Now we're cooking with gas.
Having had my fun with the visa authorities, it's the national train company's turn.
I suppose I wasn't really surprised to learn that you can't just book a train journey online in India as easily as you can here. Well, to be fair, it would be easy if you had an Indian mobile phone number and bank account or American Express card. Because that's what you need in order to use the official online Indian rail reservation system.
You need two codes to activate your account with the official site - one sent to you by email and the other by text message (hence the need for the Indian mobile). The workaround for foreigners is that you have to email a copy of your passport to the official lot and ask them to send you the text code by email instead. This is all apparently to thwart ticket touts. Once they send me this, I can activate my official account. But, without an American Express card, I still can't use the official site. There is, however, always a way... us non-Amex-bearing foreigners can use an online agency called ClearTrip, who sync up your official account with your account on their site, and you can use a Visa card. So, in theory, I'll be able to book some train tickets soon.
Having explained all of this to my boyfriend, who, as readers of previous posts will know, has lived in India for several years, he replied: "No, you don't do any of that. You go to a travel agent when you get to India, tell them what trains you want and they send somebody round to the station to get the tickets for you. Costs a few rupees and that's the end of it."
I suppose the benefit of booking ahead is that you're sure to get the trains you want and you get your electronic ticket there and then. I'm sure I'll do a mixture of both once I get there - and, of course, once I know where it is I'm going!
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