Tours in Review

India with Overseas Adventure Travel

We’ve wandered much of the world since retirement, usually independently and on a modest budget. We decided to take the “Heart of India” tour from Overseas Adventure Travel (One Broadway, Ste. 600, Cambridge, MA 02142; phone 800/955-1925 or visit www.oattravel.com), Sept. 29-Oct.15, ’05. We’re glad we did!

India is indeed incredible. The historic buildings are magnificent, the Taj Mahal more beautiful than we could have imagined. But the congestion, the poverty, the difficulty of travel are also more than we could have imagined. Our tour director, Shailesh Chauhan, led us through all of the hassles and gave us real opportunities to see and enjoy the featured sites, but, more importantly, he let us get a feel of everyday India, its people at work, at worship, at home and at play.

The basic price of $2,995 included air from New York’s JFK. Our accommodations were excellent, often 5-star hotels but also a comfortable resort and a “tented” camp experience. The tour was well paced, with a safari in a tiger sanctuary providing a welcome mid-trip change to the bustle of the cities.

Our tour group of 16, OAT’s maximum size, was a bright, well-traveled, congenial group. We were not bothered by a constant need for small bills for tips or bottled water, since abundant water was provided and all tips, except for those to the tour director and the bus driver/helper, were covered by the tour.

We highly recommend this tour and that you request one led by Shailesh Chauhan. We have taken a few other tours and feel that Shailesh was extraordinary in his attention to the desires of the tour members, in his enthusiasm for showing us the many features of India and for his calm, pleasant manner.

— BILL & MARY CARSTEDT, Beverly Shores, IN

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