I am currently in the Mexico City airport awaiting the last leg (MEX to GDL) of my journey home from an extraordinary 7-week adventure in India, Bhutan, and Nepal.
I did two back-to-back trips with OAT: Heart of India and Nepal and the Mystical Himalayas.
I flew Turkish Airlines and took advantage of their free stopover program in Istanbul. I got three free nights at the Radisson Blu Istanbul Pera. It was a long walk to the Sultanahmet area, but I like walking, so it worked out great. I'd been to Istanbul previously, so this trip was primarily to see the Blue Mosque and Kariye Mosque, both of which were undergoing renovation last time I was there. I also did some museums, a food tour with Culinary Backstreeets, and a Hamam visit. I didn't love this particular food tour as much as I enjoyed the previous one I'd done with Culinary Backstreets, Two Markets, Two Continents. The Hamam was fabulous!
I won't go into detail on the itineraries of the two OAT tours, since you can see them on their website. Both were excellent itineraries, and I would recommend them highly. I didn't do pre- or post-trips on Heart of India, but I did both on Nepal. The pre-trip to Bhutan and the post-trip to northern India were both highlights of the entire trip. The post-trip also included one additional day in Delhi when we went to Qutab Minar, a UNESCO World Heritage site that for me rivaled the Taj Mahal as one of the most special sites I visited in India. And the Attari-Wagah ceremony at the Pakistani border was so fun, and also wonderful to watch Indian and Pakistani border guards engage in well-coordinated pomp, revving up the crowds on both sides into a frenzy of patriotism.
Another highlight was watching bathers in the Ganges at Varanasi in the early morning. People come from all over India to do this, and they are so filled with joy as they fulfill a lifelong dream.
I did paragliding at Pokhara in Nepal, and also took a helicopter ride from there to Annapurna basecamp. Both big thrills. This was the fourth helicopter tour I've done and definitely the most thrilling.
Bhutan is so magical. They have managed to avoid many western influences. I loved the architectural style and the traditional dress. Although many people now wear western clothing, I'd say about a third of the people we saw wore the gho (for men) and the kira (for women).
India stretched me more culturally than any other place I've visited. The cities we visited are not particularly beautiful, and though there are many fine monuments, there are also garbage-strewn neighborhoods and horrendous traffic. But the sights and sounds and smells were a never-ending feast, and speaking of feasts, the food was the best I've had on any trip.
I have separate Google photo albums for each place I visited on this trip, more than I can list here, and it's a violation of the terms of this forum to link to my blog, where I've written a lot more about the trip and included links to the photo albums. But let me know by private message if you're interested, and I'll happily share with you.