Railway Rigmarole

After a little discussion between Rory and myself, a route around India was agreed and considering my "Security" job can be extremely tedious at times, I willingly accepted the task of booking the various journeys required.

If you ever fancy a mental workout I would highly recommend attempting to purchase Indian Railway tickets online. When I accepted the task I was unaware that a 1st class degree in Railway Time-table-ing was required. However, after an hour of entering the same station and passenger information repeatedly I managed to find an Indian bank that would accept my payment. My options for seating were fairly slim as we had left booking quite late in Indian rail terms. But I managed to secure two beds in a 6 man cabin (Pictured Right) for an over night trip from Delhi to Varinassi.

One Trip down, seven to go.

After a few more teething problems and 120 Rupees (£1.70) worth of cancellation fees, I managed to book tickets for all 8 legs of the journey and it only took me 8 long hours.

The route we will shall take is shown on the map to the left (Click to enlarge).

First we are taking the blue loop through Delhi - Varanassi - Agra - Jaipur - Jodhpur - Jaisalmer and back to Delhi.

Then we will take a short 3 day trip to Shimla (Red loop) which is apparently "a mock Tudor settlement with all the characteristics of a suburban town in Surrey". I've also read that Everest can be seen from Shimla on a clear day. I'm pretty certain you can't do that in Guildford.