Trip to Delhi

We started our trip to Delhi by waking up at 4a.m. to make it to the airport for our 6:25 a.m. flight. Once we arrived at the airport, we realized we were going to be very lost! Every airport does things a little different and that is the case in Chennai too. Before entering the airport, guards with big guns check to make sure you have a ticket. Good think I printed off our e-tickets!

Some things we were completely lost about:

• We had to scan our luggage and have it zip tied shut before we checked in at the ticket counter
• You have to have a tag for each piece of "hand carry" luggage. If you don't have a tag, they'll scowl at you.
• They did not want to see our passports ever.
• Our boarding passes did not list the gate number. You had to watch a screen and then listen closely because it changed throughout our waiting period.
• You line up by your gate number to get on a bus that drops you off in the middle of the tarmac
• You have to know whether you should board the plane at the front or the back. Of course we picked the wrong one.

Once we got on the plane, we realized that we were truly on an Indian domestic carrier because the seats were made for short and skinny Indians, not big, tall Americans! Brian sat in the middle and couldn't sit straight at all because his legs wouldn't fit. By the end of the flight, he was numb.

Once we made it to Delhi and got our bags stepped out of the airport doors to a sea of Indian faces holding signs with names. We started looking and quickly found "Meghann Dibrell" and a smiling face. Vijay was our driver for the weekend and he was great! His English was just barely enough to communicate, but he was always in the right place at just the right time when we needed him.

Vijay took us into Delhi to see some of the major sights. We were supposed to have a tour guide, but due to some miscommunication, we toured the sights on our own. It was fun, but we really had no idea what we were looking at since only minimal signs were in English. We went to Qutb Minnar, the Bahai Lotus Temple and Humayan's Tomb.

We had fun, but it was extremely hot. My shirt was soaked completely through! Since we had just flown in, we also forgot about sunscreen, which was not good for my white husband!