India - *A, 1W, or AS Award to India & Comments on Trip

My wife and I are planning a trip to India in February of 2013 for 12 days.
I'm looking for advice on the following:

1. How do we get there?
We're based in D.C. and want to visit at least one other country besides India on our trip (I know India deserves more time but my wife and I have a goal of visiting over 100 countries together in our lives so multiple country trips are a must for us).
Unfortunately, EY won't start IAD-AUH until 3/31/2013 and it will be too hot in April-May to go to India for us.
EK will start service in 9/2012 but I'm not sure if when/ if we'll be able to redeem AS miles on EK F.

Our miles/ points:
AA: 500K
US: 600K
AS: 40K (working on more apps/ churning to get us to 200K)
Marriott: 400K
UA: working on several chase cards to get us to 200K

My tentative thought:

DCA-JFK-AUH-CMB (EY F) using AA miles for one-way awards

DEL-ZRH-IAD (on LX and UA F) using UA miles for one-way awards

OR

IAD-ZRH-DEL roundtrip in F using US miles

2. What cities should we go to?
Delhi and Agra are must sees for us but what else?
My thoughts are Jaipur, Varanasi, or Amristar but given our short time frame this may be difficult.

3. Which neighboring country should we see?
Our initial thought was to fly to CMB first and explore Colombo and spend 3-4 days at a beach resort then fly to DEL for an adventure.

The other thought we have is to explore a bit of Nepal (we're not trekkers though) and then travel India.

One additional thought is to visit Amristar and cross the Pakistan border into Lahore (not sure on this one given safety concerns).

imho - Jaipur is cool, Delhi is ok. Agra (Taj Mahal is stunning) and Amritsar is a must see.. the golden temple is ridiculous.. you won't regret seeing it.
Another country in 12 days is a challenge. I was based in Asia and went for 10 days and covered Delhi/Agra/Jaipur/Amritsar.. but you lose 1 more day from flight..

Day 1/2 - Travel to Delhi
Day 3 - Delhi
Day 4 - Delhi
Day 5 - Delhi - Agra
Day 6 - Agra (Taj)
Day 7 - Agra - Jaipur
Day 8 - Jaipur
Day 9 - Jaipur - Amritsar
Day 10 - Amritsar
Day 11 - Amritsar - Delhi
Day 12 - Flight home

Since you are checklisting countries.. probably good to ask where you have not been? No way you can cover Nepal in that time frame.
Can you add a few days? go to Maldives?

If you are only going to Agra to see the Taj Mahal like we were, then you could save a few days on the above itenarary. Agra is really not that far from Delhi and Jaipur. So you could leave Delhi early in the morning for Agra and then get back to Delhi by evening. Or even head forward towards Jaipur and get there by night.

How are you intending to move around? Taxi, Train, Flights or Bus :P

Also what are your interests? like spiritual places? hill stations? city buzz?

Dracs

As a US Chairmans, the choice is easy - use US miles for LH C
Go to DEL - first
see DEL- Agra- Jaipur - Amritsar - Varanasi -DEL
You can go DEL -BKK or SIN
Then fly back via NRT/ICN -WAS
Based in WAS as a US CP, this is fairly simple to do.

Personally rather than check off countries /cities in a mad race,
I think it is better to see one place for a few days well.
Since the trip allows stops of less than 24 hrs in each place, you could do
1 WAS-MUC-late flight 23 hrs stop
2 MUC-ZRH - 23 hrs stop
3 ZRH-BKK-23 hrs stop
4 BKK-DEL - stopover > 24 hrs
5-6 DEL-SIN- CMB Destination
7 CMB-SIN - 23 hrs
8 SIN-LAX
and then just use the AA miles to get back to WAS
I have had some success getting up to 10 segments on US,
but often the limit is 8 sectors.
This trip will allow you to "see" 6 countries, but I think it would be a waste of time (unless you are Lucky blogging about all of it).

April - May is hot in the South of India, but in the North (DEL Agra etc) will be bearable in April and warm in May and really hot in JULY-AUG

How are you intending to move around? Taxi, Train, Flights or Bus :P

Also what are your interests? like spiritual places? hill stations? city buzz?

Dracs

We're open to most forms of transportation but we prefer to be in comfort. Trains and planes are our preference.

Both my wife and I love architecture and impressive buildings that's why the Taj is a must for us. Spiritual places are certainly interesting though.

imho - Jaipur is cool, Delhi is ok. Agra (Taj Mahal is stunning) and Amritsar is a must see.. the golden temple is ridiculous.. you won't regret seeing it.
Another country in 12 days is a challenge. I was based in Asia and went for 10 days and covered Delhi/Agra/Jaipur/Amritsar.. but you lose 1 more day from flight..

Day 1/2 - Travel to Delhi
Day 3 - Delhi
Day 4 - Delhi
Day 5 - Delhi - Agra
Day 6 - Agra (Taj)
Day 7 - Agra - Jaipur
Day 8 - Jaipur
Day 9 - Jaipur - Amritsar
Day 10 - Amritsar
Day 11 - Amritsar - Delhi
Day 12 - Flight home

Since you are checklisting countries.. probably good to ask where you have not been? No way you can cover Nepal in that time frame.
Can you add a few days? go to Maldives?

Thanks for the suggested itinerary. I would love to add on the Maldives but for some reason my wife wants to save that country for a big anniversary trip at some point down the road (I keep telling her there are other remote islands countries on the list after the Maldives though).

Amristar sounds awesome. I'll have to think through that one more. Did you go to the Pakistan/ India border when you were in Amristar? Any thoughts on how safe it is?

If you are only going to Agra to see the Taj Mahal like we were, then you could save a few days on the above itenarary. Agra is really not that far from Delhi and Jaipur. So you could leave Delhi early in the morning for Agra and then get back to Delhi by evening. Or even head forward towards Jaipur and get there by night.

Good points. Thanks.

As a US Chairmans, the choice is easy - use US miles for LH C
Go to DEL - first
see DEL- Agra- Jaipur - Amritsar - Varanasi -DEL
You can go DEL -BKK or SIN
Then fly back via NRT/ICN -WAS
Based in WAS as a US CP, this is fairly simple to do.

Personally rather than check off countries /cities in a mad race,
I think it is better to see one place for a few days well.
Since the trip allows stops of less than 24 hrs in each place, you could do
1 WAS-MUC-late flight 23 hrs stop
2 MUC-ZRH - 23 hrs stop
3 ZRH-BKK-23 hrs stop
4 BKK-DEL - stopover > 24 hrs
5-6 DEL-SIN- CMB Destination
7 CMB-SIN - 23 hrs
8 SIN-LAX
and then just use the AA miles to get back to WAS
I have had some success getting up to 10 segments on US,
but often the limit is 8 sectors.
This trip will allow you to "see" 6 countries, but I think it would be a waste of time (unless you are Lucky blogging about all of it).

April - May is hot in the South of India, but in the North (DEL Agra etc) will be bearable in April and warm in May and really hot in JULY-AUG

Thanks for the thoughts here. We thought about LH but there is very little to no F availability any more on LH. That's why UA/ LX F sounds more appealing.

By way of the other stops you have listed there, we've traveled and visited SIN, BKK, MUC, NRT and ZRH before and although we love those cities, they won't help us on our country count.

From what I've read Delhi is very hot in April and unbearable in May. Maybe I'm wrong on this.

Our miles/ points:
AA: 500K
US: 600K
AS: 40K (working on more apps/ churning to get us to 200K)
Marriott: 400K
UA: working on several chase cards to get us to 200K

.

If your goal is to visit 100 countries, one consideration might be balancing it with your next trip after that. Do you know where that will be and which alliance might work best for you? Two countries per year would make a 50-year quest and I doubt if that's your horizon. I'll bet you're always planning at least two trips ahead.

And I'll commend you on your goal. While the round number isn't that important, the idea of getting to as many places as possible in the short time we have is very valid. When people question me, saying "X days in Y place just isn't enough to do it justice, " my reply is, "You're right, but who's saying I'll never go back?" For people who play this game well, and you obviously do, the phrase "Trip of a lifetime" is simply not part of your vocabulary.

I agree with poster who suggested the 23-hour stopover idea. This just came onto my radar recently and it's a golden opportunity in some situations to build in more places visited without adding to mileage needed. You can sample a place and decide if one you want to visit more in depth later. I've booked a trip to Cyprus with free "23-hour" stops in Zurich, Skopje, Vienna, Istanbul and Frankfurt on the way there or back. (It isn't literally 23 hours, as usually there are not that many flights a day to choose from with mileage award availability.) I'd like to see a thread on the whole topic of maximizing these types of stops across alliances. What are all the ins and outs, advantages and disadvantages of of the various programs?

Best wishes on your India planning. It's a place I definitely hope to visit too before long.

April - May is hot in the South of India, but in the North (DEL Agra etc) will be bearable in April and warm in May and really hot in JULY-AUG
The seasons are not the same as in the west. Delhi is very very hot in April and May (although this year it is somewhat cooler because of unexpected rains). Once the monsoons hit, in July, it gets somewhat cooler although very humid.

There are a lot of threads on the India forum about what to see in India, when to go, etc.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/india-478/

Day 1: arrive Delhi
Day 2: Take a Shatabdi train to Chandigarh and I think it is from Old Delhi Railway Station (3 hours,Chair car and can book 1st AC) or fly to Chandigarh(1 hour or less),Check in ( Stay at Taj in 17 sector) and go for some shopping in 17 sector or just walk around. Chandigarh is first planned/best planed city in India, Bureaucratic hub and city of students.Visit Rock Garden( Created by Nek Chand and all structures were made of recycled material and Visit 17 sector for shopping in evening.
Day 3: Take a Volvo bus to Amritsar( Should be comfortable) or try to Reach Ambala(30 miles from Chandigarh) by train/Taxi and catch Shatabdi to Amritsar. I don't think there is a direct train line from Chandigarh to Amritsar. See if you can get combined ticket from Chandigarh all the way till Amritsar.
Try to visit border flag lowering ceremony at Wagah border in evening that day.Don't Laugh in ceremony otherwise bullets will fly.
Day 4: Visit Harmandir Saheb(golden temple), Make sure you cover your heads properly when you pay visit, Explore city if you have time or Catch flight to Varansi through Del.
Day 5: See Varanasi again.
Day 6: Fly to Delhi, See Lotus temple,Qutub Minar, Humayun tomb,Red fort, Rashtrapati Bhavan, India Gate, AksharDham temple, Some shopping hubs like Chandni Chowk, Connaught place
Day 7: Delhi,
Day 8: Delhi
Day 9: Agra Side trip ( Shatabdi train or Taxi )
Day 10: Amer fort, birla temple, govind dev ji temple, hawa mahal,
Day 11: Jaipur
Day 12: Jaipur, Leave for Delhi in evening by flight, train and catch overnight International flight.

Hopefully, it is not too crammed.

Dracs

Pakistan/ India border when you were in Amristar? Any thoughts on how safe it is?

I did not g to the border when I was there.. Amritsar is perfectly safe, albeit a bit older/run down (not as touristy).

To save time you could do Agra on a day trip, but i would advise against it.
What you want is to stay over night at Agra, and go to the Taj at 6am (before sunrise).. be one of thhe first in there.. the grounds are tranquil, and serene.. photos with very few people in it... and once you make your way into the structure, you hear wind howling, it's quite an experience.. Once the boatload of tourist go in, you lose all tranquility :)

You also get to see the sun rise..and colors on the Taj change from a light grey, to pink, or rose, to orange, etc.. it's gorgeous as the sun rises)

The seasons are not the same as in the west. Delhi is very very hot in April and May (although this year it is somewhat cooler because of unexpected rains). Once the monsoons hit, in July, it gets somewhat cooler although very humid.

for a first time visit, i would definitely avoid coming to india between april - july....

There are a lot of threads on the India forum about what to see in India, when to go, etc.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/india-478/

i agree....a simple search will bring up tons of threads with similar itineraries around india....

If your goal is to visit 100 countries, one consideration might be balancing it with your next trip after that. Do you know where that will be and which alliance might work best for you? Two countries per year would make a 50-year quest and I doubt if that's your horizon. I'll bet you're always planning at least two trips ahead.

And I'll commend you on your goal. While the round number isn't that important, the idea of getting to as many places as possible in the short time we have is very valid. When people question me, saying "X days in Y place just isn't enough to do it justice, " my reply is, "You're right, but who's saying I'll never go back?" For people who play this game well, and you obviously do, the phrase "Trip of a lifetime" is simply not part of your vocabulary.



Thanks for your post. You definitely understand where I'm coming from. We're contemplating a VIE stopover in Europe (neither of us have been in VIE or Austria so that might be nice way to throw another country in here).

There are a lot of threads on the India forum about what to see in India, when to go, etc.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/india-478/

Thanks for the link. I've looked around in there and it's helpful.

Day 1: arrive Delhi....

Dracs

That looks like a great itinerary! Thanks for your help.

for a first time visit, i would definitely avoid coming to india between april - july....



i agree....a simple search will bring up tons of threads with similar itineraries around india....

Thanks, Keyser. I'm also trying to figure out routings/ options which will throw another country into the mix and use my miles/ points for F travel.

Thanks for the thoughts here. We thought about LH but there is very little to no F availability any more on LH. That's why UA/ LX F sounds more appealing.

By way of the other stops you have listed there, we've traveled and visited SIN, BKK, MUC, NRT and ZRH before and although we love those cities, they won't help us on our country count.

From what I've read Delhi is very hot in April and unbearable in May. Maybe I'm wrong on this.

Correct, Delhi can be very hot in April too. Someone used to North American weather would find April to be very hot.