India

India is not one trip. The Himalayas in the north and the Kerala backwaters in the south are four flying hours apart and share almost nothing — not the food, not the language, not the month they're worth visiting.

We've run tours here since 2016, with our own people on the ground. The guide meeting you at the Taj Mahal gate works for us, the driver has done that road before, and when a train is cancelled at midnight someone in the same time zone answers the phone.

First visit? Start with the Golden Triangle — Delhi, Agra and Jaipur inside a week, monuments booked ahead so you're not queuing in the heat. Then come back for Rajasthan in festival season, or Ladakh once the passes open.