We didn't go in the third year which is the best time for such tour but when we were entering 7th semester after returning from India Tour we had to prepare for Final Minors exams.
We discussed a lot but finally we were just 70% of us went out of them 2 left the tour from Goa returned back to Nepal. So, obviously its not a piece of cake.
Don't take Girls in the tour, you can take them if you planned to spend money lavishly on the hotel lodging food and transportation cause you need to be secure all the time above all there have been incident of fighting in the local train for Girl (Indian boys tease your team girl and you can sit ideally you try to retaliate but you forget you are not in your country so you get punch instead, I heard this happened to BPKIHS guys year before we went).
Preparation: Angel, CM and I and other batch mates were really interested and planned it for 4-5 month before the tour. We conducted a raffle program during Dashain collected around 40,000 I can't remember the exact fig. then wrote and application letter and got signed from Principal sir and submitted our request letter to the Indian Embassy (at least minimum 15 member, one team leader has to be defined to get the discount in train fair).
We took that letter and went to Gorakhpur Train GM office got his signed and went to ticket counter finalized the route and got 70-80% discount in train fair and then bought the ticket 1.5 month ago our scheduled tour.
It cost IC 800/person for whole train fair. If we wouldn't have done so IC 800 is just a train fair from Gorakhpur to Delhi
. You have to book the ticket 1.5-2 month before your tour otherwise you can't get the train ticket.
Our
Routes were
1. Kathmandu
2. Gorakhpur
3. Agra
4. Delhi
5. Mumbai
6. Goa
7. Banglore (Puttaparthy - Sai Baba)
8. Mayshoore
9. Ooty
10. Chennai (went to Tirumla Tirupati Tepmle)
11. Calcutta
12. New Jalpaigudi (NJP) then Kathmandu
Travel: We always took train in Night reached try to reach the city in the morning so that we could and take train in the evening from that city.
Night travel - Day in city
1. Kathmandu to Bhairahawa (Night Bus) then in the morning took bus to Gorakhpur
2. Gorakhpur to Agra (We had Gorakhpur to Delhi train so we got down in Tunda and hired Sumo to Agra) reached in the morning saw Taj Mahal)
3. Agra to Delhi in Local train reached in the night
4. Delhi took train in the evening and got down in Mumbai next morning in CST (Chatrapati Shivaji Terminal)
5. Mumbai took train in the evening and reached Goa next morning
6. Goa took train in the evening and reached Banglore next morning
7. Banglore - one day for Puttavarthy - Sai baba on bus and day bus journey to Myshore and Ooti and returned back same day.
8. Banglore took train in the evening and reached Chenai next day
9. Chennai ( One day to Tirumla Tirupati temple on bus and another day just roamed around and took train in the evening and reached Calcutta next day)
10. Calcutta after two day stay in Calcutta took train in the evening and got down NJP nexd day
11. New Jalpaigudi (Silgudhi) took bus to Kathmandu
Imprtant: If you are thinking to get the discount the way we did then don't forget to get the TT's sign on the ticket when you reached the place and leave it. We didn't do it until we reached myshoore, we had a problem when TT saw our unsighne ticket obviously we had to settle it out with bribe.
Our
Stay
1. Kathmandu
2. Gorakhpur
3. Agra (one day)
4. Delhi (2 day)
5. Mumbai (3 day)
6. Goa (4 day)
7. Banglore (2 day - one day for Puttavarthy - Sai baba on bus)
8. Mayshoore - Ooty and then returned to Banlore (1 day)
9. Chennai (2 day - One day to Tirumla Tirupati temple on bus)
10. Calcutta (2 day)
11. New Jalpaigudi (Silgudhi) then Kathandu
Contact person: It is wise to have contact person non-medico friend at every places they turned out to be a great help.
1. Kathmandu
2. Gorakhpur
3. Agra
4. Delhi (Friends)
5. Mumbai (Stayed in friends apartment was a great help)
6. Goa (Friends were with us, helped us to roam around)
7. Banglore
8. Mayshoore
10. Ooty
10. Chennai
11. Calcutta (Friends)
12. New Jalpaigudi
Places to Visit: Usually you can get a small tour guide book in each place one of you can buy and get the idea about the place of interest. That is the best way.
1. Kathmandu
2. Gorakhpur
3. Agra - Taj Mahal nothing else
4. Delhi - Lots of places Red Fort to Kutub Minar, historical places, lots of buy tour guide book
5. Mumbai don't mis
Essel World - have complete one day, Tara Mandal, Juhu Beach, many more again Tour guide book
6. Goa - all the famous beaches, historical places, take a bike on hire and roam around, you should have Nepali License
7. Banglore - you can go to Puttaparthy from here, some of us did took bus and returned back in the evening.
8. Mayshoore - Tipu Sultan, Maharaja's Place, Brinda van Garden
9. Ooty - most of shooting spots
10. Chennai - you can go to Tirupati Temple, longest beach, historical places
11. Calcutta - historical places, zoo again tour guide would be helpful
12. New Jalpaigudi
Suggestions: If you are taking this route then don't mis bold places. Other route and place will be the same
1. Kathmandu
2. Gorakhpur
3. Agra
4. Delhi
5. Mumbai
(You can add one more day)
6. Goa
(take few extra days in Goa, we thought 4 days were not enough)
7. Banglore
8. Mayshoore
9. Ooty
10. Chennai
(Go to Pondichery its like Goa)
11. Calcutta
12. New Jalpaigudi (Silgudhi)
(you can go to Darjeeling just few hours journey)- Don't take girls if you are following our route, its very hectic two of our batch mates abandoned it from Goa.
- Define your Travel Schedule how many days in train, in places etc
- You can get ATM which is can be used in India I think Himalayan Bank has such provision
- Save money see many places, don't waste in luxuries hotel and good food, your motto is to visit the place
- Its good to have some extra money with someone we had Angel that boost up your morale and confidence in unknown places
- Try to search for your friend at all the places they can guide you much more than you can expect
- Be polite, gentle and down to earth this is the wisest thing
- Another important things.. don't forget to visit Medical Colleges and Hospital like AIMS, Maulana Azaad Medical College, Lady Harding in Delhi, similary other place like Mumbai, Chennai, Calcutta now Kolkata.
- Maintain a Diary it becomes an asset in the later part of your life
Expenditure: It depends up on you and your way of living. Usually we all had on average 8-10,000 IC beside the raffle fund. At the end of the Tour most of us out of our finance just for food for your tour we had to spent ~5000 IC and rest you can decide like bust fair when roaming around in the place bus, sometime taxi, auto, sumo and miscellaneous.
Lodging: Usually we tried to look for average hotel, we didn't go for luxurious obviously to save the money.
Food: Hotel, Dhaba make sure you eat hygienic food if you get sick on the way that is another disaster, its ok with north India but as you move towards south food becomes a problem, we died to have north Indian food.
Conclusion: Whatever it may be just go for this tour not for a week but at least for a month it becomes a cherished moment and an experience of many things for life.
All the best.