Client's Feedback

The tour was very well organized and the personal tour given by the people we spent most time with was more than perfect. All hotels were very special, especially the ones in remote places  and the sardargarh fort / palace which is a small jewel in the middle of the trip. The personal touch of the wife of the noble who owns the property was amazing. 

  Our driver Anil was particularly good, attentive, friendly, accommodating and a wonderful man. We had complete confidence in his driving , ability in all circumstances.Shailesh in Delhi was our favourite guide + the man in Udaipur. We felt that the woman in Delhi and the man in agra were not as personally friendly although knowledgeable.  

  Overall, this trip has been a dream come true. Thanks to trinetra tours, they were very open to accommodating us, not the otherway around. India is a complex , diverse country. But mostly, it is energetic and exciting while maintaining its history and passion for the past. There is still room for work with poverty.It is sad and demeaning for such a wonderful country.

Wishing you the very best.
Nancy & Bob Miller, Canada
millerneighbour@rogers.com
Hi Tapas,
Hello
I am happy to say Maureen and I arrived home safely after a very interesting trip to India.  We enjoyed our trip and were very pleased with the services you provided.  Our driver, Kalaish provided exceptional service - he was always on time and the car was always clean.  The guides and driver were in constant communication via mobile phone which made things run very smoothly.

We enjoyed the Heritage Hotels since they were comfortable and provided charm and atmosphere as well.  The Rashmi Guest House in Varanasi was very clean with a great location and a good restaurant with a wonderful view of the Ganges.  I was a bit worried about the Swiss Tents at the camel fair but it turned out the tents were quite comfortable and the staff at the tents went out of their way to be helpful.

Please feel free to use my name and email address (dmcody1@yahoo.com) for a reference. 

We hope that in the next 2-3 years we will have a chance to visit the South of India and you can organize another wonderful trip for us!

Regards,
Doreen Cody, USA
dmcody1@yahoo.com

Hello Gagan,
We would love to be on the reference list.  victor.yablonsky@shaw.ca, dupinder.yablonsky@shaw.ca

Can you please forward this message to Tapas as well I'm attaching our photo for him. Tapas, we just wanted to thank you for a wonderful and hassle free trip organization.  We especially appreciated you team being there for us at ever destination for pick up and drop off.  We enjoyed meeting Raman, Ankul in Dehli and Wilson in Mumbai what great guys that are really nice and professional. Tapas, we also want to thank you and Krisna for inviting us to your home we had a great fun meeting your family and enjoyed your company.

Best of wishes,
Dupinder and Victor Yablonsky, Canada
victor.yablonsky@shaw.ca, dupinder.yablonsky@shaw.ca

Namaste Tapas

Namaste to all those who helped make our holiday so enjoyable

We returned to Israel 4 weeks ago, after a wonderful ,enjoyable and interesting holiday, and still whenever I close my eyes, and think of India, I  am immediately surrounded by the sounds, sights and atmosphere that make your country so special, and which left such a strong impression on me. It was  a pity though, that we had only 19 days at our disposal, and so touched only a very small part of the country

With hindsight, I don't think we should have made any changes to our itinerary, and our decision  to take the train to Udaipur on the first night was correct, and saved us a day. A pity we couldn't do more overnight train trips, as they were comfortable (luckily we had a cabin to ourselves) and saved time. I did not realize how much time is lost by going by plane, and what with the trip to and from the airport, the 2 or 3 hours that you have to be there before the flight, and the good possibility of the flight being delayed, a day with flying is pretty much a day wasted.

The hotels we stayed in were all well chosen, and we enjoyed the special atmosphere of the heritage hotels we stayed at. I wanted to single out what we considered the best hotel, but the Rashmi in Varanasi and the Generals Retreat in Jaipur make it difficult to name the Ratan Villas in Jodhpur the best.

All our guides were Knowledgeable, very helpful, and gave us good insights to the cities they introduced us to. A special mention for Umesh Kumar Sharma in Jodhpur is in order  though- I enjoyed his company the most.

You said that our driver would be the person we could always rely on to help us with all our small needs, requests, and our spokesman if necessary, and Shoban Singh (hope I spelled his name correctly) certainly filled the position completely,   And did all in his power to make sure that all went smoothly and comfortably.

Once again I would like to thank you all for your kind service. If we visit India again we will definitely contact you first, and hope that then we will manage to meet you, Tapas, in person.

Shalom
Larry and Gila, Israel
gilarry@netvision.net.il
Dear Mahendra and Tapas,

I still have your evaluation report form and will send it if you like forms but this email should be quicker and my comments should not be delayed.

What I have to report is the excellence of your program and the superlative quality and devotion to your clients of the people who you placed in our service during the tours provided in Delhi and Agra this week for myself and my wife, Phyllis. This made for a wonderful 45th wedding anniversary gift for us.

My words may not be enough to express my gratitude for the extra effort, even the sacrifices of the people assigned to us. Please forgive any errors in my spelling of names. Shailesh, who escorted us from the airport to the Oberoi, Delhi and from the Taj Palace to the Airport, sacrificed his own well-being since he had to leave his motorcycle at some risk while he accompanied us back from the airport to the hotel as we were departing Delhi. He accompanied us all the way back to the hotel in order to recover our passports which I managed to drop in the hotel lobby but did not realize this until we got to the airport the first time. He persistently phoned the hotel and so they almost miraculously recovered our passports which were handed to us within seconds of our arrival as we turned around for the second trip to the hotel with Doohm driving – again accompanied by Shailesh. With Shailesh’s persistence and willingness to take our heavy baggage to the first check point (which he could not go beyond) we made it to the airplane although we arrived at the airport the second time only as the airplane was already starting to load passengers. I am concerned about the results of Shailesh’s priority to us over his motorcycle and would like to know if he was able to recover it without incident or damage.

Doohm (forgive my spelling), our driver for each and every moment of every day, was very very skilled as a driver, was prompt and visible on every occasion when we were to meet him to be picked up, very courteous and observant and honest. He located and returned my wallet which was left behind in the back seat which I did not notice until I was supposed to pay an entry fee.  Doohm was always patient in our communications as we tried to understand each other (I think he did better than me). His maneuvering on the second departure trip to the airport got us there safely and in the time we needed to just barely make it on time.

Pradeep, your associate in Agra also should be called out with superlatives for his knowledge and enthusiasm to our understanding and appreciation of the history surrounding the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort and Agra itself. He helped us often with the photographic efforts of my wife and conveyed great knowledge about the architecture and the history of the sites we visited and thereby enhance our appreciation of the places and  the Mughal period.

Sumetra also was an excellent guide for us for a great many places visited during our first day in Delhi, both Old Delhi and New Delhi. Her knowledge of history was a great introduction and with her insights into the evolution of the various rulers who dominated Delhi and in some cases nearly all of India. We came to refer to her as teacher – and so she was for us.

The hotels were the best and at each one there were special services provided for us, lost items recovered, good advice, comfort and graciousness at all times, especially at the 2 Oberoi hotels.

Thank you, also, Mehendra and Shailesh for adding, at the last minute, at my request, interesting tours of various temples on our last day, while we were capably shuttled around by Doohm, and in the case of your largest new temple, actually escorted through and given advice about what to do checking items, not checking items etc.

We are now spoiled by your excellent staff and it now may be difficult for us, after we’ve received such guidance, to manage visits elsewhere without Trinetra.

Regards,
Steve and Phyllis Aronow, Hong Kong
sparonow@hotmail.com

Tapas and team,

Hi!
This is Julie and Marg reporting in.

We have had an explosion of experiences here in India.

We have had an explosion of experiences here in India. We can honestly say that each and every day we have seen and learnt something new. The differing ways of life, culture, impact of religious beliefs have enriched our knowledge immensely.

We were really privileged to meet you and your beautiful wife.

It was a wonderful start to a great adventure, many thanks.

We are glad that we came to Mumbai, especially after Varanasi as it adds a more balanced view of your country.

We are off to Goa tomorrow for some R&R.

Just wanted to say that the organisation and co-ordination of all events has been meticulous. The agents have been very good and we would like to especially mention Ankit who gave us a great welcome and to Ram, our driver who was customer service personifed.

NMore updates at the end of our tour.

But for now, many thanks and great appreciation of all the hard work and effort put in to our most wonderful of trips.

A memory for ever.

many thanks,
Margaret & Julie, U.K.
mlwhitmarsh@yahoo.co.uk

Dear Tapas and Pal

Firstly, thank you for a very good itinerary.  We have filled out the evaluation form with suggestions and hopefully you will get it from the greeter in Delhi.

We are grateful that you got us the bikes....it was an excellent way to see the villages and smell the air of Rajastan.  We feel very very privileged to have had Roshan Bhatt as our major driver for 17 days.  He loaded and unloaded those bikes, had excellent English so we had wonderful conversations with him about what we were experiencing, about Indian life, and we feel that he became a friend ..................he should be a guide and we recommend him highly.  Unlike some drivers, he was very conscientous about always keeping the doors locked, about greeting us, opening doors, and being on time.  He is a great part of what made Rajastan so special for us.

Re accomodation.................loved where we stayed except for Ganarao...........The fort is unique but it was cold, the food was poor, and there was little to do in Ganarao.  We biked there which took an hour or two and then we went for a walk for 14 kilometres.  In retrospect I wish we had known at the time that there was a fort 60 km away...........Kumbakgagh ??   ........  The other place that we could have missed was Cardoman House in Tamil Nadu.  The drive of 6 hours for a 2 night stay was far too long and while there we amused ourselves by walking extensively but we could have done that at Periyar or Munnar.  So from our point of view we would rather have had 3 nights inMunnar and 3 nights in Periyar.

Suggestions
All guides should wear a name tag.  Most told us their name very quickly and we often did not catch the name or could not remember it.  Indian names are different for us and so we needed something visible to remind us.

Many guides (in Delhi, Udaipur, and Agra) spoke quickly and had a set tour re what we saw and what they commented on.  We found that these guides spoke too quickly and we missed over 50% of what they said.  If we asked questions they were sometimes offended as they had already said something about the subject but we had missed it.  And they would hurry us past plaques and places that we wanted to spend time at.  As a result, for us, our best tour was at Mehangir Fort in Jodpur where we declined the tour guide and took the audia tour which we loved.  We understood the audio, could replay it if we wanted, it has accessory information, and we could go at our own pace.

Trinetra has a great reputation and we can understand why.  it is an excellent company..............we are so!! glad that we had our own driver and were not in a group!  We were always met on time at flights and rail locations, hotels were lovely (except ganarao) ...we particularly loved the hotel in Udaipur...jagat niwas, ...the tent in Rohet...........Nairli........and the Coir Island resort.  we loved the Backwater cruise in Kerala but feel very strongly that the Keralan government needs to limit the number of boats using the canals, put stonger restrictions re debris and gas emissions, etc.  This is a fragile environment that is going to be ruined by tourism.  The government needs to work out a balance that sustains tourism and local economies  re fishing and agriculture or it will lose in the long term.

Tapas
We would be happy to be a contact for your company.  We do feel that people/customers need to know the reality of distance and time when planning their trip.  In Canada, a distance of 100km is usually covered in just over 1 hour.  But in the rural area of India....this journey may take 5 hours.  Tourists need to know this is figuring out where they want to go and how long they want to stay in one place.  With such info we would have realized that the trip to Athoor was so long and so far away from where we wanted to be in kerala.  

Please if you have any questions that you want to ask us, then send off an email and we will be happy to send back more input.

Please reiterate to your wife and son a sincere thank you for their hospitality and kindness.  Meeting your family was a wonderful way to begin our visit to India.  We have learned so much from the gentle and kind people of India and it is a place that will remain in our hearts.  Next time we come we hope to go to Himachal and other more northerly areas.

To you and Pal, we want to say a sincere thank you.  Yours is a fabulous company that is so well organized and that succeeds in providing a wonderful opportunity for visitors.  You should be very proud.  We thank you.

with thanks and appreciation
Melanie and Rod Mcarthur, Canada
melanie.mcarthur@sympatico.ca

Dear Payal,

Glad payment was all received, we are now back in the UK after flying back yesterday.

I just wanted to thank you again, as we thoroughly enjoyed the tour, I was very impressed with how well you all took care of us, it was all so very efficient.

The places that we saw on our tour were amazing and our choice of accommodation was superb.

A special mention is deserved for our driver, Ramveer! He was the most excellent driver throughout the tour!

Thank you again.

If you would like to list my email address for reference purposes, I would be more than happy.

Kind regards & best wishes
Lalita Paget, U.K.
lalitapaget@hotmail.com

Dear Ms Kaur,

Thank you so much for your mail, and I apologize forthe delay in replying.

Heartfelt thanks from the group to Trinetra Tours fororganizing such an amazing Tour to your incredibleIndia one we will remember for a very long time. Beassured that Trinetra Tours will be recommended andencouraged as the best company to offer the perfectIndian experience.

We wish to compliment Sam for the excellent serviceshe provided. His knowledge of his country, hisprofessional, humour, warm personality, along with hiswillingness to assist in whatever way requiredcertainly was a great asset and welcomed by all.

With warm regards,
Wyatt Johnson (Tour Organiser – Bahamas)
wyattpjohnson@yahoo.com

To Tapas Banerjee

We have now returned to Australia from our recent trip to India.
I am writing to thank you for all your help and the excellent itinerary you put together for us.
We both enjoyed our stay and particularly the flavour of India which we experienced through your itinerary.
I thoroughly enjoyed my days in Kashmir and we both enjoyed our trip through Rajasthan.
We would also like to thank your agents in each location we visited. At no time was the service anything but excellent.
Again many thanks.

Please feel free to use the above as a reference.

We would like top make the following further comments about our trip for your consideration.

The service provided by you and your staff at Trinetratours was at all times exceptional. When requests were made you responded that day. Changes to the itinerary were accommodated on each occasion. We have nothing but the highest praise for your service. Your information pack containing the vouchers and tickets was excellent and your advice in your accompanying letter was very much appreciated. Tipping is always an issue and your suggestions for the drivers and guides was particularly welcomed.

Best Regards
Peter & Nerida Ashcroft (Sydney Australia)
peter@110admiralty.com.au

Hi Tapas,

Just a little email to provide you some feedback on the tour you arranged for us in January.

First: your arrangements were exceptional. All the hotels and sights exceeded our expectations. So did most of the people who helped us on the tour. Especially Narinder was fantastic. He is such a kind person, a great driver, and although his English is not yet good, we were able to communicate very satisfactory with him. We were very sad to see him leave us after our Agra visit.

The guides were also very good. I  would like to especially mention Aroon, our guide in Udaipur, Omesh in Jaipur and Saurabh Shukla in Varanasi.  They were all able to not only explain the sights we were seeing, but give us a feel for the people and culture of India and their respective cities. Just meeting them would have made a visit to each city worthwhile.  The only disappointment was Suyartha in New Delhi. We did not realize it at the time because she was our first guide, but in hindsight she did not do justice to the sights of New Delhi.

As I said, all the hotels met or exceeded our expectations. We especially enjoyed the two camps we stayed in (Manvar and Khemvilas in Ranthambhore) and the surroundings for each: the desert of Rajasthan and the wilderness of Ranthambhore. I'd also like to mention how much we enjoyed the two hotels in forts: Rawla in Narlai and Fort Chanwa in Luni. The two towns these forts were in were out of this world; it was a very special experience to visit these two towns. We were all so glad that we included these desert/wilderness/small town experiences in our itinerary. A tour of just the big cities would not have done justice to our stay in India.

What can I say about Varanasi and Rashmi Guest House: no words will do justice to describing our experience there. Let's just keep it at that we will never forget the sights, sounds, smells and general atmosphere of Varanasi. Not including Varanasi in our trip would have been an unforgivable mistake.

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed experiencing India, and can readily recommend a visit to your facinating country to anyone who asks, of course arranged by Tapas and staff from Trinitra.

Best regards,
Paul & Wendy Heuts, Canada
heuts@sympatico.ca

Hi Tapas,

Hope you, your family and colleagues are all well.

Well, we have arrived home after our truly wonderful and memorable holiday in India. The weather that greeted us here, (very cold) on Friday was certainly a contrast to that which we had experienced over the last couple of weeks

I am writing this on behalf of myself Don, Ray & Linda to thank you so much for the experience we had and the impeccable arrangements that were made for us. We met some lovely people during our stay, who went out of their way to help us and make sure our holiday went like clockwork.

Right from the first day, when we landed in Delhi, your guide Silesh and our excellent driver Yadav who drove us on a tour of the City and made sure on our last day, we were safely in situ on the train to our next stop at Ranthambore. The train ride was an experience and hilarious, when we realised we had the addition of a little mouse in the carriage to keep us company.

At the station for Ranthambore, we were met by our guide and taken to the Pugmark, which we thought was a lovely little hotel. The staff were very friendly and couldn’t do enough for us. At one time, we were the only guests there, so we did get great service.

The highlight of our stay there was of course the six safaris and with the same guide throughout (Sumit, who was excellent) managed to see 4 Tigers, which was a fabulous experience and something that will stay in our memories. Of course, we enjoyed seeing all the other animals/birds and we have the pictures to prove this for those back home.

We had a wonderful drive to Jaipur with yet another excellent, careful driver. The hotel there was very nice, people very friendly and funny. The guide that showed us around in the afternoon was very informative and managed to get us an excellent view of the annual festival procession that coincidently happened to take place whilst we were there.

Thank you for booking Kingfisher Airways, they are certainly a very good airline. I would imagine they work on the lines of Virgin with their entrepeurnarial leader. Good service and good food.

When we arrived in Goa for the next part of our holiday, we were met by a very friendly lady called Jenny, who took us to the Varca Palms Beach Resort. In comparison to the other hotels, we were a little disappointed that the rooms were not quite as good a standard as the others. They were very clean and we had aircon and a fridge/TV etc. but the bathrooms were in need of some refurbishment. This is not to say we didn’t enjoy the stay, the staff were friendly and the location was fabulous but we felt this hotel was focussed more for the Indian guests – what a wonderful beach. We ate at some of the beach shacks where the food was absolutely delicious!!

Finally, our last port of call in Mumbai, we were treated to a tour of the City both to and from our hotel, which was very interesting. Once again, the guides were brilliant, even when we were checking in for our flight back to LHR.

The following couple of points, made are not a criticism, and didn’t in anyway spoil our enjoyment but you may wish to bear in mind for any future bookings.

The breakfasts and some of the main courses in the hotels did not have a very wide selection for western type appetites. Fortunately, we all like spicy food and curries. When we booked in for our internal flights, there was a problem with deciphering the credit card numbers that did hold us up for a little while but was all sorted out.

Once gain, Tapas thank you so much for arranging a brilliant holiday for us. I would have no hesitation in recommending your Company to friends/colleagues here in the UK and if we decide to do a return trip, we will certainly contact you. Please feel free to use our names as references.

Our very best wishes to you all

Kindest regards
Carol & Don Rice, Ray & Linda Buckell (U.K.)
cazza.rice@virgin.net

Dear Tapas,

I have been wanting to email you to thank you on paper for the superb holiday we had in Rajasthan, it far exceeded our expectations and we have come home with such wonderful memories.  The architecture was magnificent and so different to ours in Europe.  The decoration of the buildings was exquisite and so varied, the craftsmanship superb.  Each new city, palace or fort we visited was breathtaking and it was hard for us to decide which we thought the best.  In fact we came to the conclusion that every single place we were taken to was splendid in its own way.  Our guides, an important element in our enjoyment of the holiday, were knowledgeable and enthusiastic about what they were showing us and made each visit special.  By the end of the tour we felt that we were leaving India with a closer understanding of that part of your country and its people.  All the people we met were charming and we loved having the opportunity to talk to people we met in the hotels, on the trains, in the shops and streets.  My overall memory will be of the wonderful colour of the clothes the women wore, the bustling streets where people shopped or went about their daily business, the roads (and especially between Dehradun and Delhi) thick with bullock, camel and horse carts loaded with sugar cane, logs, crops and the little open sided cars full to overflowing with sometimes up to ten or even twelve people.

Our visit to Mussorie was also wonderful.  The contacts I had made before I left all worked out and those people were so welcoming and helpful.  The family house, Cloud End, was still there in its spectacular isolated position with views of the snow-clad mountains of the Himalayas.  Remarkably it still had the furniture, pictures and china left by the members of the family who sold it to Mr Agarwal's father in 1965.  What was remarkable was that there were still some family photograph albums in the house which Mr Agarwal kindly allowed us to borrow and photocopy.  Some of the portraits in the album dating back to the 1860s were the same as those in Foster's great-grandfathers album of the same date.

So now Tapas I would be grateful if you could pass on our thanks to all those people who looked after us so well during our stay.  Mahendra who corresponded with us and dealt with many of my queries and requests.  Ramah Singh who looked after us in Delhi and recaptured my jerseys and the quilted coat I left in Delhi and Jaisalmer.  Our brilliant drivers Prakash Singh and Sheesh Pal Jaywan who looked after us so well and drove with such care and attention on your very busy roads.   And of course our special thanks to you for arranging the best of tours for us and also to both you and your wife for entertaining us in your home and giving us such a delicious meal, we hope that one day when you both visit England you will find time to visit us here in Essex - just a half hour train journey from London.

Our best wishes to you all,
Marion Swetenham (U.K.)
marion@swetenham.com

Hi Tapas,

I arrived back in London last night - a very wet, cold and dark London it was too.    I just wanted to say what  I great time I had in India and what a terrific job you did arranging everything for us.   It could not have been more wonderful and I have memories to treasure.   We especially appreciated our driver, Sampat, who drove with such care and was a really helpful and delightful person  and I would certainly choose to have him driving should I return, which I am now planning to do.....maybe next year.

Thank you so much for everything and especially being so helpful at the very end of our trip when disaster struck in the form of the missing passport.   Our companion, Jeanette, is not such an easy traveller and it would have been better had it been me without means of travel.  Anyway  between your attention and Sampat's care, she seems to have come through her 'ordeal' and is now on her way back to London.

I thank you once again and look forward to renewing our relationship on my next trip to India, or indeed, any of my friends and family who  plan on doing something similar.  I will make sure they all contact you first before doing anything.

Regards,
Carole , U.K.
caroleshuter@mac.com

Bermuda Good Evening,

I am so glad for this email.  All is well with Trinetra.  We completed our forms and turned them in before we left India.  We talked so much of India ,that our jaws are still painful.  We had a grand time, more than satisfied and e are left with memories that will last a life time. We are very happy with our trip.  Chettanadu did not excite us,but we are not unhappy.  That was the only place that we could have spent one night only but believe me, it was a fantastic holiday.

We are overjoyed, and right now I am trying to put my album together.

  Reply soon. It is summer,very hot. Love to allTapas, Pal and your team. We heard from our Kerla driver. Bye now.

Norma Latham, Bermuda
nlatham@northrock.bm

Namaste Tapas!!!  We arrived in Las Vegas two days ago after what we can only explain as the trip of alifetime!  I'll go on and on in my next e-mail but quite simply MANY MAHALOS!!!  Everything was superb and we even were given several upgrades here and there.  You did an exceptional job with every details and Mother cannot stop raving about all aspects (except maybe the tents!) Hoping all is well witheveryone and once again thank you for making sure everything was perfect.

Aloha,
Donna Mier, USA
donnamier@yahoo.com

I want to thank everyone for a most wonderful journey, I have never, ever been so pampered, and so well looked after.   The real story is - I was spoiled.  I think you all left nothing for me to do but enjoy.  I also include every one of the local travel agents, everyone was amazing, I still can't believe how helpful & caring everyone was, I would especially like to mention Sajid Shaikh from Garha Tours in Mumbai along with his excellent driver who looked after me so well. I even got a guided tour of some of the beautiful buildings left by the British upon arrival in Mumbai.

I had a problem with the hotel in Mumbai as I believe they sold my room and Sajid helped with that problem.  They actually told me that someone from your office had called from Delhi and told them to cancel my twin room & give me a single.  Because Ankit did such a great job typing vouchers, I was able to solve the problem very quickly and supposedly got an "upgrade" which really didn't matter as I was only there for a few hours.

I believe my only problem now will be going back to adventure travel with small groups, and not being the "only one that matters" anymore.  I will miss the "Princess" treatment I received every step of the journey. Actually I miss it already.

I want to wish everyone at Trinetra Tours, the most wonderful and Happy Holiday.  Also please give my best wishes to Krishna as well, I will always remember my dinner and evening out when she was my most gracious & fun hostess. 

Hopefully,  someday we can do another journey together. 

Also, if any or all of you ever travel to my parts of the world, as in Western Canada or the Arizona desert, we would be delighted to have you visit us.

Thank You All Again, I will always remember. 

Best Wishes
Lorraine Servello, Canada
ladylor@frontiernet.net

Dear Tapas,

Well, we are all back safe and sound and had a fantastic tour of India.  Your suggestions for hotels was excellent.  Location, location, location is the word to cover our hotels.  They were all is the right spot to feel and see India and all of them were up to our expectations.  The guides were excellent even though one did not speak a lot of English, he was charming and most helpful to all.  I must tell you that Ankit is a fantastic employee for you.  He went out of his way to make the trip a pleasant experience.  He is a dedicated employee and speaks highly of you.  Two of the ladies in our group that own companies said they would hire him on the spot if he was in the U.S.A.  I have invited him as my guest in May of next year if he can make it.  If you come to the states again, we must get together.  My wife and I called you the day after our dinner at your house to thank you for a lovely evening.  You were out of the office at the time.  You and your charming wife and son were gracious hosts.  I hope you liked the See's candies and that your wife can use some of the items that my wife gave to her.

If you ever need someone in my area to speak on your behalf, feel free to use my name.  A lady in our hotel was talking with two men who were her tour service representatives and was giving them a piece of her mind.  We were waiting for our pickup to the airport and she was right next to us so we couldn't help but hear what she had to say.  She had so many things go wrong and spent over an hour telling them of all her tour problems.  My wife and I were glad we did not book with them.

I have spent the last week burning copies of my video and my wife and my photos and should be finished with them soon.  The videos are done but not all of the photos.  As soon as I finish, I will mail you the copies as requested.  I know Ankit would like to see the Video as well.  It took four disks to finish the video and I had to copy them for seven people which makes a total of 28 disks.  It looks about the same for the photos as well.  The video can be fast forwarded where it gets a little too long.  In Whaga? I must have been overly excited and I filmed more than I realized.  My wife also filmed the Rock Garden in Chandigarth? and it was her first try and she did a little more than needed.  However, overall I am happy with the finished product.

I hope all is well with you and yours and may the year bring you much success in your business and life.

My best regards,
Jack McGuire, USA
dosxxamber@sbcglobal.net

Namaste

Thank you again for the wonderful experience your company provided for our family and on such short notice. I was amazed at how efficiently and smoothly everything ran. Even the driving, which potentially could have been quite hair raising - given the road conditions and traffic, was without incident and I felt very confident and safe with our driver. My only regret was that he didn't have more English (or us more Hindi) so that we could have communicated on a more personal level.

I would not hesitate to recommend Trinetra to anyone considering travelling to India and would be more than happy to be on your reference list.

I only hope that we have the opportunity to use your company again as I am already missing the country and its people and would dearly love to see more and stay longer.

I note that the cheque I provided for the balance of moneys owing to Trinetra has not yet appeared on our bank statement. Please let me know if there are any problems in this regard.

I have completed the information requested below and look forward to our future correspondence.

Best wishes and kind regards

Karen Lupton & Family, Australia
travellingluppos@gmail.com

Please apologize to Tapas for me.  I promised him I would fill out the trip review and unfortunately I misplaced it.  So let me say that the trip was exactly as advertised.  I know I told everyone but I would like to say again how much I appreciate my driver Kailash.  He really took care of my daughter and I.  I felt extremely safe and taken care of.  The itinerary was ambitious but worth all the travel.  I wish I would have had a little more down time but I think that was my fault for putting a 12 day trip into 10 days.  I very much enjoyed the dinner with Tapas and his family.  It was so nice to meet him and his wife.

Really the only issue I had was with the local tour guide in Jodhpur.  I believe he was trying to do his best for us but he really didn’t listen to what we wanted.  All other local tour guide really listened to what we wanted and tried their best to accommodate us.

Ms. Durenda Tomczyk, USA
durenda3@cox.net

Dear Tapas,

So many wonderful memories flood our minds and engage our hearts.  Having put our faith in you and your business team has offered us bountiful harvests beyond our expectations.  As we sort through our photographs and snapshots of India, we realize that we encountered only a small part of the vast heritage that your country has to offer.  Yet, we returned home as changed beings with a greater understanding and awareness of humanity's dance upon this planet.  Enclosed are a few of our favorite photos.  If you ever travel to the United States, please come and visit us in Florida ... we offer you the experience of a traditional American home and family.

As always, warm regards,
William and Sandi Good, USA

P.S. In our minds and hearts we will always appreciate the warmth and hospitality of INDIA  made possible by Trinetra Tours.

THE BEST AMBASSADORS OF INDIA ARE HER PEOPLE !

Binar48@aol.com

Hello to everyone at Trinetra Tours,

May I say a particular 'thank you'  to Ankit Gupta who was our Saviour when we arrived in Delhi to find that our accommodation confirmation had not been received and we had nowhere to sleep.  With everywhere booked because of Diwali we appeared to be in trouble.  He rearranged our transport to Agra for our tour of the Taj and whilst we were away for the day, arranged accommodation for the night.  The hotel was very much better than we expected.  I would have dearly loved to have thanked him personally but but unfortunately we did not get to see him again. We considered ourselves very lucky to have been reccommended to your company.

The transport was sheer luxury - something I didn't expect at all and we were allowed to leave our luggage on it knowing it was perfectly safe. !  The drivers were extremely polite and careful, giving out water and towels when needed and stopping for our breaks at safe places.

Our guide in Agra put himself out to accommodate our early arrival and made sure he gave us all the information about the monuments we visited.  His knowledge was invaluable.

We have more teachers coming to Delhi in February so I will give them your address with great confidence and reccommend that they use you.  Please use my name for a reference to anyone who is thinking of using your company.

The help and support your company gave us for the very short time we were able to be in Delhi was outstanding.  The kindness from all staff was incredible ! You took away any fears anyone might have in visiting  India.  Hopefully I will be back again.

 Once again- Thank You All  !!!  We would never have managed without you !

Val Eden, U.K.
val.eden@hotmail.co.uk

Tapas,

What a wonderful ending to a magical holiday.  The dinner was among the best and it was so nice meeting you.  You are all I imagined - hard working person who loves his job and wants the world to love your country.

We will be back for another visit and want to follow the same methods.

Thank you and all the people who made our stay so enjoyable.  Your guides were knowledgeable and spent the time to answer our questions, your facilitators were there as needed, and the driver was especially valuable not only as a capable driver but also as a kind and helpful young man. 

Michael & Kathy O'Donoghue (Americans Living in Greece)
kathyod@first.gr

Testimonial for Trinetra Tours

“The tour of India (Delhi, Agra and Rajasthan) which our family enjoyed during December 2005 and January 2006 (which comprised 15 days), was one of the best holidays we have ever had. The schedule arranged by Mr Bannerjee and his team was perfectly suited to the places we wished to see, and combined the historical splendor of India with exciting adventure. We rode elephants and camels; saw a tiger in the wild; met some amazing people; and experienced the flavours and history of this delightful country and its people, while staying in excellent accomodation.

The tour guides were all experienced local people who knew their cities and locales well, and were happy to share this knowledge and history with us. Our driver, Mr Prakash, was the “safest and most courteous driver in India”, and certainly a man we became extremely confident in, and enjoyed being with, while travelling some “interesting” Indian roads.

All in all, this is not just a country we will return to, but a travel agent we will most certainly use again and again, when we return to this marvellous country. Mr Bannerjee manages your Indian holiday as if he too were travelling and seeing the sights with you. Our comfort and enjoyment were the most important things to him and his staff. Would I recommend Trinetra Tours?..…. without the slightest hesitation!!

Sincerely
David and Jane Curro.
curroclan@yahoo.com.sg

We had the privilege recently (December-2006-January-2007) of taking a tour in India organized by Tapas Banarjee.

Mr Banarjee came up with an brilliant and superb itinerary that included all the Places we were interested in visiting during our tour.

Whilst in India, we found that Trinetra tours had booked all the hotels of our choice and paid attention to every aspect and details of our tour.

The road transportation was prearranged, structured and well thought out to accommodate our comfort.

We recommend Trinetra Tours extremely highly for any travel that one may be considering.

Lastly, Trinetra Tours is dependable, consistent and entirely unfailing in delivering exemplary service to its clients.

Firoza Lalani
Firoza.Lalani@mbs.gov.on.ca

Dear Mr. Tappas,

I wish to thank your entire staff for the courteous and kind assistance everyone has provided to make our holiday in India most enjoyable. Most importantly, we were very pleased with the people who met us at the train and the drivers. The guides, in general, were good and we did learn a lot. I think everyone should be congratulated and happy for their good performance. I have no difficulties in recommending your company to anyone who would wish to undertake a similar tour.

Kind regards.
Edward Hotte, France
Edward.Hotte@fao.org

Dear Gagandeep,

I would like to take this opportunuty to say thankyou to Trinetra for making our holiday so special. Everything was so well organised and the varied choice of transport, interesting places and accommodation made it quite unique. Having wanted to visit India since I was a little girl I was concerned that I might be disappointed but the reality was even more amazing than I could ever have imagined. Please convey our thanks to all those who organised the trip and to all those who looked after us during our stay. We will be back.

Kindest regards,
Ellen Duncan, UK
ellen.duncan@btinternet.com

Hi Tapas,

We have had an amazing journey through India. One’s destination is never a place but a different way of seeing things, and we experienced this throughout our trip. Thank you for the memories and for the magic.

Best wishes
Roger and Mary White, Australia
simaro@bigpond.net.au

Dear Tapas
We just wanted to write and say thank you and Krishna very much for inviting us to your house for a lovely meal - it made the end of our time in Delhi very special. Your hospitality was wonderful.

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour, the driver and the guides were extremely competent and efficient, at all times we felt safe and very well looked after. The driver was absolutely amazing.

The sights we saw were truly wonderful - it was a very special week for us- thank you for everything.

We are here in Goa now - it is very busy getting ready for independence day. We are enjoying the rest!

Best Wishes
Jan and Les, U.K.
yanwath@aol.com

Dear Tapas,

We arrived safe and sound back in Switzerland this  morning. I just wanted to let you know that we had an amazing trip and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. All the details were so well planned and the route proved to be a great success- a wonderful balance between culture, nature and  activities for the children. We felt very well cared for - the ball was never dropped and people looked after us very well. We also enjoyed the variation in accomodation from the beautiful camping ground at Uleiktop to the Rambagh palace.

We would like to thank you and Mahendra for the excellent preparations, warm hospitality and especially for making our family dream come true! Needless to say- we would love to serve as a reference for future clients!

Ulla, Switzerland
ullagoppelsroeder@yahoo.com

Dear Tapas,

A brief note of thanks to you just prior to our departure from India. We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay here and our tour, which you organized perfectly.

It has in effect, been two separate holidays to us – first the heritage trail which we found extremely interesting and your selection of heritage accommodation was brilliant ! (our favourite location was Udaipur).

Next, the wildlife tour which we found so exciting, having successfully “hunted” (Photographically of course) 8 tigers and hundreds of rhinos. Our favourite places were Mogli at Kanha – their staff are to be congratulated there ; and wild grass at Kasiranga, where again the staff were superb. Our guide kenwar, at Kasiranga, could not have been better – and what a grand final destination to complete our wildlife safari !

We were also very impressed with our driver (Udaipur to Agra), Oshuk who was most courteous, professional and kept the car immaculate.

We also would like to thank your wife Krishna and yourself for the delicious dinner at your home – again a special event for us, and one of our memorable India experiences. Please pass our sincere thanks to your family.

We are at present being pampered here at the Imperial hotel - we have been upgraded and we feel like Royalty on this our last afternoon.

Thanks again for everything – we leave with very happy memories.

Fond regards….. Pauline & Dave Edwards, Australia
edwair@aapt.net.au

Dear Tapas,

Just a brief note to confirm we arrived home on schedule yesterday. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you - and of course all Trinetra Tour Staff and representatives - for making our short stay in India truly memorable.

The tour itinerary was just perfect and  the 4 day 'rest and relaxation break' in Varca, Goa, was the icing on the cake!. Every connection, be it at hotel or airport, was handled with the utmost efficiency and courtesy.

As we discussed at dinner last saturday -  2 weeks is just not long enough!. Please pass on to Krishna our warmest regards and thanks for making the evening such a great success.

Also, can you please convey our grateful thanks to your / our driver - Mr Singh - for taking such great care of us through out the tour.

And of course, please thank Mahendra for dealing with Alitalia and resolving the lost luggage issue caused by the security scare in London on the day we travelled. It was very comforting to know that Mahendra was resolving Alitalia's problem in Mumbai!

Please add our names to your '110% satisfied customers list' and feel free to pass on this email ( or our email addresses) to any potential clients.

We are looking forward to a return visit to India in the future.

With our warmest and fondest regards,

Jill and Michael Deighton. U.K.
mike.deighton@dsl.pipex.com

I am only too pleased to give a reference for Tapas and his company, Trinetra.

A colleague and I have been using Tapas to arrange our group visits to India every year since 1990. Indeed my first group was his first group when he opened up in business for himself. He decided to open his own business because he felt the companies he had worked for in the tourist industry in India were not giving the kind of service he believed tourists wanted and deserved. He is a man of great honour, is trustworthy and reliable. He will arrange the best deal he can for you, and will always be concerned for your welfare.

In fact he will do his utmost to arrange for you whatever you want. One year I had asked for (what I later realised was) a very punishing schedule, encompassing huge distances. Tapas delivered, and I got the schedule I wanted, but after that year I always put a rider on my requests-- is this do able and is it sensible! India is so huge, it is easy to look at it and think of covering distances as we do in the West-- this is not the same experience in the East!

I have no hesitation in recommending Tapas to you. As I say, he has consistently given us excellent service and value for money over the last 14 years. many of the people who came with me in the first 2 years, have returned with me on numerous occasions. They know the visit will be a good one, well organised and structured through Trinetra Tours.

I hope you enjoy India, it is a stunning wonderful country.

Best wishes
Ms. Julie Wooldridge. U.K.
jerryjuliewooldridge@tesco.net

Hi Tapas,

Well, we're safely back in Nassau after a most enjoyable visit to your Incredible India. Our enjoyment was in no small measure due to the well thought-out selection of tours and hotels arranged by your Company. Through these experiences, we were able to appreciate first hand your great country, its cultural and political legacy to the rest of the world as well as the vibrancy of  its people.

Thank you also for openining your home to us and sharing your , Krishna's and Arjun's warm hospitality with us .  The meal was delicious and we had a most enjoyable evening.  This experience along with the visits to the Taj mahal and the other cultural and historical sites all made our trip to India unforgettable.

Best regards to Krishna, Sam and Payal and I look forward to wecoming you some day to my own country. Please continue to provide the outstandingly professional yet highly personal  service that you do at Trinetra Tours and best wishes for the future.

Ellen, Bahamas
servilleellen@gmail.com

Tapas,

Now we have been back a week and settling back into our routine, we thought we would drop you a brief e-mail to say Thank You for organising such an exceptional holiday.

  Where do I start?
  First of all a very personal Thanks to your wife, Krishna for such a welcoming meal at your home.

  All your staff, guides and drivers were most professional and courteous - all the time. Just one example: before leaving Delhi to catch our train to Udaipur, we had a couple of hours spare. Unbeknown to me, our guide "K-G" happened to notice me strolling out of the hotel and came up to ask me if I would like to see another of the sights in Delhi, rather than just resting in the hotel - so he took us to Gandhi's museum for a delightful visit. Our driver, Ashok, was obviously a very expert driver. Despite some hair-raising situations, we did feel safe with him. It does make traffic back in London appear to be so sedate and unhurried! Ann & I felt very special being chaperoned across the whole of Rajasthan.

  You chose the hotels very well indeed.
  We just have to mention the Rohetgarh Fort, in Rohet. The Lonely Planet guide gives a hint when it says "(it) is a heritage hotel with lots of character and relaxing gardens.Bruce Chatwin wrote The Songlines here and William Dalrymple began City of the Djinnes in the same room (15). It's surprising that they were so diligent, as there's a gorgeous colonnaded pool and the rooms are lovely." What an understatement! Our room (no. 34) was originally the old Courthouse block. A magnificent double-storied apartment, decorated with great style, from the wall frescoes to the traditional colourful wall hangings - surely it must have been the best in Rohetgarh? We would have so liked to have spent more time there.

  We also thought the Rattan Villas in Jodhpur was very charming. Rather than calling it an hotel, I would describe it as a very quaint, old-fashioned guest house. It was delightful chatting to the elderly owner on the veranda, pointing out his old Polo photos on the walls, including the one of the Duke of Edinburgh and his father after one match. This was "Jewel in the Crown" for real. By the way, we had some great home-cooked meals at Rattan Villas.

  I have some of our photos on a public website. If you are interested, please do visit:-
  http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/joefromruislip/album?.dir=/b975&.src=ph&.tok=phRROwEBoHysGJCQ

  Needless to say, we would be delighted to act as a reference for you in the future, please do add me to your e-mail list and we will recommend you to all our friends.

  Thanks again for the fabulous holiday.

Regards,
Joe Franks
90 Park Avenue, Ruislip, Middlesex HA4 7UP
E-mail : joe@thefranksfamily.com
Tel : 01895 639367
Mobile : 07970 988323
Fax : 01895 621528

Tapas Banerjee at Trinetra Tours has arranged several group tours for me, and his organisation has always been excellent. Hotels have been of a high standard, and guides and drivers have been friendly and helpful. I have no hesitation in recommending him to you.

Best wishes,
Ms. Sue Bishop. UK
suebishop.photo@btinternet.com

I am always pleased to offer a reference for Trinetra. There are not enough superlatives in the English language to describe the level of service they provided during our tour of Rajistan.

If you meet Tapas, you will certainly be impressed with his warmth and friendship.

One memorable example of excellent service: We took a side trip to Nepal, and the return flight was unexpectedly canceled. The next flight left barely enough time for our connection from New Delhi to the United States. Tapas' people met us at the airport, and hand-guided us through the maze of pre-check-in inspections. We literally ran with them to baggage check-in, managed to get our boarding passes, and boarded the plane. Phew! Two lessons: Avoid the Nepalese airline (Singapore Airlines flew the sameroute), and make sure you've got a friend in New Delhi!

I wish you well, and a safe journey. Do not hesitate to write if you have any other questions.

Mr. George Henderson. USA
gth@san.rr.com

Dear Tapas and all people that helped us with the tour.

It was a great experience to us and we were very happy. To Tapas thank you so much for your hospitality that we really enjoyed. We have no complains regarding the tour everything went very smoothly.

You ask if we will be on your list and of course if we can be of any help for you to inform about your trips we will do that.

You were also asking about our children. We have got three sons, Fredrik Lundgren, Carl Johan Lundgren and Peter Lundgren.

In case they are going to India we will of course suggest them to travel with you.

Best regards
Eva & bengt Lundgren, Sweden
info@skavkulla.se

Volendo organizzare un viaggio nel Nord dell'India, ho ritenuto opportuno affidarmi ad un'Agenzia di viaggi locale, nella speranza che il percorso e la logistica fossero diversi dal solito tran tran proposto dalle Agenzie italiane. Ho così avuto modo di conoscere la Trinetra Tours ed il suo cortesissimo Manager. Al termine del viaggio ho ritenuto doveroso esprimere a Tapas ed ai suoi collaboratori il sentito ringraziamento per l'assistenza, la scelta del percorso proposto, l'elevato livello delle prestazioni che mi sono state fornite e, sopratutto, per la qualità del servizio in generale che ha permesso, fra l'altro, la conoscenza di un'India diversa da quella solitamente presentata negli opuscoli, un pò meno convenzionale, quindi, ma di indimenticabile bellezza."

Giorgio Cesari, Italy
giorgio_cesari@libero.it

Dear Tapas,

Grettings from London!

We arrived safely home last night. We wish to thank you and your team - in particular Pal for a very efficient , professional, courteous and understanding way in which you  handled our trip.

We have had the most memorable holiday. It is a pity that we did not have the opportunity to tell you about the trip  and have dinner at your house!. Never mind next time I promise! We did try to call you from Cochin but had problems with the telephones.

I thought I should provide you individual feedback fro our trip for Bangalore and kerala.

Bangalore - Transport pick up and guide - excellent. One minor comment. The driver could not communicate well and had the guide not been there at the airport pick up we would have problems communicating!

St Marks  hotel which we booked directly  should certainly be on top of your list! Very professional, helpful and courteous staff. I met the general manager and the M.D. Very Professional, courteous and helpful people.  I am sure they will be able to offer you a corporate rate.  Talk to  J. P.MENON GENERAL MANAGER - you can say I have recommended them to you!

Munnar - Excellent overall. Club Mahindra was very good. we were looked after very well as J. P. Menon had called them! The Kerala Travels and the Driver - John were excellent. John was very knowledgeable and become one of the family  member by the time we finished the trip! 

Coconut Lagoon - Excellent, breathtaking and a very memorable experience!
Travanacore Heritage- lovely property, good food. However not all the staff were of satisfactory standard in comparison to Club Mahindra or Coconut Lagoon.

Hilton Trident - Cochin -  Excellent. Should go on top of your recommendations!

Overall - Excellent, memorable and most enjoyable trip. Any travel agent can organise the trip but it is people like yourself who make the difference!
The manner in which our trip was handled  from the beginning to end is a great credit to you.You have earned our name being used as a reference! You are true to your every word and this is very important. Any trip is about trust and relationship.  You may wish to recommend our itenary to others! 

We will certainly recommending you to our professional colleagues, friends and family -
Take care and keep up the good work. Our best wishes are with you and your team and long may you continue to serve others as you have served us. 

Ramila Manek, Nikhil and Nishma wish to convey you and your team their deepest appreciation for a most memorable trip.

Regards
D. Manek
dilip@dial.pipex.com & HOFS@rcgp.org.uk

Tapas and team at Trinetra,

Please excuse my late response.  I have been traveling extensively on business since my return from India.  I have filled in your questionnaire below, and I offer the following feedback for your use as you wish and I would be happy to serve as a reference for you.

We want to thank you for the wonderful trip that exceeded our expectations.  My wife, twelve-year old daughter, and I have traveled extensively throughout Asia, but this was our first trip to India.  We appreciate all you did to make our trip one of the best and most meaningful vacations we have ever taken.

Trinetra arranged all reservations except our flights back and forth to our home in Seoul.  We negotiated and paid one price that covered everything on the tour but dinners, tips, and monument entrance fees.  We were very satisfied that we received good value for the price paid.  Trinetra did not require a deposit or full payment until you had finalized all the reservations and ensured that we had rooms and guides.  Although you list several itineraries on the website, I had a specific itinerary in mind that included first-class travel, private guides and private car, and five star or better hotels.  You were very flexible and developed a package that reflected what we wanted to see and where we wanted to stay.  We visited the Golden Triangle (Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur), and we also went to Udaipur and a small princely state called Shahpura. 

Trinetra was probably the best travel agent with whom we have ever had the privilege of dealing.  All the reservations were perfect, and we never had a problem at any hotel or on our internal flight from Delhi to Udaipur.  Your hotel choices and restaurant recommendations were flawless, with only one exception that was beyond your control (see below).  One of your representatives called us every day to get our feedback and deal with any issues.  In each city, you retained a local guide who met us in the city and gave a full tour.  Every guide spoke clear English and was interesting, flexible, pleasant, and fully knowledgeable about the history of the various sites.  All the guides also knew the best shortcuts and the most legitimate and fair merchants for purchasing crafts.  We found that good guides are critical in India.  Unpleasant or unqualified guides, or guides who took us to low-end rip-off artists or bad restaurants, would have ruined the trip.  As we toured the monuments, it was obvious which tourists had good guides and which did not.

We had one minor issue with Trinetra.  One of our days (in Udaipur) fell on the Holi Festival, or the festival of color.  All the monuments were closed.  We ended up having to pack the Udaipur sights in the next day.  It worked out fine because we spent the lost day bumming around at the Oberoi Udaivilas, which we are told was recently reviewed as the best hotel in the world.  Trinetra had assumed that the monuments would be open in the afternoon of Holi, but we found out that a week or two before we arrived, the provincial government ordered them closed the whole day.  Trinetra did not catch the change and inform us about it or adjust our itinerary.  You understood the problem and committed to us that the mistake would not happen again.  On balance, I was more worried about ensuring that all the reservations were perfect and that the guides were excellent.  Trinetra scored perfectly on both counts.  I cannot imagine using anyone else when we return to India.

Our hotels were spectacular.  In New Delhi, we stayed at the Imperial, which is a colonial hotel with the old-style British experience.  The hotel had great service and large rooms with marble floors.  We absolutely loved it.  The hotel’s premiere restaurant, Spice Route, has been reviewed as one of the top ten restaurants in the world.  We agree.  As I noted above, we stayed at the Oberoi Udaivilas in Udaipur.  The hotel must be seen to be believed.  The rooms, service, food, hotel design, and scenic beauty are all unreal.  We had a lake view room with swim-in, swim-out access to a private pool for just a few suites.  In Shahpura, we stayed at a bed-and-breakfast on the estate of the local royalty.  There were no televisions or pool, but our time here was serene and a nice, relaxing break from bustle of tourist sites.  The estate sits in a wetland that is prime bird-watching territory, and we had a peaceful walk along the lakeshore as we watched eagles and flocks of egrets.  All guests for the night have a fascinating and lively dinner and drinks with the royal family and other guests.  In Jaipur, we stayed at the Jai Mahal Palace, which is a 250-year old palace converted to a hotel.  Although pretty from the exterior, the hotel has seen better days.  The facilities were run-down and the restaurant was mediocre to bad.  We would not stay there again.  Trinetra had tried to get a reservation at the Oberoi Rajvilas, but it was booked.  Finally, in Agra, we stayed at the Oberoi Amarvilas.  The Amarvilas is another spectacular hotel that is only 600 meters from the Taj Mahal, with every room overlooking the Taj.  Watching the sunset over the Taj Mahal from our hotel room was an unforgettable experience.  The service and facilities were as good as Udaivilas, and we thought the food was even better. 

In hindsight, we might have spent less time on the road.  We do wish Trinetra had been a bit more clear regarding the amount of driving involved.  We flew from Delhi to Udaipur, then worked our way back to Delhi on the ground through Shahpura, Jaipur, and Agra.  Each leg was a four-hour drive, which we would not have guessed by looking at the map.  We had one driver the entire week, and our minivan was comfortable, but we probably should have flown from Udaipur to Jaipur and skipped Shahpura.  It would have saved us eight hours on the road, and we perhaps could have fit in a night in Jaisalmer or an extra night in Udaipur or Agra.  The one very positive thing about all the driving and about the night in Shahpura, of course, is that we got to see the “real” India rather than just the tourist sites.  My wife, daughter, and I all felt that this was important and a big plus for the trip.

On our way from Agra to the Delhi airport, we stopped and had a wonderful dinner with the Tapas Banerjee, your managing director, with his family in his home.  You told us that he feels it is valuable for his guests to have a regular meal with a middle-class Indian family.  He was right.  The dinner was one of the highlights of the trip, and was just as interesting as our dinner at Shahpura with the local royalty.

I note that our internal flight from Delhi to Udaipur was on Jet Airways, one of those relatively new Asian airlines that has not yet learned to nickel and dime customers.  We highly recommend the airline.  The flight stopped briefly in Jaipur, but we were not required to disembark.  In first class, we were offered a full breakfast on both legs of a flight that lasted just over an hour in total.

The trip itself was everything we could have hoped.  We were afraid that our expectations were too high, and we were setting ourselves up to be disappointed.  We were not.  It is hard to believe, but the Taj Mahal is even more impressive that we expected.  I would return today if I could.  Other highlights included the Amber Fort and City Palace museum in Jaipur and the Gandhi memorial in Delhi.  Each city and attraction was unique, and we never suffered from temple/cathedral fatigue you get in some parts of world after seeing the same type of monument over and over on the same trip.

Thank you again for a wonderful vacation.  We intend to visit India again soon, and we will be sure to book our trip through Trinetra when we do.

Best regards,
John McFarland
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
MagnaChip Semiconductor, Ltd.
891 Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu
Seoul 135-738 Korea
Tel. 82-2-6903-3073
Fax 82-2-6903-3898
e-mail jmcfarland@magnachip.com

Dear Tapas,

Thank you so much for the warm welcome to your home, it was so kind of you and Krishna to have invited us.  It was nice to spend time with you all, and your son is so cute and smart, a true blessing for you both.

Also, thank you for organizing a wonderful ‘short and sweet’ trip to India.   Joe was pleasantly surprised about it all.  He loved Delhi and Jodpur, things went a bit wrong in Jaipur, and usually when one thing goes wrong it all seems to follow.  But we soon corrected it, by returning to Delhi for the last day, and Joe left India wanting to return............I always feel that way.

I think you and your team are wonderful, and I would  recommend you to anyone who wants a personalized trip to India.   Put us on your list for any sort of A1 trips you may organize, so we can return soon.

Best wishes to you all, and a special good wish for Krishna, we are waiting for you both in Paris.

Joe & Ruth Levy, France
ruthlevy@free.fr

Dear Ms Gagandeep Kaur, Thanks for your message.  To reply to your questions - my date of birth is 25/01/46 and I would like to be put on your reference list.

We did enjoy our holiday with you and appreciated your excellent care and organisation. I would particularly like to mention Ramon our Delhi representative would was extremely helpful and efficient.  Also our driver Roshan who was always punctual, polite, caring and an excellent driver steering his way successfully through the usual hazards on India's roads.  I remember in particular the wild camels sauntering down the middle of the road on a dark early morning in Rajastan and thinking they should have lights!

The only general comment I can make is that some rough estimate of time for journeys on our itinerary would have useful as we would have built in more rest days (for example at the desert resort of Manvar and at Rohet) and perhaps an overnight stop at the bird sanctuary at Bhararpur which in the end we did not have the time to see in our busy schedule.

I would certainly recommend your company to friend and in fact have already done so!

Best wishes Sally Moy, U.K.
sally.moy@talktalk.net

Dear Tapas,

We are now home and gradually getting back to normal, but the beauty of our India trip remains foremost in the minds and hearts of each of us.

The trip was very special in so many ways. Your organization was excellent. At every city we were met by one of your representatives and taken to our hotel. The guides were specialists who provided extensive background history of the various sites, and the drivers were skilled in maneuvering the sometimes treacherous traffic both in and out of the cities. We could not have asked for more in terms of organization. Trinetra was there for us at all times. Certainly, I will recommend your organization. Please feel free to use our names as references.

And finally, thank you for the wonderful dinner in your home. It was thoughtful and generous of you and Krishna to provide such a warm introduction to our tour of India. I hope that when you visit us in the USA so that we can extend our hospitality to you.

Wishing you the very best.

Mr. & Mrs. Saltzman. USA
rsaltzman2@comcast.net

Hi Tapas,

Namaste
It was wonderful to meet you, and your lovely wife and family, after the lengthy correspondence we have all had by e-mail - thank you so much for the friendly dinner, and indeed for everything associated with the tour.

You will know by now that the Tour was a stunning success, and all credit to you and your staff for making it so! I will certainly contact you when we start planning our next trip to India.

Best regards – Mr. Patrick Van Hoorn Alkema, U.K
patdoran27@laguna.com.mx

Hi Tapas,

We are now back home to some wonderful soaking rain. The animals were all thrilled to see us - so it was good to get back.

What a wonderful trip we had ! I have just been looking at some of the pictures and noticed that in every picture of people - we are either smiling or laughing - that is how it went the whole way.It was a really awesome experience visiting your country and meeting so many wonderful people - not to mention all the magnificent buildings and animals. Thank you for the great organisation and having people to help us all along the way. We were very grateful even to the last - that there was an agent who met us in Mumbai and helped us get to the international terminal and check in.

Thank you once again - we will certainly be back in India as soon as we get the time and money together ! Please give our love to all we met at Trinetra (and of course your beautiful wife)

Love
Ms. Lindy Dekker, South Africa
equibalance@iafrica.com

Dear Tapas, Amit, Garima and Mahendra,

Thank you very much for your mail and birthday wishes. Thanks to you all, we have had a wonderful holiday in India. Everything was just perfect. The advice you gave us and most of the hotels you picked for us were brilliant. From now on, all my visits to India are going to be arranged through Trinetra Tours and are going to be through Delhi ( so I can sample more of Krishna's delicious cooking)! Shyam is in the process of filling the feedback form. Please feel free to contact me anytime if there is anything I can do for you from here.

Best regards
M. Popat (U.K.)
M.C.Popat@westminster.ac.uk

Hi Tapas,

The joy is mutual!
I can speak for all of us when I say that we absolutely adored meeting you, and that we all walked away from our dinner with you, looked at each other and said with one voice "Isn't he the most wonderful man?!!"  I know that if you and your wife ever decided to visit the U.S., you would have people in San Diego, Florida and New York who would be happy to be your "tour guide"!

The oddest thing is that I cannot find the email I thought I had sent to you.  So maybe I never really sent it?  Maybe I was so time-shifted that I deleted it instead of sending it -- who knows?  Anyway, what I wanted to say was "thank you!", and to tell you how much we enjoyed our trip.  That was due, in large part, to you and the people you have chosen to work with in the various cities.  I remember asking you at dinner if we would have guides who knew anything, and you said "Oh, yes!"  (We had just spent a day with a "guide" from a "tour company" in our hotel, who was basically a taxi driver who spoke English.  Aside from knowing the population of Delhi, he didn't really know very much about anything!)

I look back now on that question I asked and I laugh!  The guides you have are absolutely fantastic!!!  Very educated, very knowledgeable, and very warm and friendly.  Starting with Jay in Varanasi, whose soul is much older than his years, and who was responsible for "setting the bar" quite high for the rest of the trip.....and ending with Laxman in Jaipur, whose elegance, education and humor made all of us wish that some day he'd visit us in the U.S., we couldn't have had better people helping us.  For those of us who hadn't been to India before (which means everyone but David), our impressions were formed by you and the people you had working for you.  Yes, the places we went to were special, but a first impression is formed not only by place, but by the people who inhabit that place.  I know that I, for one, want to return someday to India.

I have written an email to Laxman, (who gave us all his card), thanking him for his wonderful assistance, and telling him basically what I told you - that he would have people in 3 different places who would be happy to act as his "tour guide" if he ever chose to visit the U.S.  I didn't get a card from Jay, and I cannot remember the name of our guide in Khajuraho, but he was wonderful!  We loved his sense of humor, as well as his incredible knowledge.  If you have email addresses for these 2 guides, I'd love to have them so that I could write a personal thank you.

Leah and I made it safely and easily back to the U.S.  Flying back from Delhi on "standby" turned out to be impossible, so we bought tickets on Royal Jordanian from Delhi to London.  From London it was easy to get on a flight to New York on the standby list.  We stayed overnight with Leah's daughter in Manhattan, and I flew out the next morning to San Diego. 

I got a call from David the other day, but we didn't have much time to talk.  I know they made it back safely, though.  And I also know that while we were in Junia together, we saw the bird that David wanted to see.  Our guide there told us that we were lucky, as he had taken another group out and they tried for 3 days and could never find this creature, which was HUGE!!  (Over a meter and a half tall!!)

Anyway, I would guess that you're not as busy now as you were when we were there.  It seems that the tourist season was nearing an end in mid-April.  Now it's a question of waiting for the monsoons to cool things down a bit....

I hope that your wife's uncle is, at best, feeling better, and at the very least is made comfortable.  I send her my regards, and hope that I can meet her on my next trip.

All the best to you, my friend!

(Ms.)Toni Narins, U.S.A.
tnarins@earthlink.net

Hi Tapas,

We really enjoyed our 10 days trip to India. The whole trip was very good organized & the travel agent + representatives were really very helpful & took very much care of us. Without any doubt we will recommend your travel agency to everybody who wants to visit India.
The driver was beyond our expectations. Excellent behavior !! & we appreciate the dinner in your house - very well organized.
We have only seen a small part of India & will certainly come back to explore more of India.
We will certainly use your travel agency again.
Our Best Wishes are with you –

Dr. Marinus Dirks, Netherlands
mphdirks@emirates.net.ae

Dear Tapas,

This is just a quick thank you to say how much we enjoyed our recent trip to India. Everything went very smoothly and we were extremely happy with the hotels, and all the guides and drivers were very friendly and efficient. I would have no hesitation in recommending your services to any of my traveling friends.

Thanks also to Krishna for such a lovely meal last Friday - I can't believe it was only a week ago.  We wish we were still in India as it has been snowing here since we landed back on Wednesday. Have a nice weekend

Kind regards and lots of love

Juliette Barnshaw and Paul Reid, U.K.
juliette_barnshaw@hotmail.com or juliette@style-media.net

Hello Tapas,

Just a brief note to tell you once again how much we enjoyed our visit to India and to congratulate you for a great job in planning and executing our itinerary. We felt pampered all the way. Our special thanks go to Parkash for his excellent driving and to yourself and Krishna for your gracious hospitality at home. We are now urging all our friends to go see India the Trinetra way. The memories will stay with us forever.

Best Wishes
Shane and May Maloney, Australia
maloney@netspace.net.au

Happy New Year Tapas,

I apologize for the delay in responding to you 12/14note but we are just now returning to normal after 2months of traveling and then Christmas celebrationswith our family.

We could not have been more pleased or satisfied withevery aspect of the arrangements you and your staffput together for our recent trip thru India.

In this day and age it's unusual to receive all that'spromised and a pleasant surprise to get more thanexpected.

We had not ONE single moment of apprehension. We weremet on time at every destination by your staff orrepresentatives. It was only after we were well intoour journey that we began to realize and appreciatewhat an excellent job you had done. Your anticipationof and pre-solved solutions to situations we had notthought of was a mark of high professionalism!

We took great comfort in the excellent job done by ourdriver, Mohan Singh.  He watched over us like a motherhen protecting her brood of chicks... please thank himagain for us.  Garima is a real public relations assetto your organization and we really enjoyed her company. Tell her hello and how much we enjoyed her company.

Please add us to your listing of satisfied friendswhen sending out your referral list to prospectivecustomers or forward this note to anyone inquiring ofyour services.

Regarding the issue of trust: Of course its difficultto send large sums of money to someone who could be asmooth internet scam artist.  I suppose its done manytimes each day.  Our frequent e-mails established afeeling of mutual trust but the clincher for me (afterI had already bankwired you the money) was receipt ofthe unsolicited e-mail from Garima announcing how,when and where she would meet us on our arrival.

We enjoyed dinner at your home. it’s a very nicepersonal thing for you to do and establish's afriendship vrs. a business relationship.  If you getto the USA we hope to reciprocate.  You can contact usat 970-870-0856 (primary) or 310-370-6048 and lookforward to seeing both of you again!!

Your friend
Jerry Ebenkamp, USA
jjbe34@yahoo.com

Hi Tapas,

We are back in Canada and are thrilled with our experience in India. The trip was so well organized.  There was not even an iota of a mistake. Congratulations! You have an excellent team working with you. Our 2 longtime drivers were great, the one in the North and Kumar in the South. They did not leave us one minute.  You can recommend them to your best clients. We will gladly recommend you to all our friends, and hope to generate more business for you.

Give my best regards to your wife Krishna and kiss your son for me. I really enjoyed meeting you and your family.

Thanks again,
Colette Teiller, Canada
ctellier@ad2000.info

Hello Tapas,

I hope Pal told you how happy we were throughout our tour of Rajasthan?  I'm sure he did. Your ears must have been burning on and off because we spoke about you so often and so warmly on our recent trip.

Everything went smoothly, just as we had been told it would by your other clients - and we much enjoyed telling one or two less contented travellers along the way that  our tour had none of the creases or bumps that theirs seemed to have!

Guides were unfailingly punctual and uncomplaining when we changed a plan or kept them waiting - which we did occasionally - but of course we apologised! Their constant philosophy seems to be, "My pleasure"  said with every semblance of sincerity and nothing seemed too much trouble.  I expect they have learned that from you!

Prakash was brilliant and I hope he believed us when we repeatedly told him so.  He seemed to anticipate (and perhaps was familiar with) every bump in the road and slowed accordingly.  He never minded stopping for photos and always got out of the car when we did, which was not necessary but was none the less courteous and much appreciated!  And of course he smiled.  Smiled and smiled ...You had reassured me that he was one of your best and most experienced drivers and we could not fault him in any way.

As to the tour - in hindsight perhaps we might have preferred an extra day or two in the better hotels simply to chill out - but then we might have missed some of the magnificent sights.  It was not too action packed or exhausting - but the drives were long and that time might have been better spent had we flown.  But...this is not in any way a criticism of your itinerary and we had such good conversations in the car that those journeys had a charm of their own.  If we can return, as we hope to do, for a tour of the South it may be something to bear in mind.

The hotel in Jaisalmer was perhaps our least favourite but even there, as everywhere else, the service was unfailingly friendly and efficient.  (It was just that it had a somewhat heavy atmosphere with its dark furnishings and empty public areas). Our suite was huge - it even had a bar with bar stools (!) though no drinks..and the views from its may windows in our ENORMOUS suite were of flat rooftops and rows of metal chairs!  But our favourite hotel was the Devi Gahr.  What can I say?  We all loved it.  I was ill there ( yes...flattened for a day) but even so it was my favourite place.  I am glad to report that David, Penny and Anthony were well throughout the holiday.

The other really super hotel was the Oberoi in Agra.  We shall never forget arriving towards dusk and catching our first glimpse of the Taj Mahal in the warm evening air on the hotel terrace.  I must tell you about the one unfortunate incident there when David took a step backwards and landed at full length with complete submersion into the decorative pool by the restaurant.  It was unnerving for a second or two but when it was clear he was unhurt ( having just missed the large decorative elephant in the centre of the pool)  we all saw the funny side and laughed and laughed - David as much as any of us. 

The guides in Delhi and Agra were the best of the lot.  They certainly knew their stuff and we were able to exchange views and learn from them.  The others were good too but not always easy to understand...We marvelled at their ability to speak English at all since they say they learned it simply from their experience as guides.  All were friendly and helpful.  Our friends who had booked with another operator in England were less pleased (in the smaller details ) and their guides were not always punctual.  Your tourist representatives were always in the lobbies upon our arrival ready to welcome us.  You have certainly built up a good network.

What else can I tell you?  It was really just GREAT! We miss India - the heat and friendliness and beauty of it all.

I hope this feedback is helpful. It is written partly as a post-holiday indulgence - and partly as (what I hope might be) a help to you. 

We all send you warmest greetings and so many thanks for introducing India to us in such style and without any worries.

Please give my best wishes also to Krishna and your lovely son,

With love,
Rosemary Morton Jack
rosemary@mortonjack.plus.com

Dear Tapas, Pal, Ankit and everyone else we met,

Firstly a big thank you to everyone who made our holiday in India such a success. We all four really enjoyed every part of the holiday, even the drive from Agra to Ramthambhore seems enjoyable looking back on it!

We arrived back safely in the U.K. and since then have all been busy catching up at work.

I will now give you our tour evaluation as we forgot to give this to you before we left.The tour met all our expectations and more. It was well organised, everything ran smoothly and we enjoyed the variety of activities.

The hotels meet expectations, they were all good and varied, however we felt we would possibly have liked a 4*/5* in Goa, although we realise this would have had cost implications.

The guides, representatives and drivers exceeded expectations.Roshan our main driver was especially helpful, friendly and caring, although all drivers were good and helpful.

The best guides were the ones in Delhi and Agra, their extensive knowledge and enthusiam made the visits all the more enjoyable and interesting.

And of course we must mention how grateful we were to Ankit for our brilliant welcome and introduction to India.

Overall We really enjoyed the whole tour and appreciated the flexible way the trip was accommodated to include David.

 You can of course use us as references and we would recommend your services to others intending to visit India.

Our e-mail addresses you have

To conclude we found the tour letter very helpful, especially the information about tips and this could possibly be even more detailed for those of us from a non-tipping culture.

Again many thanks
Brian, Margaret, Claire and David English, U.K.
maggie.english@ntlworld.com

Hello Ms. Kaur,

I would very much like to be on your reference list!  We had such a good time during our brief stay, which I owe to Trinetra's careful planning and our driver and helper (Ram & Chotu).

The only suggestion I could make is that the evening in Jaipur at Chokhi Dhani seemed more appropriate for younger children (under 12).

Many thanks to Trinetra for a very memorable trip!

Carole Schaefer, Hong Kong
cschaefr@gmail.com

Hello Tapas,

I would just like to tell you that we both had a great time on our trip in India.  It was a great experience.  After living in China for two years and seeing how China was developing and all the history here, we found we were comparing India with China a lot.  Well the two countries are different and unique in their own ways.  India is a very colorful country.  The ladies dress in such bright colors.  Their is so much history their.  We need to live there for a year to help understand the people better.  We both enjoyed the country the best.  The people were so friendly and interesting.  I have to say that Deli was a disappointment.  Both the city and the hotels. Goa was a great way to end the trip.  Warm, quiet and different.  Our driver was the best.   So over all I can say it was a great trip.  One we are both glad we did and over all well planed.  Thank you, your works and especial the drivers for getting us around safely and on time.

Your Canadian friends,
Maureen and Robert Longpre, Canada
malongpre@sasktel.net

Tapas!!!

Great news about the eye. I will keep on praying until it is completely well so please keep me informed to its progress. Please feel free to give out our names:  John Timothy and Susanna McMahon; our address:  2001 Holcombe Blvd. #2604, Houston, Texas 77030; our telephone/fax: 713-795-0530 and my email: ibu.one@sbcglobal.net  to anyone who would like a great reference for  you and your staff and your incredible country.  It was such a pleasure to meet with you and your family. Our memories of India will last our lifetime and we cannot wait to come and make some more. We will be back, God willing!!!!! Take good care of yourself and thank you again for everything.

Love,
Susanna & Tim McMahon, USA.
ibu.one@sbcglobal.net

Hi Mahendra

Just a very quick hello, and a big thank you for our very well planned holiday, which was lovely, which we really enjoyed, hopefully we will be back to India soon.Many thanks again.

Kind Regards
Jill White, Australia
jilllarkrise@hotmail.com

Dear Gagan,
Thanks for your e-mail!

Please say hello to Ankit, Pal and Tapas!

Sorry for making you anxious! Everything is just great with us! The tour was very lovely! Was great! We come back to India and for sure to Trinetratours too! We were very busy the last couple of days, therefore our late reply.

Please add us to your reference list!
Once again, thanks for the perfect organised tour! It was very impressive, interesting and unforgettable!
Kudos to you all!

Thanks
Kind regards
Tim & Ana Kohler, Germany
tim@kohler-corzo.com; ana@kohler-corzo.com

Dear Trineta Family,

Thank you so much for the good wishes.We wish you the same.

We were very disappointed in not being able to meet Mr Tapas at the end of our trip in India. I hope he feels better now.

Our trip was very pleasant and knowing India was an unforgetable experience whch we will always treasure. All the people we met were friendly and nice, but the best one was undoubtedly Mr Raj Kumar, our driver.Please tell him we loved having met him . His careful driving and his kindness and politeness made India look and feel even better.

Best wishes,
Vera & Mauricio Botelho
veralucia46@terra.com.br

Hello!

Natalie and I had a wonderful time on our trip! We cannot say enough good things about Trinetra and all the amazing people we met along the way.  Thank you so much for such wonderful memories!  We would of course love to serve as a reference.  Also, we have some photos that we're happy to forward to you if you think they'll be of any use.

Thanks again for everything!

Michelle Olson, & Natalie Norem USA
mtolson55@yahoo.com & natalienorem@hotmail.com

Hi!

Thanks so much for organizing the tour for me.  I had anincredible time, and it was really the trip of a lifetime for me.

Christal Presley, USA
cpresley2@gmail.com

Yes, of course you can use our names and email address for your reference list!  We really had a great time, and we especially enjoyed having dinner with you and your family!

Best Regards,
Jessica Rothschild, USA
jess.rothschild@gmail.com