Dehli: Arrival and Hotel Scams

Up bright and early at 5:30 am for our flight to Delhi. Our bags are already checked through, and we have our boarding cards, so this should be simple, right? Well, not really. Kazakhstan’s border officials are really old style thorough. You must step up, one by one, no two adults together, photo taken. Passport inspected thoroughly in normal and UV light, passport corners inspected for damage or manipulation, etc. So passport control is sloooow, but thankfully, the ques are not too long. Bags are scanned twice, and boarding passes are checked multiple times. Finally, at 0645, we board Air Astana, and the flight is a pleasant 3 hours with great service.
I forgot to mention that whilst boarding the aeroplane, we are again treated with a great view of the Himalayas, and we see them too as we later fly over Eastern Pakistan.
Side Note: This is our 10th flight in Africa & Asia, and the experiences are all exceptional compared to Europe. Not a single cancellation or delay. Boarding on time, no bags lost. Good food and well train flight staff. All that from airlines most will never have heard of, such as Rwandair, Airlink, Air Astana, Uzbek Airways, and the maybe better known Air Egypt and Ethiopian Airways Nowadays, all fly the latest versions of Boeing or Airbus jet aircraft, gone are the days of old Soviet planes and ex-Soviet Airforce pilots. As far as I could tell, most pilots were local, and quite a number were women, so more small improvements for local people.

Drum roll…..and now for….India!

We have warned the children that India will be different. The ex-Soviet countries we have just visited are calm and spacious, and there are few hassles or risks. Let’s see how this goes…

Arrival at the airport, slow and bureaucratic as we expected, with a new loop to jump through at passport control, boarding passes, please. Flo has 5, and I don't have mine. There is no point in asking why, but we get through by handing him the same boarding pass twice. Getting cash, not a big problem, but the max amount is very low, getting a SIM card, easy, but it will be activated at 8pm (this turns out to be a big problem).

We find the pre-booked driver and head off, no apparent problems. 45 min drive, we "arrive," but the hotel name is wrong. "Ah sir, we are part of the same group, and the other hotel is full, and we have a better room for you here." Sounds, of course, suspicious, so we say we want to be taken to the Hotel Aira that we booked. So, after a bit of toing and froing we go to the Aira. That also looks a bit questionable and not like the photos on booking.com. Similar yes, but there are windows in a place where on Bookings there are none. It's all so dubious that we decide to cancel and look for another place. We find for the same price, the Ritz (Delhi). Of course, it's not the Ritz [Carlton Chain], but it turns out to be quite decent, and we get 2 of the 3 executive rooms. Before we congratulate ourselves too much, let's wait till tomorrow to see what surprises this hotel might bring.Читать далее