What Are We Thinking!?- We Start a Tour of India

We had planned that our Scandinavian/Russia cruise would be our big trip for 2018. We had decided on this cruise, booked it in February, and started to consider where we would go in 2019.

We have arrived!

Two weeks after we booked it we got an e-mail from our travel friends in Vancouver that we met last year on our African tour. The e-mail said that they were: ‘looking at a tour of India in November.’ INDIA! Good God! What are they thinking!? We didn’t proffer a response thinking it would only, in some way, encourage them to stop thinking and actually book this lower-intestinal destination. Next day, another e-mail: ‘We booked this tour and there are only 10 spaces left. Want to join us?’

Good luck and wellness be with thee

Our initial reaction was that those spaces were likely to remain unfilled. And then we got thinking about this tour. First, it was offered by Tauck Travel, the same tour company we used for Africa. Secondly, it was an interesting itinerary. Titled, “A Portrait of India,” the 18-day tour covered the entire country with its 5 intratour flights, and we would probably see a lot more than the average visitor to India sees. Thirdly, as an emerging country, India conjures up images that would not likely make it an attractive tourist destination, but every destination has tourist-worthy highlights that usually prove to be interesting experiences.

Our bathroom

And last, but certainly not least, it would be an opportunity to travel again with Dave and Linda. We concluded that if Tauck does India like they did Africa, and with our friends adding to the experience, we couldn’t go wrong. We e-mailed them back: ‘We’re in!’ and got our travel agent to start the arrangements.

Our travel day arrived and we were ready. We had researched the stops on the itinerary and were excited to get started. Initially expecting a grueling flight schedule, we were delighted and amazed that we could get to India with a non-stop flight from New Orleans, which is not a major international portal, to London, and then another non-stop to New Delhi. 

The spacious shower

The downside to this two-legged travel was an 8-hour layover in London, and a 10.5 (yes, they’re one-half hour off) time-zone change, meaning a 3-day travel time. We wondered if we were getting too old for this!

The first leg and layover went well but were tiring, and then we started the second leg. Traveling all night we started our descent into New Delhi as dawn was breaking.

The credenza

As we approached the airport we were appalled as our plane left clear, blue skies with cottony white clouds and descended into an orangish-brown fog that severely limited visibility. Landmarks were obscured by this haze which marked the city’s famed air pollution and which, according to a World Health Organization survey of 1600 world cities, is the worst of any major city in the world.

Richly detailed

India has the world's highest death rate from chronic respiratory diseases and asthma, according to the WHO, and in Delhi, poor air quality irreversibly damages  the lungs of 50 percent of all children. And to our chagrin, November has the worst air quality when surrounding farmers harvest their crops and set their fields on fire to burn the stubble. Also, we arrived on the last day of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights and one of the most popular festivals of Hinduism.

New Dehli smog

Diwali symbolizes the spiritual "victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance." During Diwali celebrations, the setting off of fireworks is popular which significantly contributes to the air pollution in this densely populated region. The government has banned fireworks during the festival, but this ban is ignored by many.

After gathering our luggage and exchanging some money, we met our transfer agent and then experienced a truly harrowing ride to our hotel. Cars were weaving back and forth like a group of slalom skiers descending a mountainside and narrowly missing each other.

Smog at 1100, the sun never shines

According to our driver, what driving laws exist are generally ignored by Indian drivers which just seem to wing lane changes.

The hotel pool

The roads contain few lane markings and what may be a three-lane road might be expanded to six lanes by reducing lane widths. Drivers maintain perilously close clearances and our driver said that in India a driver needs three things: a good horn; good brakes; and good luck! Arriving at our hotel, the Leela Palace, we were a little disconcerted by the wall surrounding the grounds and the armed guard that met our car. Exiting the car, we were surprised to find our luggage being x-rayed, and us being asked to pass through a metal detector. As usual Capt. Larry’s metal knees and shoulder sounded the alarm, but it was ignored by everyone and we were allowed to enter the hotel lobby by two more guards in military garb—and this is supposedly one of the finest hotels in all of India.

Another pool shot

A welcoming ceremony placed a red dot on our foreheads (which was very hard to remove!) for good luck and wellness and a flower necklace around our necks. Our check-in completed, we were shown to our room which was absolutely beautiful. Although we had barely slept for the past 48 hours, we weren’t sleepy. We reorganized our suitcases and contacted Dave and Linda who had arrived about 5 hours before we did.

Dave, Linda, and Jane

We reunited in our room and spent the next 3 hours catching up and exchanging stories, before we started to crash. They left and we went to bed and slept deeply for the next 3 hours. We finished our day with dinner with Dave and Linda, and then drinks at an upper level bar while we watched the illegal Diwali fireworks in spite of the pollution. It wasn’t difficult for us to fall asleep that night.

Walking on water

The next morning was the actual start of the tour, but no activities were scheduled as it was a day for more arrivals. We came a day earlier to rest and recuperate. We had a protracted breakfast with Dave and Linda and then went to the hotel’s pool on its highest floor. The pool was very beautiful, but the view of the surrounding city was seriously obscured by the smog. We sat by the pool and talked, took some photos, and then did a tour of the hotel, before retiring to our rooms.

Interior hallway

Having been advised that it was somewhat risky to venture outside the hotel’s walls and not really wanting to breathe the polluted air, we were pretty much confined to our rooms. Jane watched TV while Capt. Larry worked on the blog.

Reunited!