Hi,
Thanks again for the feedback and comments.
Lonely Planet is still used today, but I think with the internet and mobile phones and websites such as India Mike, folk are moving to electronic media for current advice and recommendations.
We used L.P. on our first trip, but found we were on a lemming path of western tourists... Once we just got off the trains and busses anywhere we fancied, it felt better. (Nowadays I am on the Trip Advisor lemming path instead !)
Indian Trains...
Your best bet is to book as far in advance as you can, Indian trains can get sold out within hours of booking opening. Advance booking opens for most reservable trains 120 days in advance. There is limited availability for AC1st class, and most tourists find AC2 acceptable. (First Class non A/C is almost gone from the network.)
The thing is that you need to register with both Indian Railways site and Cleartrip site first. Cleartrip are agents that accept foreign credit cards... On Indian Railways site you can only pay if you have an American Express credit card... It is something to do with security of card payments...
So, in order to register at these sites you need an Indian mobile phone number... bit tricky eh?
There is a way around this, and this is where you need to follow the instructions on Cleartrip and/or seat 61 and/or India Mike.
Broadly speaking, you have to email a scan (I sent a jpeg photo) of your passport to prove you are a foreigner.
I tried a few years back and it would not work for me, but made a fresh attempt this year and it seemed the system works better, or maybe I was just lucky !
I booked all the trains on cleartrip, print out ticket at home, all sorted. Even get old folks discount !
Unreserved train coaches are mostly very crowded and will only suit the most adventurous of tourist spirits... Having said that, I anticipate my next train trip here to bein unreserved, but only a six hour ride to Bikaner.
As to my routes... I like train rides, so that is why I zig zag around at times, to pass through different areas as well as reach final destinations. The map you show is slightly wrong, in that the first journey from Trivandrum to Delhi follows the coast all the way to near Mumbai, before heading to Delhi. After here, Jaisalmer, I go nearby to Bikaner, before swooping down to Chennai, then back across to Goa. Goa back to Delhi .Delhi to Kolkata, Kolkata to Kalka and Shimla. That will make your map look even more "interesting" . After that I still have a month to play with !
If you are going next autumn you can take your time, if you are thinking January/Feb 2016 you need to get booking...
Let me know if I have missed anything you asked about?
PS One slight issue with AC1 class is that local Indian VIP's Politicians, etc, get priority in this class... so you may get "bumped off the train" at the last minute. Not all trains have AC1, but many more have AC2.
One good site to play around on, is India Rail Info, shows a wealth of information with timetables, route maps, etc, it is an enthusiasts site, you cannot book through them, although you can check how many seats are available on any train/date within the 120 days advance window. Beware also that many trains do not run every day... all this is shown too on India Rail Info.
Ed
