Best India Travel Planner
India travel planner Lucy Davison matches her clients with
her favorite rooms at India’s great palace hotels – like this one in Udaipur.
Only a great India travel planner could have organized the walk in the foothills of the Himalayas that my husband and I did last year.
I mean, think about it: the logistics of getting to the starting point, plus dealing with vagaries in the weather and the effects of altitude. Only the best India travel planner would have the courage to take on a job like this.
Enter: Lucy Davison, Manager at Banyan Tours. We went back and forth via email for several weeks. (I ask a lot of questions!) However, by the time we left San Diego, I was really comfortable that everything we needed for a great trip was set in place.
Villagers on the way to gather firewood at 360 Leti in the foothills of the Himalayas.
Our Shakti Village Walk
This all started when I met Jamshyd Sethna, owner of Banyan Tours, at a travel event in Los Angeles. As a boy, he spent his school holidays exploring the Himalayan foothills and his passion for the area is still quite apparent. I listened while he rhapsodized about the beauty of the simple life in this remote area.
“You haven’t been to India if you haven’t walked through at least a few of her many thousands of rural villages where life goes on pretty much the way it has forever,” Jamshyd told me.
To make it possible for visitors to have this experience, Jamshyd created the Shakti Village Walk program. This started with renovating and building houses that are a day’s walk apart. Next he assembled a superb staff of guides, drivers, cooks, and hosts. Coordination of this crew is left to Jamshyd’s second in command: Lucy Davison.
Our India travel planner made arrangements for me to deliver
school supplies along the Shakti Village Walk.
Lucy Davison, ex-pat Brit, India travel planner
Lucy’s attention to detail is remarkable. She booked our train tickets and domestic flights and had all the tickets waiting for us at our hotel in Delhi when we arrived.
I let her know ahead of time that both my husband and I are allergic to onions (yes, I know, very inconvenient), and she wrote back for details. All onions? Cooked and raw?
I especially appreciated her passion for connecting travelers with authentic experiences. When I mentioned that I’d like to stay in a haveli (historic mansion) in North India after the Shakti Village Walk, she used her local insight and influence to find us the perfect place. Likewise with my plan to stay at a few of India’s great palace hotels.
Breakfast al fresco at 360 Leti arranged by our India travel planner.
Working with Lucy meant we had the advantage of her inside scoop on lodging and logistics, as well as good advice on local cultural traditions, appropriate clothing, and finding clean bathrooms.
Since it felt like a friend had planned our trip, I wasn’t surprised when I received a message from Lucy as soon as we were home.
“I just wanted to check in and see how your journey went,” she wrote.
I’m not sure when I’ll next travel to India or which areas I’ll visit, but I know I’ll plan the trip with the help of Lucy at Banyan Tours.
Cheers,
Category: India, Travel Experts
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What a wonderful tribute to such a warm AND professional travel planner as Lucy. I won’t forget her name when I’m ready to return to India and Ma Ganga, the birthplace of Yoga! Thank you, Elizabeth.
India at it’s best! It’s not easy to find a way and pace to truly enjoy India.