Next time when you visit Mumbai, you are going to be blown away by the new international terminal. It's amazing how engineers are developing this new beautiful terminal right in the middle of everything else going on. Check out this YouTube video .]
Permit to Re-Enter Restriction LiftedTravelers on a Tourist visa were previously required to have a gap of at least 2 months between two separate visits to India. The restriction has now been lifted except for nationals of China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, foreigners of Pakistan and Bangladesh origin and stateless persons.
Consulate General of India, San Francisco Notice and alertsWe are happy to inform that, with effect from November 30, 2012, the gap of two months required between visits to India of a foreign national on a Tourist Visa would be applicable only in the case of nationals of Afghanistan, China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan, Bangladesh, foreigners of Pakistan and Bangladesh origins and Stateless persons. Hence, foreign nationals except those mentioned above need not apply for re-entry permit to visit India if they have a multiple entry visas. Please contact M/s.Travisa Outsourcing if you have any queries. People always ask us when is the good time to buy an airline ticket. We always say buy it as soon as possible due to frequent increases in taxes, surcharges, fuel, etc.
Well, it turns out, The New York Times wrote an article about this. Based on their research, consumers are better off buying an International plane ticket in 24 weeks in advance and 6 weeks in advance for a domestic plane ticket. To read more, click here for the New York Times article. In these days of Internet, people often think its better to buy on-line to get lower fare and faster service. The New York Times did a comparison of making travel plans on-line vs through a travel agent. Here is what they found:
Nearly every time, travel agents bested the Internet big boys on both price (the objective part of the test) and service (what you might call the essay question). In other words, the agents suggested alternate routes, gave advice on visas and just generally acted, well, more human than their computer counterparts. (All research was all done in mid-January for trips in March.) You can read more here. All of us have had some great vacations whether it was well planned in advance or it was pack and go and we will figure out the plan later! Today, we want to share our Hawaii itinerary which was one of the best vacation we have had.
With two young boys, we wanted to make sure they have great time enjoying the vacation rather than reaching their and then wondering what to do. So the first thing we did was get some good books on Hawaii to start making plans. One of the best book series we found is called "Unrevealed Maui", "Unrevealed Oahu", etc. covering each Hawaiian island. The author of the book lives in the islands and actually takes the tours and stays at places that he recommends. After reviewing what we can do at each island, we decided to visit three islands - Maui, Kawaii, and Oahu. Here is our itinerary: Day 1 - Fly from Chicago to Maui, visit beach Day 2 - Maui- Visit Halakela Mountain Day 3 - Maui - Whale watching, parasailing, beach Day 4 - Maui - Snorkeling @ Molokini Day 5 - To Kawaii, beach Day 6 - Kawaii - Helicopter ride Day 7 To Honololulu, Oahu, Vetereans Memorial Museum Day 8 Oahu - Dole maze, Polynesian Village Day 9 Oahu - submarine Trip, visit Nuuanu Pali state park Day 10 Return Home from Honolulu To Chicago Feel free to share your favorite itineraries. Many of you have inquired with us about the new fees charged by the Indian Government to the people from Indian Origin that are now naturalized U.S. citizens. The fees are charged if you have failed to surrender your old passport, or have renewed it or used it for travel to India while holding the U.S. citizenship. The fees can range from $20 to $2,000+ depending on the circumstances. For the latest and the most accurate information, visit http://www.chicago.indianconsulate.com
People cherish memories of a family vacation for life long. It's always great feeling when you help people plan their vacation. One of my customers well planned trip got interupted due to the Volcanic Ash Cloud. After series of itinerary changes, it's always a pleasure to see them take off with a smile. Here's a letter I would like to share with you today:
"I have had the pleasure of working with Sveta Shah when she was with Silver Eagle Travels and now with Destination Travel & Tours over the past few years. I have traveled a lot, and have also handled travel arrangements on my own using the internet. However, I have learned that working with a travel agent, especially Sveta, can in the long run be more comfortable and even economical. Donna and I toured Southwestern Europe during the April vacation week with two teenagers. Sveta handled all logistics from finding an agency to work with months ahead to build a custom tour for us that covered Paris, Barcelona and Madrid, made all flight arrangements, did whatever were needed to work around when unexpected challenges arose during the tour to assure that we still had a safe and wonderful time, and handled all the financial aspects regarding payments and refunds accurately and on time. The eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland grounded all flights to Europe for a week and threatened this April tour. Sveta worked hard to rearrange the itinerary by reordering the cities we visited in such a way as to still maximize our time in Europe. Sveta's diligence and professionalism put our mind at ease and enabled us to get most important thing we willingly paid for - to have a good time far away from home with our teenagers that we all will remember for the rest of our lives. Sveta was accessible on the phone and via e-mails throughout despite the fact that she was bedridden and convalescing after a surgery. We could always count on Sveta to respond to our e-mails promptly with direct and thoughtful answers to our questions, and take prompt action on requests. We look forward to working with Sveta on our future tours to Africa, Southern Europe, Alaska, and Eastern Europe." Srinivasan Ravikumar A friend of mine forwarded the following important alert on a new rule introduced by India for Tourist Visa Holders. - Sveta
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 2010 13:49:29 -0500 From: mailing@travisaoutsourcing.com Subject: India Visa Alert for Tourist Visa Holders In December 2009, India introduced a new rule that prevents Tourist visa holders from re-visiting India within 2 months after last leaving. That rule has been updated recently to include the following:
To apply for a Permit to Reenter India Within 2 Months, please visit our website to start the application process: https://indiavisa.travisaoutsourcing.com/guidelines?id=16 Thank you, Travisa Outsourcing We are going to share tips that will make your calls to India more economical and simpler at the same time it will make it easy for you to receive calls to your US phone number when you are in India. Here are some scenarios: Scenario 1) Let's say you want to call your favorite friends and family members in India from your cell phone. How about making the whole process simpler such that you don't have to dial 20 digits, instead just press one of your favourite button/speed dial number on your phone? No need to dial the special access number, PIN and so on.... Solution: First, you need to open an account with localphone.com . Click on the localphone link here and get a US phone number that maps to your frequently dialed number in India. For example, they will give you one US phone number for your parents, one for your in-laws and so on. Then just add these US phone numbers in your cfavorite/speed dial list. You will be charged 2 cents/min or less to India or depending on the country you are calling. 2) Suppose you are visiting India or Europe or other popular places, and you want to receive calls to your US phone number during your visit. One option is to get International roaming service from your US carrier. This is fine but most of us don't like paying high roaming charges. So, we have found a cheaper solution for you. Read on. Solution: Get an account in an Internet based VOIP service such as Vonage that provides unlimited calling to India. Now follow these steps carefully. Step 1) Before you leave the US, buy a SIM card that works in India with the help of your relatives/friends in India. You will get a phone number in India that's assigned to that SIM card. (let's call it "A"). You may want to get a SIM card such as those from Vodafone which has free incoming calls. Step 2) Next, get a US phone number (let's call it "B"). Enable International Call Forwarding by logging into Vonage portal and then go to "features"->"configure"->"enable call forwarding" and then enter the India SIM Card Number "A" from the above. This way basically when someone from the US calls your Vonage number, it will ring the India SIM card number "A". Step 3) Now the next step is to set up call forwarding of your calls to your US Cell phone number (let's call it "C"). Before you leave US (very important), enable call forwarding on your US cell phone number. Forward the calls to the US phone number "B" that was given by Vonage in the previous step. Thus, when someone calls your US Cell Phone "C", it will be forwarded to the US Vonage number "B" which then Vonage will forward to your India SIM card "A". You will be charged based on your cell phone plan for calls from "C" to "B" and the call from "B" to "A" will be free thanks to Vonage and Vodafone. This is still better than paying high international roaming charges. BTW, Vonage also has "simulatenous ringing" which you can use to ring multiple phones at the same time. This way it can ring your Cell phone in India as well as another phone in US or India and you can have coverage while you are travelling or it's inconvinience due to time difference. Let us know if you happen to use these tips.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! I had first hand experience by buying tickets online using Orbitz. A friend called to mention the round-trip fare of $554 including taxes from Chicago to Mumbai on Orbitz. Note, the total price was $40 for fare and $514 for taxes and other airport charges. It was too low to resist even for a travel agent so we ended up buying four tickets at different travel dates for family visits. First, came the good news from Orbitz confirming the reservation. See the attached email from Orbitz. We called our family in India letting them know about the plans, with everyone jumping for joy, we were all smiles. Then, the next morning I was unfortunately brought to the real world. Orbitz claimed that the airline did not have enough seats and thus cancelling my booking. In fact, they cancelled all the bookings even though they were at different times. I thought that this was just a scam, thus deteriorating my hopes of finding a good ticket price online. See the attached cancellation email from Orbitz. As you can imagine, the smiles turned to frowns and everyone was unhappy. With this in mind, I quickly started joking about this with my friends and all was well, but that lost time and excitement can never be replaced.
Lessons Learned – The Internet is great at bringing the efficiency and lowering cost of doing business. It has helped me to start my own small business over the Internet and with lower cost than renting my own office and creating a personal line with associated office expenses. This in turn has helped me to pass on the savings to you while still providing personalized services and look after your interest. However, with the Orbitz experience I have learned that you still have to watch for what you are getting into. In addition to this, I have also learned there is no substitution for personalized service, which is my number one priority. This experience has made me think to create a new motto of the company --- “We make sure you GO!”. Please note I am not discouraging you or anyone for that matter to purchase items from the internet. So, if you can please share your experiences as comments so others as well as myself can learn from this experience. NOTE: When I send you the confirmation e-mail , it is from the airline with seat assignments and you will NOT have to wait 24 hours. | Namaste!With our passion for travel and tourism, along with professional experience, we plan to use this blog to share Travel related information with you. ArchivesMay 2013 CategoriesAll |
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