Booking Buses In India

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Tara

If you are visiting India for birding and eco-tourism, airline miles won’t get you to where you need to be. You will need to take buses from the main cities to the small towns closest to the national parks and reserves. Although most bus companies have online sales, they require an Indian mobile phone to complete the order and in most cases an Indian credit card as well. For some bus routes, you can use Make My Trip. In other cases you will have to wait until you arrive in India and make your bookings locally. This usually won’t be a problem as the comfortable AC buses are rarely fully booked unless there is a holiday such as Holi or Diwali. Unfortunately the United States tab only allows you to book flights, hotels and holiday packages, not buses or trains. But you can still do research and plan in advance!

Notice how you can choose the Gudalur pick up point as well as the main Ooty bus station.

You won’t get any further without an Indian mobile phone number just as you see below in the Red Bus example. But this is a useful tool to search routes and prices. You should search all the tools as not all bus companies are represented by each booking agent.

Red Bus has many bus routes all over India. You can use this website to get an idea of timings and prices. If you buy a SIM card in India, you will be able to book these tickets online. Here is an example of a route from Kochi to Bangalore. This is a 12 hour trip so most people would want a comfortable sleeper bus, see the yellow highlights below.

When you click on view seats, you will see a chart of available seats. Select an open seat and you will see the price.

This is where you will get stuck as you need an Indian mobile phone and it won’t let you change the country code.

The last tool you should check, especially for the routes in my Coorg & Mudumalai blogs is Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation. You won’t be able to use this site to book online either but they will have extensive routes all over the state and you can book any of their routes in advance at any bus station served by KSRTC. Here’s a sample display to get from Bangalore to Gonikoppal in Coorg. A few things to notice is that some buses leave from Shanthinagar bus stand in the city centre and some leave from the Mysore Road bus stand (near the Transit Hotel I stayed in). Given Bangalore’s extreme traffic jams, it’s best to use this bus stand. We wanted that early bus at 5:45 but couldn’t find it and ended up on a Mysore bus which worked out fine. The help desk and ticket office weren’t open that early and I couldn’t find anyone who spoke English to help us.

Buses are a great way to travel around India! I found the locals were very friendly and the AC buses are comfortable.

Christmas Tree Of Memories

Posted on December 24, 2013 by Tara

When you travel to such exotic places I have it’s hard to resist bringing a small piece of the visited country home. One of my favourite things to collect are Christmas tree ornaments. They are small, pack easily and don’t cost a lot! I’ve even been known to convert keychains into Christmas tree ornaments. Many of these were bought in local markets or gift shops attached to bird parks where the profits go towards conservation projects.

I never used to look forward to the holidays but now I do, knowing that every time I decorate the tree it will bring back fantastic memories of birds seen in the wild all over the world!

Quick Visit To Panama City: Casco Viejo & Craft Market

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Tara

After checking out from the Radisson Summit, we followed the hotel’s shuttle to Albrook Mall so we wouldn’t get lost in the city. I didn’t trust myself to drive and not get lost in the old city, Casco Viejo. I was also concerned with security since we had all our belongings in the car and I had heard it was a risky part of town.

I parked the car at the Albrook Mall, took a photo of it with the shop in the background so we could find it again, then went to the taxi rank. I arranged a price with a taxi to drive us to Casco Viejo, show us around the highlights, let us have a few photo stops, then drop us off at the craft market for shopping for around $15 including waiting time. I find this is the best way to explore a city I don’t know very well but taxis are reasonably priced. I also felt more secure leaving the rental car at the Albrook Mall where it wouldn’t stand out.

A – Albrook Mall
B – Casco Viejo
C – Mercado de Artesanias

CASCO VIEJO

There seemed to be renovations going on and there were a lot of police standing around. The construction blocked a lot of the roads and the taxi had trouble finding places to park long enough so we could walk around a bit but he did his best.

There were crafts on offer at a market near Casco Viejo but we couldn’t find a place to park so decided to just move on to the main craft market.

CRAFT MARKET

Since I knew I wanted to take my time shopping (poor husband had to drag along while I shopped), I planned to let the taxi drop us and not wait. I figured we would be there over an hour and also get lunch there. The best part was seeing some of the Kuna ladies making molas. Molas are a kind of applique/embroidery technique to make beautiful pictures with fabric. You can use the molas as wall hangings, clothing embellishments, tote bags or pillow cases. I was especially pleased to see bird themes on many molas!

You can bargain with the shopkeepers, especially if you are buying multiple products but I found a more subtle bargaining worked better. I wanted to be fair to the craft makers since they do put a lot of work into these products so I didn’t go as hardcore as I would in the Middle East. I would express how much I liked something, but what a shame I didn’t have enough money………………maybe next time. If they were amenable to a discount, they would call me back and offer somewhat less, usually 10-20%.

Albrook Mall (as with other malls such as Metro Mall near the Courtyard) was a typical mall just like back home complete with food courts, nothing of interest to tourists unless you wanted to stock up on food or other staples.

Arenal To Monteverde “Jeep-Boat-Jeep”

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Tara

This is one of the times when transport is more of an excursion in itself. If you book it from a hotel in Arenal, you will hear it called “jeep-boat-jeep” probably sounding something like “jeebojeep”. You can also book it online where it is called “taxi-boat-taxi” but there seems to be no problems with getting space, we booked the day before we traveled. It costs $25 per person and is well worth it considering you not only save time getting to Montverde, it’s a much prettier trip!

Actually there are no jeeps involved though I think they were in the past. Nowadays, you will be picked up at your lodge in a minibus and driven to the launch point in the lake. Please note how you have to carry your bag down a rocky path so using a backpack is an advantage.

Once the boat is full, you take off for a very pleasant and scenic trip across the lake. On a clear day, you can see Arenal Volcano! The day we went was very cloudy and it rained halfway across the lake so we had only fleeting glimpses.

Once you reach the other side, you will be transferred into another minibus. They will allocate one to you such as A, B or C. The road to Monteverde is equally as scenic but the road is a lot rougher. For a brief minute, we had a nice view of Arenal Volcano before it got covered by clouds again.

You can barely see Arenal in the background

Up until now, there will have been no bathroom stops nor is there one on the boat so I recommend going easy on the coffee at breakfast! About 30km out of Monteverde, we stopped at a small restaurant/gift shop as many people needed the facilities.

After using them, I heard a parrot squawking nearby and was hoping to see a wild one. I was half right. He WAS a wild parrot, a Yellow-naped Amazon/Parrot to be precise; but no longer. His wings were clipped so he couldn’t fly. He walked along the beams and looked at us with curiosity but didn’t want to come any closer. I just wish there was some way to free him as he belongs with his family flying free in the rainforest, but without the ability to fly it would be useless as he can’t evade predators.

After everyone had finished using the bathrooms, they called us back and we proceeded to the town of Monteverde where everyone was taken direct to their accommodation.

Getting Around Costa Rica

Posted on November 5, 2013 by Tara

There are basically 3 types of transport in Costa Rica: Public transport such as buses & ferries, tourist shuttles and rental cars.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

By far the cheapest mode of transport and very easy to use. You can see the bus we took from San Jose to Sarapiqui for Selva Verde. There are a couple of websites to help you plan your bus trips which give the timings. The fares of the buses we took were all pretty cheap, around $5-10.

Visit Costa Rica has a complete schedule which is very handy to estimate the time to get from place to place.

You can also search for specific routes and schedules here.

In many cases you will have to transit San Jose so you should be aware that there isn’t a central bus station. If you come from the airport in Alajuela, you will get dropped at the Alajuela terminal. Then you have to get a taxi to the Caribe bus station which will cost around $3. Luggage can go under the bus or if it is small, you can carry it on. I always carried on my backpack that had all my camera gear!

TOURIST SHUTTLES

These are more expensive than the public buses as you may expect. They are also a lot more convenient as they will pick you up at your hotel/lodge and drop you off at your accommodation in your destination and they can accommodate your luggage. We used one from Selva Verde to Laguna del Lagarto, then it picked us up again and took us to Arenal. There are several tourist shuttle companies. They cost the same whether you book them online or let the lodge book them so I tended to let the lodge book them so they would get a small commission. Most lodges will have the details on their websites.

If you don’t know where you are staying or want to book online, here are a few companies.

Costa Rica Shuttle

Tropical Tours Shuttle

Grayline

In this case, we did use this company from Monteverde to Carara. Since Carara isn’t in the list, I had to use the call centre and they just put a random hotel in. I explained to the driver that we wanted to jump out at Villa Lapas which is enroute and was expecting to be left on the road but he took us all the way to the lodge. It’s about $55 per person. If the daily timings don’t suit you, you can book a private shuttle which seems to be around the cost of 4 normal tickets. Not all of the shuttles have Wifi but the one from Limonal to Jaco did so it helped pass the time.

RENTAL CARS

This is what I really agonized over before deciding to go with shuttles & public buses. I did a lot of research online and found threads like this one on Trip Advisor with lots of horror stories.

Corrupt police wanting bribes
Scams with rental companies falsely accusing you of damaging the car
Bad roads that do damage the car
Accidents
Overcharging insurance/high deductables
Criminals causing a flat tire, then they rob you while you are changing it
Break-ins at tourist attractions, hotels & restaurants

I just wasn’t up to it and when I did the math if we used mostly public buses with shuttles to places the buses don’t go it was roughly the same cost and less stressful. I’ll let these guys explain it.

The Coolest In-Flight Safety Video Ever!

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Tara

Experienced & frequent fliers are often guilty of ignoring the usual boring safety videos shown on board before take-off. Yes, we’ve seen and heard it all before. You really should pay attention but most people just keep on reading or dozing. Well this is one safety video that people will take notice of! 95,000 YouTube hits can’t be wrong!

Land Crossing From Belize To Guatemala

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Tara

Few people who visit Belize can resist the temptation to visit the wonderful archeological ruins of Tikal. Some people go on a very long day trip and return to their San Ignacio hotel at night. Others will be planning a longer stay in Guatemala and moving on to other places in Central America. Crossing at the land border is very easy whether you take a group shuttle or do it in segments.

If you want to leave first thing in the morning, the same companies that operate the Tikal day trips also offer shuttle service to Tikal. Here are a few to check out.

Pacz Tours

San Ignacio Belize Tours

Mayan Heart World

If you don’t want to leave first thing in the morning (birders probably won’t want to as they will be birding in the morning), you can either have your hotel book you a private transfer or take a Belizean taxi to the border, do the formalities on both sides and get a Guatelmalan minibus or taxi on the other side yourself. Since Parrot Nest is a fair ways out of town, we opted for the convenience of door to door service. The lodge arranged it and it was around $80USD to be picked up, have the driver wait while we did the formalities, then hand us over to a Guatemalan driver who took us direct to Tikal Inn. I don’t think you really save all that much by breaking it down as this guy on Trip Advisor paid $60 from the border to Tikal so make it easy for yourself!

Be prepared with cash as you won’t be able to use credit cards for the transport, the exit/entry fees and the entrance fees to Tikal. You will need to pay the departure fee of $37.50 BZD ($19 USD) per person after which you will stamp out at the Belize immigration desk, from there you driver will accompany you to the Guatemala area where you will then stamp in and pay a $6.00 BZD ($3 USD) entry fee. After you have completed this, hop in your waiting Guatemalan vehicle and head direct to Tikal.

You will have to pay the park entry fee before continuing the last 15 km or so to the lodges in Tikal. There are no ATMs or banks at Tikal so you will need to take along extra change to pay the entrance fee to the park which is 23 USD or 150 Quetzals. You should also change some extra money into Quetzals for extra park fees if you do a sunrise or sunset tour, meals outside your hotel, guide fees and souvenirs. Tikal Inn takes credit cards and we had breakfast & dinner there but lunch in the small market mearby. Some souvenir sellers take credit cards but charge extra for doing so.

These photos show what to expect from a border crossing from San Ignacio to Tikal.

SCENERY FROM SAN IGNACIO TO BORDER

BELIZE IMMIGRATION/CUSTOMS

PROTECT WILD MACAWS!

MY HUSBAND & DRIVER (GREEN SHIRTS) & THE CAR

GUATEMALA IMMIGRATION/CUSTOMS

SCENERY FROM BORDER TO TIKAL

THIS IS WHERE YOU PAY THE ENTRANCE FEE TO TIKAL

US Gov’t Shutdown Effects On Eco-Tourists

Posted on October 12, 2013 by Tara

Even though I blog about exotic birds in exotic locations, not all eco-tourism is done so far from home. Every year, 1000’s of Americans and foreign tourists visit the magnificent national parks in the USA. But sadly for the last couple of weeks, the parks have been shut down due to the US gov’t shutdown. If you visit the National Parks website, this is all you will see so you can’t even plan your future trips.

You are then directed to the US Dept of the Interior website where information is given about a few parks that are arranging with the State gov’ts to operate them during the federal shutdown.

Just a very sad state of affairs all around!

India May Extend Visa On Arrival To More Nationalities

Posted on October 8, 2013 by Tara

After hastily throwing together a trip to India & Sri Lanka prompted by last week’s US Airways promo I have now turned my attention to the formalities. Both countries require visas of Australians, Americans, Canadians and most Europeans. A full list can be found on the new story. HT: The Wandering Aramean

I spent this morning filling out applications for me and my husband. Sri Lanka was easy. A short application that was approved less than 5 minutes after submitting it. The approval went to my spam folder but I eventually found it.

India is more difficult. This isn’t our first trip but the visas Australians get a visa valid for 6 months, double entry and there must be a gap of 2 months between entries. Our last visa issued and used in 2011 was long expired. I filled out the apps for both of us, uploaded passport photos and printed it out. India wants to know EVERYTHING about us, our parents, religion, employment, what countries we’ve been in the last 10 years – I ran out of room! Thankfully there is an Indian visa centre in Brisbane so we don’t have to mail our passports off.

So my prediction of when this new visa on arrival will happen? The day after I lodge our visa applications and pay the fee!

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