Are you the kind of person, not comfortable c package holidays , willing to explore? Spend lots of time & indulge in the place of your choice within a planned budget?
Your locations could be scenic hill resorts, trekking hills , places of historic interest, beach resort , a religious trip or just a beer binge.
If you are the kind that believes in the local food, transport all at a very very affordable cost., then you are looking for loads & loads of information like:
How to reach the place through different modes of transport? Where to stay & stay within the budget?
You will need data on Rating, a brief description about the place, travelers’ feedback, prices for high end, Middle end & High end, the local cuisine, choice of places to have it. Local modes of transport/likely cost & schedules. You will also need Minute details like phone nos, Restaurant name, Owners, name, rating etc
Then you must get a copy of "Lonely Planet-INDIA’-(currently only 12th edition-2007 available).Cost INR 1090.
Do not worry about the cost of the book.You will recover it back in the first trip itself by way of savings in Lodging, Travel & Travel agent commission.You are left with your independence to indulge in your own planned vacation.
I have made use of the book, (over 3 editions)to plan a no. of independent & family trips across the country over the years.I am very impressed with the book and have gifted it to no. of my close friends.
I used to notice that this book was always an accessory with the back packed foreign tourist.So I bumped into one & asked to see the book.Then I got hooked into it.
Lonely Planet-INDIA is a must have travel book.It’s a pity that it isn’t an Indian publication by Indian authors.It’s available only in high end book stores like Landmark, Higginbothams etc.The book is loaded with lots of B&W, color pics & lots of directional map sketches with details on post offices, banks, travel exchange , shopping centers & tourist offices.You get to know about Interesting but Remote tourist destinations, not known to many.There are brief chapters on India’s extraordinary history and culture as a country , as a state and also for specific tourist spots.
Lonely Planet was a travel book series conceived by a bunch of Australian back packed hitchhikers like Tony wheeler/Maureen Wheeler , way back in 1972.The team explored various continents by hitchhiking .Later they wrote about their experiences.It was a struggle to get the enterprise going initially.They stuck gold sooner the INDIA book was published.It has been their best seller right from it’s first edition.Now the Lonely planet group publishes travel books virtually for every country on the planet.
This edition runs to over 1236 pages.The edition has an Indian contributor, Sabrina singh with of course lots of foreign contributors.These editions are updated every 2-3 years.
I strongly recommend this book as a "Must have" for those smitten by the travel bug.