India-based expedition / research assistant

I am looking for a reliable India-based assistant to help me organise a long overland expedition across India starting in December 2026.

This is not a standard virtual assistant role. I need someone who is comfortable dealing directly with Indian businesses by phone and WhatsApp, chasing responses, negotiating prices, checking details, confirming bookings and helping me solve practical problems quickly.

Initial tasks will include:

* contacting vehicle rental companies and checking availability and terms;
* calling hotels, local suppliers and transport providers;
* obtaining quotations and confirming information;
* checking that businesses and offers are genuine;
* following up when emails or messages are ignored;
* updating simple spreadsheets with results;
* helping with local research, bookings and logistics as the expedition develops.

You should be:

* based in India;
* fluent in English and Hindi;
* confident speaking to businesses on the telephone;
* organised and persistent;
* capable of working independently rather than simply sending me Google search results;
* comfortable negotiating and asking detailed questions.

Knowledge of Northeast India would be especially useful, although not essential.

I expect to begin with a small number of hours each week. If we work well together, this could develop into a longer-term relationship involving future projects in India.

When applying, please tell me where you are based, which languages you speak, and give me one example of a situation where you had to find something difficult, negotiate with suppliers or solve a practical problem for a client.