India – the prize holiday

The winner of the 2008 Get Up & Go Award for Australia’s most adventurous traveller, Brian Eldridge took his well-earned prize of a luxury trip to India. Brian and his wife Wynne have recorded their experience and urge all people of a certain, interesting age to travel and discover the world.

Brian and Wynne Eldridge.

From the moment the voice on the phone said: ‘You are going to India’, the excitement mounted!

Hooray for Get Up and Go magazine, Nemonic Concepts and Thai Airways who made the most fantastic prize trip to India available to us. Wynne and I are so grateful for this and it was far above any expectations we may have had.

From the moment we arrived in Delhi we realised everything is vastly different to Australia.

The history, the culture, the ornate architecture, the centuries-old forts and huge palaces never ceased to amaze us.

We watched as people made beautiful carpets, inlaid marble with precious stone, all by hand. Then there are the artists and the jewellers; they are masters at their crafts. Even the ladies doing construction work or gardening look resplendent in their colourful saris.

As we stayed in some of the most beautifully restored heritage hotels we gained an insight into how the rulers of India once lived. Staying in the Maharaja’s room in the 400-year-old Samode Palace was an experience never to be forgotten.

India is truly a land of great contrasts; opulence and poverty side by side.

The traffic was fascinating, lots of mingling, merging, blowing of horns, and patience needed. And it works, even with camels, cows, donkeys AND elephants!

We travelled by plane, car, express train, tuk-tuk (auto rickshaw), cycle rickshaw and elephant.

We talked to men with their decorated trucks, Wynne helped a group of ladies weed a garden, I played cricket with children in a small village and we sat with musicians making music.

The Indian food lived up to its reputation and apart from the time I choked on a chilli, we really enjoyed it.

Our first evening, we went for quite a walk in Delhi and had dinner at a restaurant. Even with the map we couldn’t work out our way back to our hotel. A friendly couple drove us back in their car. (We had walked a long way.)

One highlight: Having marvelled at the Taj Mahal we were on our way to Samode when our driver Mr Jagdish (also known as JP) asked if he could show us something unique for my 70th birthday. Well, weren’t we in for a surprise!!

In Abhaneri Village we were taken to the 1100-year-old stepwell. Stepwells were an ingenious answer to the water scarcity in an arid region, and this one is the area of a football field.

Platforms and galleries had been built into the sides of the stepwell all the way down to its subterranean depths. Here there are over 3000 steps. (You can look this up on the internet.)

Our final stop was Udaipur which is the Venice of India, so beautiful with its glittering lakes and palaces. Hotel Devra is like a small farmstay and was the icing on the cake. It is a country retreat and we were again treated like royalty.

Now, the final bonus.

Thai Airways allowed us to break our flight home at Bangkok, where we stayed for three days. On arrival from Delhi at 5.30 am, surprise, surprise, we were met by our son David from Sydney who had come to be our guide. Unbelievable! We sure enjoyed his company and the way he got us around Bangkok. It was fabulous.

This whole trip will live in our hearts and minds for ever.

If you haven’t been to India – get up and go!

Brian and Wynne Eldridge flew to India courtesy of Thai Airways International; flew internally with Indian Airlines, stayed at Taj properties and were hosted by Nemonic Concepts/Designer Holidays who provided transfers, tour guide and first class train travel in India. The value of the trip was $9820.