People warned me about Air India. They told me to take British Airways, that it was worth the extra couple of hundred dollars, but we were already spending so much money on the trip. The couple of hundred dollars we saved on airfare needed to be spent on things like food, souvenirs, and experiences. And though it wasn’t luxurious, it wasn’t awful. But it definitely was an indication of the adventure ahead of us.
The trip from JFK to Delhi was like one of those Adam Sandler movies where every stereotype of an Indian person was exaggerated. But it was all contained on a giant flying bus where the stewardesses (never stewards!) were beautiful and graciously speaking Gujarati, Hindi, and English. The bus smelled of sweaty people and curry… a hint of things to come. And the food was exceptional with a lovely curry and rice dish, yogurt, and cake.
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- Tasty Airplane Food
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- The First Autorickshaw we experience!
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- Husband and Wife Before the Adventure Begins!
And that flying bus got us here in Delhi, which was the whole point. And Delhi… wow. The chaos of Delhi is incredible and impossible to describe accurately with words. But imagine if we put hundreds of people into a 80′X50′ room with their passports after a 12 hour journey and have them charge three immigration attendants in three individual booths with no guidance or infrastructure in the way. An hour or two later, you walk down the receiving area, where there are hundreds of people waiting for you with signs. You meet your guy holding a tiny little sign and wait for the others in the group and then you’re loaded onto a taxi as you have one of the most exhilerating (and somewhat terrifying) airplane transit rides of your life. Because not only are there no lines on the roads, but there are relatively no rules to road: you can drive on the wrong side of the road if it gets you to your next destination!
Our flight landed at 10 pm at night and we arrived at our hotel at 1 am. Thankfully, we had decided to take a tour group approach to this trip and the arrangements were seamless. We even got to meet two of our fellow journeymen at the airport! So it could have been a lot worse– I can’t imagine the kind of frustration we would have had if we hadn’t taken a tour. It would not have been as fun as it was in the end!
Some people like to exagerrate on stereotypes..im an indian..and have travelled on air india several times..have smelled curry at all..its like any other plane..
even the crowd at NYC and JFK is no lesser