I booked a vacation package to Mussorie via the IRCTC vacation packages offered at the website. According to the site the package includes AC chair car tickets from New Delhi Railway Station to Dehradun, transfer to Sterling Resorts in Mussoorie(or equivalent accomodation) in a luxury bus, local sightseeing during the stay, meals and timely transfer back to Dehradun in time for the train journey back.
We were picked up at the Dehradun station by a dilapidated taxi, taken to the town square in Mussoorie and abandoned by the taxi. From there to the hotel was half a kilometer of uphill climb for which we had to hire two cycle rickshaws. We had already been told that instead of the Sterling Resort(we were looking forward to a peaceful stay in the resort away from the crowds of the town), we were going to be put up at the Honeymoon Inn which is in the middle of the Mall Road. When we struggled up to the Honeymoon Inn, we were told that there was another change of plan and that we were going to be staying in a broken down dump called the Pavilion Hotel. We had to carry our luggage ourselved down the slope to the Pavilion.
At the Pavilion, we were told that lunch was not available and we made our own arrangements. There was no hot water in the bathroom and they reluctantly provided us with soap and towels only after we threatened to leave. There were flies in the room(big ugle ones along with other insects). The reason became clear when we looked outside the window and saw what appeared to be a significant portion of the city’s garbage and other waste(human and animal).
The next day was supposed to be a sightseeing tour of Kempty Falls and Municipal Gardens. The plan was that we would spend an hour and a half at each place and return in time for lunch. We left at 11.00 AM and soon slowed down to a crawl(another ancient taxi which had no AC and made grinding noises every time the driver used the brake). At 2.00 PM we were still languishing in the traffic jam extending to and beyond the Kempty Falls(no, we were not unlucky, apparantly that is normal for Sundays there). When we reached the place, it was so crowded that we decided to go past to the Yamuna Bridge where we spent a couple of hours and returned to the Pavilion shack(to find the hot water not working again).
The next day we were evicted from our room at 10.30. We had to leave our luggage next to the table which serves as a reception at the Pavilion. We were told to report to the Honeymoon Inn at 12.30 for luch followed by transfer to the station. We spent two hours roaming along the mall and looking at the crowds(denser than Chandni Chowk). We reported to the Honeymoon Inn at 12.30 and were mad to wait for more than one hour for lunch. We quickly gobbled down the lunch and were ready to go to the station at 2.00. We were told to wait with our luggage on the main street while someone from the Honeymoon Inn brought rikshaws to take us down to the taxi stand(Taxis are not permitted on the Mall Road).
At 2.30 we were still waiting. We tried to call the local coordinator of IRCTC(one Dewakar). He declined to answer the phone. We tried calling more senior people in Delhi and got reassuring promises. At 3.00 we were still waiting and getting quite nervous since our train was at 5.00 and on Sunday afternoons there is a lot of traffic down the road to Dehradun.
Finally I went to ask the manager at the Honeymoon Inn(who was supposed to be coordinating all this) to ask him why we had not be conveyed down to the taxi stand yet. To my astonishment the guy(one Sanjay) started fighting with me using rude and foul language, essentially telling me that since he had made no prior arrangements, apparantly expecting empty rickshaws to trun up spontaneously, he could not, and would not help us get to the taxi stand.
I engaged a porter, carried my son on my shoulder and walked the half km to the taxi stand and got another dilapidated taxi.
More due to luck than due to planning, we reached the station just in time to catch the Shatabdi back home.
I made myself two promises- never to visit Mussoorie again and never to book a vacation package from IRCTC.