Too much choice or too little - neither makes it easy
By Boingboing
@boiboing (13153)
Northampton, England
May 14, 2017 5:06am CST
We go to India for our main holiday every year and I start planning early. We don't leave until October but I had all the flights - international and domestic - booked by New Year's Eve. Accommodation has been taking a lot longer.
For Dharamsala I picked an Air BnB self-catering place in the town centre. The hotel options were terrible. Either really expensive, miles out of McLeod Ganj (and we won't have a car) or so cheap that you really have to be suspicious. Last time we visited we spent the whole trip laughing about our room because it was so terrible. This place is really inexpensive but it looks great and has good reviews. The owner was in touch within just a few hours.
Amritsar has been problematic. We're only going for two nights and all we want to do is sit around the Golden Temple and the Jalianwalabagh gardens. The place we stayed before was cheap and clean but far from friendly. What I want - a mid level, family run place with a bit of character - doesn't seem to exist in Amritsar. So for now I'm hanging on to see if I can save enough hotel chain points to stay at a rather sanitised international chain.
Delhi beginning, middle and end was sorted nice and early.
The problem is Jaipur. Unlike Dharamsala and Amritsar where I can't find what I want because there are too few choices, Jaipur is just drowning in opportunities to stay in what look like fabulous places. My husband has proven to be useless - he thinks everything looks 'nice'. I was tempted to go back to a place I stayed in 20 years ago but the reviews suggest it hasn't been decorated during that time.
So time to get back online and keep looking.
10 people like this
11 responses
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
14 May 17
That's just SO true - there are people who will give a one star rating because they found a small hair on the carpet. I've given 5 stars to a place where I had a mouse in the room because the staff were so lovely and the views were so good. That's why it's important to read a lot of reviews and weed out the obviously fake and the obviously OCD-fussy.
3 people like this
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
14 May 17
That's a good point. Like with reviews on Amazon or Tripadvisor, I tend to read the very positive and the very negative and check how many reviews the person has written. It becomes very easy to spot the ones that were probably written by the hotelier down the road who wants to make a place look bad.
3 people like this
@Poppylicious (11133)
•
15 May 17
This is why I rarely go on holiday ... I can't make decisions. I hope you find your perfect place!
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
14 May 17
It's always a gamble when traveling. Thus far we've been really lucky, and we haven't traveled much at all so the fact that I've found some really nice places on my limited experience has been a stroke of luck!
When we first arrived in Myrtle Beach I was a bit concerned. We had a lovely hotel right on the ocean, but my first impression of it was that it was a dump. It didn't exactly look like a dump, but the clientele.. well lets just say I got a bad vibe and was really worried for the first 24 hours. However, my first impressions turned out to be wrong. It wasn't exactly a 4 star hotel, it wasn't spotless... but thankfully the rooms were rather soundproof, we were right over the pool and I was worried that would be loud but with the windows shut we didn't hear a thing. We had no issues during our 4 night stay, and for the price I paid I'd definitely stay there again. I did notice there were a ton of other dumpy looking places along the strip, so when I return to Myrtle Beach I'll definitely have to be cautious about staying somewhere else!
@Fleura (29288)
• United Kingdom
15 May 17
This is the kind of thing I find so difficult, we are supposed to be going camping in Cornwall at half term and I haven't even managed to decide on a simple campsite yet! What will I do if I ever manage to get to India? I guess this is why package travel companies are still in business in spite of all the internet DIY options available.
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
14 May 17
I think I'd have to ask how far north and how far east to answer that. Sadly places like Assam and Nagaland are on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office list of places they advise against visiting and sadly some of those parts need special permits. So whilst I've been to Kolkata, to Sikkim (and Bhutan, which obviously isn't India) and West Bengal (we LOVE Darjeeling), I've not been able to go to the top right corner, so to speak.
1 person likes this
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
14 May 17
@responsiveme I will certainly do that. I would love to visit.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
14 May 17
@boiboing I dont think that special permit rule is still prevalent in Assam. Bhutan is next door we can go for day trips, from the place where I stay.
The insurgency etc which was a problem is not there now, it was a troubled area I agree.
Maybe you can look up the latest info.
