Passage to India

The best laid plans... our hope was that on one of Tim's business trips to India, we would meet up for a long weekend in Delhi.  Unfortunately it would not work out that way.  So here's how it did pan out: Tim worked at one of the Ford India locations until late Wednesday, then flew overnight to Bangkok, arriving just before seven Thursday morning.  Our driver picked me up from our condo at 5:30 a.m. and we drove to the airport to meet Tim.  We then headed to a hotel near the airport.  The Suvarnabhumi Suites hotel was a pleasant little six-story hotel with a rooftop restaurant.  We arrived with just enough time to enjoy the breakfast buffet, then Tim was able to catch some Z's and get a little work done.  The hotel promptly shuttled us back to the airport at 6:30 p.m., and we were on our way to Delhi!  Where there's a will, there's a way.

This was in the hotel manual.  Durian is a popular fruit in Southeast Asia
that apparently smells awful but tastes good.  The hotel promised.

The flight to Delhi was just over four hours, a loaded plane with very little wiggle room.  Made me sorry for all the time Tim spends flying of late.  Jet Airways is one of India's major carriers, and the flight was adequate, but the flight "attendants" were not very attentive.

We landed in Delhi just after midnight, where I was able to obtain my "Visa on Arrival."  This is a fairly new option for tourists (the clerk said it's only been available for three months).  In the past, I would have had to make a special trip to Bangkok to the Indian embassy before our trip - that's what Tim had to do. With this new system, you apply and pay online, then bring your printout to India, where the Immigration personnel document your arrival, including fingerprinting.  In his heavy Indian accent, the agent said to place "forefinger" on the glass reader, so that's what I did.  He corrected me, holding up his "four finger" to indicate all four fingers go on the glass.  Oh.  It took three or four tries, as he would look at his screen and shake his head that it wasn't good enough.  At one point, he went to get some hand sanitizer for me to use, which made no difference at all.   Finally he pressed down on my fingers as he scanned them, and that seemed to do the trick.  Went through the same thing with the other hand, then the two thumbs.  He seemed a bit put out by all the effort.  Welcome to India.

Luckily our shuttle from the hotel was waiting for us and drove us the fifteen minutes to the Holiday Inn Delhi.  The hotel was nice enough, but the bed was too soft, giving the guests a free backache with each visit.  Hope this isn't a thing in India. Anyway, time for some shut-eye.