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.
Sounds like a decent start to a good ol’ fashioned adventure!