i got a cheapish ticket to India for Thanksgiving and need some help deciding where to go. as such, i turn to you (oh god i forgot how horrible/unhorrible that song is), netizens, for advice.

i’ve been to India once before, well over a decade ago, for a friend’s wedding. more about that trip later, but first a video i made back then to whet our collective appetites. (clearly i’m no videographer — apologies if you develop vertigo!)

timing

i will be arriving late on the Sunday before Thanksgiving (November 23) into Mumbai and will leave from Mumbai a week later on that flight’s return (late night November 30). i will be workationing there Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and have Thanksgiving Thursday through Sunday off to actually get out and about. this means i’ll need to be somewhere where internet is relatively fast for at least the start of the week.

some thoughts

• a map of my last trip is at the bottom of the post. i started out in Mumbai, flew down to Coimbatore where the wedding was, then our* driver drove us down to Thrissur where we took a long (but amazingly scenic) train ride back up the coast to Mumbai. i didn’t really get any sightseeing or exploration done except one morning walking around a Mumbai neighborhood, so i suppose i wouldn’t mind revisiting, but there’s so much more to the country. (* “our” = i was a guest of the bride’s family and stayed with them, no hotels [a couple bucket showers and all], pretty much all local expenses paid. no doubt an amazing trip.)
• i wouldn’t mind flying one of the cheap airlines to New Delhi and maybe starting out there, and then at least visiting Jaipur. that’d at least get two legs of the Golden Triangle done, for what it’s worth. i really have no desire to see the Taj Mahal, mostly because i’ve become incredulous from all the to-do about it. i suppose i could theoretically squeeze in both Jaipur and the Taj on that Thursday to Sunday?
• maybe Chennai (formerly Madras) and Kolkata (formerly Calcutta)?
• the Blue City of Jodphur is on my bucket list

so…

i’m thinking maybe i can fly early Monday morning to Jodhpur, then head up to Jaipur on Thursday or Friday, then return to Mumbai Sunday afternoon to catch my flight home. or is the Taj Mahal worth trying to squeeze in there? or maybe Mumbai + Jaipur? Mumbai + Jodhpur? Mumbai + Delhi? ack, i’m no better than when i started thinking about this!

tips? hints? advice? thanks! (or, as one of the attendants at the end of the United safety video says, धन्यवाद!)