would be a very grueling itinerary for someone that didn't have any issues to contend with. I am very proud of you. I know that seeing Mount Everest is a hi-lite of the trip for you. Can hardly wait for your next installment to hear the details and see the pics. Take care.

  • edited November 2022

    Hoping for clear skies and sunny days.

    I often used Katmandu as a weather alternate for Calcutta (Kolkata) when flying for Air India. I was always hopeful that I would never have to use it in bad weather. It’s an interesting approach. I noted your comments about the air pollution in Delhi. I suspect the poorer people still use animal dung for cooking fuel. I could often see the runway at Bombay from a hundred miles away, but when I got down to fifty feet I couldn’t see the runway. Lots of smoke.

  • Apparently at this time of year, the fireworks used during Diwali cause some of the pollution and then in November the farmers start burning off the fields which is the worst culprit.

  • Here she is Mount Everest! Taken with my cell phone.

    Cathy...absolutely beautiful

  • Great picture. I’m glad you had good weather. I think the left side of your picture is Hillarie’s Step … but I could be wrong. I don’t know what direction you were viewing.

  • Cathy, it looks like you had perfect weather for the flightseeing. That is so nice! Evidently it does not happen so often. We had a small amount of clouds obscuring the top of Everest.

  • Absolutely stunning photo. Picture perfect weather...may it stay that way for the balance of your adventure.

  • edited November 2022

    How nice of her to say Cathy. Thanks for letting me know. Anna is a great TD and is so nice. We had a great group of 12 on the tour. Everyone got along and everyone was nice. I was a bit apprehensive at first having never taken a tour with a group that small but it was splendid.

  • Cathy - It looks like the rickshaw ride was quite the 'comfy' arrangement. It looks like Steve could barely get his head inside the rickshaw. Hopefully the ride was more comfortable than it looked. I imagine it wasn't too long of a ride. If so, then it's worth it for the experience.

    Are the red and black chairs designed the way they look, with camping gear looking backs to them? Were they comfortable?

    Continue keeping us up to speed with what looks like a very fun trip.

  • edited November 2022

    Sam, Cathy's rickshaw was built by the same people who built your Aswan felucca. :D

  • AlanS - I was constructed for the third world! :D

    PS - the felucca would have been fine if they hadn't loaded it like a NY subway during rush hour.

  • Cathy - Beautiful pictures. Very similar to what you see in Thailand. Steve ought to pick up one of those burgundy and orange outfits. :D

  • Cathy - Based on your description of your fellow tour members it almost sounds like this is a pilgrimage tour, with members coming to see the High Priest of Nepal to bless all of their aches and pains away. If that works let me know, I’ll be on the next tour.

    It sounds like Tauck should do like they did for the tours tuk-tuk ride in Bangkok - provide a police escort.

    Many kudos to you and your fellow travelers for working through the hardships and making it work.

  • I am so glad you have a cohesive group. It adds so much to the overall enjoyment of a tour, especially with such a small group. Something tells me, however, that everyone is taking your lead.

    When you have a chance, can you discuss the food and some of your favorite dishes? Are you having naan bread?

    I hope you see your tigers while on safari.

  • Cathy...I am enjoying your post and wonderful pictures. Sounds like you are having a great tour so far!

  • Great pictures Cathy, what a wonderful trip.

  • On our Portrait of India tour removing all electronics, even on domestic flights, was standard practice. It was very painful at every security checkpoint.

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