People actually overate IITs, even I used t think something else before joining. Now, after completing two semesters in the IIT family, I think it is normal and people should not exaggerate. However, it is a huge responsibility studying in IIT, as we have to fulfil our family’s dreams. Last month, I completed my second semester and my results were pretty good. In order to enjoy our vacation time, I and my friends decided to check out some famous places nearby.

As we were in Kolkata, we thought of exploring the cold places nearby, which is Darjeeling. We are all smart students, and so our planning is quick and smart. We do not spend much time in asking to people about the trains, hotels or other things, instead we depend on the best travel portals for gaining knowledge and to book the best things for our journey. Let me share with you about our planning of train, hotel and sightseeing places in Darjeeling.

My complete planning for our group from Kolkata to Darjeeling

The first factor to decide was about travelling from Kolkata to Darjeeling. We are students so it is natural that are pockets are limited. Therefore, we check on travel portals, and had reserved our second class AC tickets on Uttar Banga Express (13147).

The next part was a journey in train. We boarded our train from Sealdah station at 7.35 pm and reached New Jalpaiguri station in the morning at about 7 am. We did nothing much on the train, we only had our dinner, gossiped and slept. It was a pleasant experience.

Then we were too excited as we planned to reach Darjeeling through toy train. Although it took quite a long time than expected, but it was a great and amazing experience to travel amidst beautiful surroundings.

Finally we reached Darjeeling and we were all smiles. While we were on the toy train, we had booked our stay option by checking out some popular Darjeeling hotels. It was pretty easy, all we had to do was check the pictures of few hotels, and the price. Some of the best hotels we liked were:

• Central Heritage Resort & Spa
  
• Elgin Darjeeling
  
• Khush Alaya- A Sterling Resort
  
• R J Resort
  

All of them were quite interesting as we had looked in pictures; however we finally decided to book our two rooms in Elgin Darjeeling as it suited out budget and our preferences. Well, after booking, we were completely satisfied. How amazing the travel portals are for travellers!

Our enjoyment in Darjeeling- truly fascinating!

We had chosen the following places for our enjoyment:

Kanchenjunga Mountain: This place was pretty awesome; we had the best moments of life.

Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park: We explored the flora and fauna here and enjoyed to the core.

Tiger Hill: From here, we could actually see the Mount Everest, which was a special feeling.

Well, we had the best time spent in Darjeeling. The travel portals made our planning perfect and it was a hassle free experience.