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Indian Wedding Adventure!
  • Jessie Searles
  • Jessie Searles

Indian Wedding Adventure!

A 9-day adventure by Jessie. Read more
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  • Trip start
    February 6, 2026
  • Jessie SearlesIndian Wedding Adventure!Traveler

    Premium Economy Upgrade!

    February 6 in the United States 🌙 13 °C

    A few weeks back I caught a $250 per person upgrade to premium economy so I took it for Carlos and I (Phil sadly didn’t have the upgrade option in original ticketing) and I can say it was definitely worth it! Equivalent of US first class which was really nice! Better food and definitely comfier seats!

    This post featuring all of our flights going at the same time!! Bristlewood crew is there already (mom, dad, Radhi, Hank) but Barb, Rekha, and Alisha are also enroute and all our planes were so close together in the sky which was fun.    Read more

  • Jessie SearlesIndian Wedding Adventure!Traveler

    UK stopover!

    February 7 in England 🌧 9 °C

    We had 10 hours in the UK and it was an awesome amount of time to see the city!! We speed ran sites starting at Big Ben and walked past Westminster, Hyde park, and on to a pub! Victorias pub was outstanding and we had some awesome fish and chips!Read more

  • Jessie SearlesIndian Wedding Adventure!Traveler

    Boarding Virgin Atlantic Flight!

    February 7 in England ☁️ 10 °C

    We were super excited to finally fly virgin, especially after a nap in the lounge featured here, but honestly we’re a bit disappointed! Food wasn’t great, and they almost didn’t let Carlos board with the Indian documentation we had printed (we were right the first time). Def the need for improvements!Read more

  • Jessie SearlesIndian Wedding Adventure!Traveler

    Arrival to BOM!

    February 8 in India ☀️ 24 °C

    Immigration was a mess, nearly an hour and a half after waiting (and a time period where all the agents left) we got through! Vedant’s dad tried to help us catch the 11 am flight since we were early, but it didn’t work out. We ended up on the 4:15 to Jaipur!

    BOM is not a bad airport to spend time in but man immigration was tough!    Read more

  • Jessie SearlesIndian Wedding Adventure!Traveler

    Welcome Soriee!

    February 8 in India 🌙 14 °C

    Night 1 of the wedding and it was an incredible time!! It was a family event so pretty small and we got to spend a lot of time with Vedant and his family. After 48 hours of no sleep, we were running on steam, but still stayed up until 2 am with the family.Read more

  • Jessie SearlesIndian Wedding Adventure!Traveler

    Bhaat and Carnival

    February 9 in India ☀️ 26 °C

    This was the Monday morning event! This was such a cool event that took place outside and involved giving the siblings gifts as well as dancing with the couple! This is the more formal morning day.

  • Jessie SearlesIndian Wedding Adventure!Traveler

    Sangeet Night!

    February 9 in India 🌙 18 °C

    So the Sangeet is where lots of people dance and party for the bride and groom! They also do the exchange of the rings at this event as tomorrow is a more traditional Hindu ceremony. We did not dance for the groom (other than at the after party where we held strong) as they were coordinated with a choreographer.

    This function started at 7 pm with Hindu rituals and went until 4 am. We had representatives there until 3 am (the first wave of the Americans left at around 1:30 am if you can believe it)    Read more

  • Jessie SearlesIndian Wedding Adventure!Traveler

    Carlos ate something spicy

    February 10 in India ☀️ 13 °C

    As I said we had Americans there until 3 am and here are two of the culprits (shock to no one)

    After they left the dance floor, they went for food (there is food all the time here) and they went to eat something called Meggie Noodles (think Indian ramen) well Carlos got his a little too spicy and Indian spice really builds so he came back and really started to suffer. While in the states we would get some milk, unfortunately I don’t have my typical 2 gallons on hand here.

    When they got back to the room, Carlos really started to feel it so Alisha had to help him work through the spice. She fed him cookies and was trying to teach him how to just breathe through it which you can see pictured here.    Read more

  • Jessie SearlesIndian Wedding Adventure!Traveler

    Wedding Ceremony/Bhraat

    February 10 in India ☀️ 26 °C

    The final ceremony of the event was the actual wedding and Bhraat! This is where we all danced with Vedant (for 2.5 hours) into the actual wedding ceremony! This was the longest event in total (we got there at 2:30 and left at 10:30 pm and the ceremony continued on until 2:30 am) this was the day jet lag really caught up with us, but still such an awesome day! We all got to dance on the car with Vedant too which was so cool, hoping to get pics and videos of that soon.Read more

  • Jessie SearlesIndian Wedding Adventure!Traveler

    World’s Largest Stepwell!

    February 11 in India 🌙 13 °C

    Step wells are very common in India! They doubled as a spa for the wealthy as well as wells for water! I had seen a stepwell in Jaipur the first time I came, but this one was a lot bigger and had the spa function combined in where the Jaipur one didn’t. This was the first stop after our group split apart to go between Agra and Jodphur.Read more

  • Jessie SearlesIndian Wedding Adventure!Traveler
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    Goodbye to Vedant and Arpita!

    February 11 in India ☀️ 23 °C

    Here is the group of Americans who came (minus mom and Radhi who had wandered away) we had one final goodbye to Vedant and Arpita before leaving. This was hard for all of us considering we don’t know when we will see Vedant again, but we know it’ll be sometime soon. (Fingers crossed for Olympic Games 2028)Read more

  • Jessie SearlesIndian Wedding Adventure!Traveler

    Dinner at Molecule!

    February 11 in India ☀️ 23 °C

    This was a fun restaurant we stopped at that Radhi found in Agra. It doubled as a night club but we were all dance partied out after the wedding! We had chaat which is pictured which was made in front of us. It’s like a chickpea mix that’s kinda sweet. Phil got a Budweiser that was made in India.Read more

  • Jessie SearlesIndian Wedding Adventure!Traveler

    Taj Mahal

    February 12 🌙 16 °C

    Many people don’t even see the Taj Mahal once in their life and now I’ve seen it twice. This was an incredible experience to share with Carlos and my family. The day we went it was beautiful without a cloud in the sky.

    The Taj Mahal was built for the kings 4th wife, and we learned he actually had 3 at once not one at a time. She had 11 kids and when she passed she asked him to never remarry. The other 3 wives are buried on the property as well. Both the king and 4th wife are buried inside the Taj Mahal below the floor. They have what the memorial looks like below and it was replicated twice basically. They only open the tomb site 3 times per year for people to honor them.    Read more

  • Jessie SearlesIndian Wedding Adventure!Traveler

    Agra Fort

    February 12 in India 🌙 13 °C

    A few miles down the road from the Taj Mahal we have Agra fort which is where the king who built the Taj Mahal lived. He would watch the construction from the palace after his son put him on house arrest. It was a beautiful property! We learned that he used to get so bored that he would get elephants drunk and watch them fight as well as play human chess.Read more

  • Jessie SearlesIndian Wedding Adventure!Traveler

    Hawa Mahal

    February 13 in India ☁️ 14 °C

    Our first morning in Jaipur! We hired a private guide that Tata found us after using the agency a few times and he was outstanding!! We started our tour here as it is the most iconic photo in Jaipur.

    Hawa Mahal means wind palace, we didn’t go inside (I went once before it was fine but not remarkable) but basically it allows for wind to enter the city palace area! We learned that the king of Jaipur painted the city pink when Prince Albert came to visit, and before it was white and yellow, but now every where you look you see pink!    Read more

  • Jessie SearlesIndian Wedding Adventure!Traveler

    Amer Fort

    February 13 ☁️ 13 °C

    Before building city palace, this is where the kings lived! Fun fact there is still a royal family in Jaipur, and according to the tour guide the current king who is 27 was just found in the Epstein files (Epstein hosted his 20th birthday party).

    So amer fort is a beautiful summer and winter palace and it’s huge! The level of detail is insane. This is something Carlos and Phil really enjoyed seeing.

    They had elephants here but every one I’ve spoke to from India has always said to not ride them here because of how they treat them. We also saw a snake charmer which I had never seen in real life! It was insane.    Read more

  • Jessie SearlesIndian Wedding Adventure!Traveler

    Jantar Mantar

    February 13 in India ☁️ 12 °C

    The Jantar Mantar is the world’s largest sun dial! They have 3 of these in India (another one in Delhi, and another one somewhere else in India but this is the largest one. When it was originally built, it was 20 seconds off actual time, the king did not think that was accurate enough, so he then built the bigger sun dial (worlds largest) and it is within 1 second of accuracy. It was built in 1700s.Read more

  • Jessie SearlesIndian Wedding Adventure!Traveler

    City Palace

    February 13 in India ☁️ 12 °C

    This is where the Royal Family of Jaipur lives currently! They had an awesome art market in here with all kinds of Jaipur art work. Jaipur is a big textiles and art city which I love.

    When we were there we saw the dad of the king (parents are divorced and daughter was the heir), we also saw clothes for a king who was 7 feet tall and 4 feet wide, and it was crazy!

    It’s still actively a royal residence so we couldn’t tour the rooms, but we did learn they make close to 6k USD in parking fees alone for tourists daily,    Read more

  • Jessie SearlesIndian Wedding Adventure!Traveler

    Layover in AMS

    February 14 in the Netherlands ☁️ 0 °C

    This is my favorite European airport to layover in for 2 reasons. First the KLM lounge is the best lounge I’ve ever been to in the world, second I love buying cheese in duty free and flying it home.

    We had 5 hours here which was nice, I even showered in the lounge! Now on to the non stop flight back to Austin.    Read more

  • Jessie SearlesIndian Wedding Adventure!Traveler

    Upgrade to Business

    February 14 in the Netherlands ☁️ 0 °C

    One of my true loves in this world is flying business class. We all got a cheap ish last minute business class upgrade that we decided to do!

    This is Carlos’ and Phil’s first time in business class, and my second time. KLM just has an outstanding experience on board.

    My favorite part of KLM is that they give you a Delft House as you depart as a thank you gift. There are over 100, and they are all based on real houses in Amsterdam. Last time when I flew business I selected house 80, and Carlos and I actually went to see the real location and it was an old bar.

    Today when they brought the tray around I picked the larger triangle one, and Carlos picked the more narrow one. When she was back showing carlos, I saw 47 in her hand, which was the Anne frank house and it had been one of the ones I had been wanting. I was about to trade mine for the Anne Frank house, but she ended up letting me keep both because she saw how excited I got and how much I had researched them.

    We are now the proud owners of 4 delft houses in Austin!! I already know where I’ll be moving our collection,    Read more

    Trip end
    February 14, 2026