Hello from Delhi, India – after a fairly uneventful journey with a few tight connections, I arrived in Delhi late last night. Unfortunately, my backpack didn’t have as much luck as I did, and had to spent an extra night in Amsterdam (insert Red Light District joke here). I had planned to only spend on day in Delhi and get an overnight train to the north of India so I could start my work at Delek Hospital in Dharamsala.
Instead, I had an extra day to explore Old Delhi. My flight landed at midnight, and by the time I had the lost luggage situation sorted out and stood in the slowest customs line ever, I didn’t make it to my hotel until 3:00am. Thanks to advice from online travel forums, I booked a hotel room in advance that included airport pickup. If you don’t have a designated driver, cabs have the tendency to take you on a wild goose chase all over Delhi and try to drop you off at various other hotels, giving you the excuse that your hotel is full or under renovations. It cost a pretty penny – about $35 USD – which is about $25 more than I hope to spend on a hotel room for most of my other nights in India! To take one bit of stress out of the equation definitely made it money well spent.
Patrick Huibregtse says
Sounds like a decent start to a good ol’ fashioned adventure!