Linda Dwan of Baldwins Travel said if she had been offered the chance to visit India five years ago she would have turned it down.
“India has never appealed to me. I had thoughts of a dirty, smelly nation and I did not like Indian food,” said Dwan.
“But three friends, who have been over the last couple of years, have raved about the country. One has been twice and another, who has been around the world a couple of times, said it is her favourite destination.”
Dwan also found that she a lot of clients were asking her about the destination, wanting to find out more about the place before committing themselves.
When Dwan told her friends and family she was off to India they were sceptical.
“They laughed when they heard. They said ‘You will hate it, you will not eat, you will get Delhi belly’. How wrong they were.”
She loved the history and beautiful palaces of cities such as Delhi, Jaipur and Jodhpur. But she also loved the country.
“In between these amazing cities you get to see the true India. There are millions of people sleeping rough on the pavements, bikes, roofs, shanty towns and mud huts. There is absolutely no sanitation and rubbish is just left lying around.
“The Indian women are pretty with a great sense of colour and style. I didn’t get Delhi belly and food was not a problem. There was a good choice of continental food. I had eggs on toast for breakfast!”
Eleanor Milner, one of the hosts from Cox and Kings, said the feedback from the trip had been excellent.
“Everyone on the trip was keen to experience as much as possible and this resulted in us using 10 different forms of transport in as many days. Our modes of transport included cycle rickshaws, elephants, horse and cart, camel and cart and an electric bus.”