A Dream Trip To Kashmir 2014
How it all started -
After a tiring day at work sometime in January 2014, my wife told me that one of her cousins is planning a trip to Kashmir 2014 and she wishes her to join in. I was a bit reluctant initially, but she told how her mom was unable to go on a Kashmir Tour due to some disturbances in her (my wife's) life before our marriage. And now she feels guilty for not allowing her mother to go on the tour then. And she emotionally black mailed me into the trip.
Initial planning -
As told earlier, it was my wife's cousin who was planning her trip, so we asked how they were planning to do the trip. And finally we decided to go with Jain Jagruti Centre - Pink Pantnagar (A Social Club in our locality that conducts such long and short trips on a regular basis). The complete trip was planned as : Mumbai-Jammu-Katra-Patnitop-Pahalgam-Gulmarg-Srinagar-Sonamarg-Jammu-Mumbai. We were happy that as we are Only Jain Food eaters, we wont have much problem in Kashmir for food. So, we too booked for the same tour.
Bookings -
The cost of the complete tour was Rs 18500/- per person, including Food, Stay and Travel in Kashmir. Travel to and from Kashmir, Other site-seeings, etc was on our heads and responsibility.
Train Bookings -
So, we planned to take the Jammu Tawi Express from Bandra Terminus - Jammu Tawi. But, bookings on this train through the irctc website is not possible as the tickets get booked in just under 2 mins. So, we asked one of my wife's cousin's in-laws, who happen to be a travel agent in Akola, to book the tickets, for this train by 3AC coach. And he agreed and assured us that the tickets will be done 100%. The tickets from Mumbai to Jammu were done perfectly on time. But, the return tickets were not done which we came to know at around 12.30pm. So, we had only 2 options left with us 1. Travel by Sleeper Class to Mumbai or 2. Fly Back (partly / completely). And we went for the 2nd option and booked from Srinagar / Delhi and booked for same night Duronto train from Delhi - Mumbai. So, In all the complete tour was getting in place.
Helicopter Bookings -
As we were going to Katra at the start of the journey, I decided to book the helicopter tickets, instead of walking all the way up to the Vaishnodevi Shrine. The main reason for booking the Helicopter was that I was accompanied by two Senior Citizens (my mom and my mom-in-law) and my 2-1/2 year old daughter. While going the bookings, I found that it was almost impossible to book the tickets online. So, I hired an agent to book the tickets, who took Rs 500/- per return ticket.
More to come.....
How it all started -
After a tiring day at work sometime in January 2014, my wife told me that one of her cousins is planning a trip to Kashmir 2014 and she wishes her to join in. I was a bit reluctant initially, but she told how her mom was unable to go on a Kashmir Tour due to some disturbances in her (my wife's) life before our marriage. And now she feels guilty for not allowing her mother to go on the tour then. And she emotionally black mailed me into the trip.
Initial planning -
As told earlier, it was my wife's cousin who was planning her trip, so we asked how they were planning to do the trip. And finally we decided to go with Jain Jagruti Centre - Pink Pantnagar (A Social Club in our locality that conducts such long and short trips on a regular basis). The complete trip was planned as : Mumbai-Jammu-Katra-Patnitop-Pahalgam-Gulmarg-Srinagar-Sonamarg-Jammu-Mumbai. We were happy that as we are Only Jain Food eaters, we wont have much problem in Kashmir for food. So, we too booked for the same tour.
Bookings -
The cost of the complete tour was Rs 18500/- per person, including Food, Stay and Travel in Kashmir. Travel to and from Kashmir, Other site-seeings, etc was on our heads and responsibility.
Train Bookings -
So, we planned to take the Jammu Tawi Express from Bandra Terminus - Jammu Tawi. But, bookings on this train through the irctc website is not possible as the tickets get booked in just under 2 mins. So, we asked one of my wife's cousin's in-laws, who happen to be a travel agent in Akola, to book the tickets, for this train by 3AC coach. And he agreed and assured us that the tickets will be done 100%. The tickets from Mumbai to Jammu were done perfectly on time. But, the return tickets were not done which we came to know at around 12.30pm. So, we had only 2 options left with us 1. Travel by Sleeper Class to Mumbai or 2. Fly Back (partly / completely). And we went for the 2nd option and booked from Srinagar / Delhi and booked for same night Duronto train from Delhi - Mumbai. So, In all the complete tour was getting in place.
Helicopter Bookings -
As we were going to Katra at the start of the journey, I decided to book the helicopter tickets, instead of walking all the way up to the Vaishnodevi Shrine. The main reason for booking the Helicopter was that I was accompanied by two Senior Citizens (my mom and my mom-in-law) and my 2-1/2 year old daughter. While going the bookings, I found that it was almost impossible to book the tickets online. So, I hired an agent to book the tickets, who took Rs 500/- per return ticket.
More to come.....
