North Delhi

I was aiming to wake up at 3AM but I had forgotten to change the time on my phone to the time in Colombo, Sri Lanka. As a result, I was up extremely early. As usual, my noisy morning rituals woke Bob up. He looked at his phone and asked what I was doing since it was only 2:30 AM. I figured that it was too late to climb back in bed so I finished getting ready and cleaned up the stateroom. We made our way down to the atrium at 3:50 AM. There was not a soul around. After waiting a couple of minutes, we figured that people must have already gotten off the ship. Sure enough, our entire group was already on the bus. This bodes well for our new group who we will be traveling with for the next 7 days.

We arrived at the airport around 5 AM. The flight information board said that our flight was not ready for check in. Bill William's group was waiting outside the security check in. We waited for a bit but saw Karen's group go through security so we followed. Air India's ticket counter was not available so we waited until the ticket counter opened. We made it through the first security/passport check point quickly.

Bob and I saw a Burger King in the airport. Since we had been craving a good hamburger, we decided to eat at Burger King even though it was around 6 AM. It cost us $32.00!!! Most expensive Burger King ever! It was also very different from what we get in the US.

We made our way to our gate. Interestingly, there is another security check to enter the gate area. Here, our belongings are put through another x-ray machine and we had to walk through a metal detector.

An announcement was made that our flight was boarding. We walked down a gateway where our belongings were once again screened. This time, we had to open our carry-on luggage. Each pouch inside the luggage was opened and examined. It was quite the procedure.

We finally got to our seats. I had booked the Pritchett's tickets and I knew that we should all be in the same exit row. Bob and I had seats in the exit row but the Pritchett's seats were way in the back. I told the stewardess about the problem and she blew me off and said after everyone boarded, it would be dealt with. I was not accepting this answer. So I swam upstream against the flow of passengers boarding and went to the front of the plane. I spoke with the lead boarding agent. He took a screenshot of the Pritchett's booking from my phone and left the plane to speak with the ground crew. After a bit, he came back on the plane and said that he had gotten their seats changed back to the exit row. I went to the back of the plane and told the Pritchetts to come with me back to the exit row. This whole procedure did find me running up and down the aisle several times. I was glad that most of the people on the plane were very small in stature so I could maneuver around them.

After being settled in our correct seats, the rest of the flight was uneventful.

We arrived at the Delhi airport and it was crazy! In the baggage area, airport personnel took luggage off the belts and put them in random piles. We had to dig through several piles of luggage until we found our luggage.

After getting our luggage, we exited the airport and were met by our guide.

We walked to the parking lot, were given a lei and had our photo taken before boarding our van.

We drove to the hotel. Once arriving at the entrance to the hotel, our driver had to exit the van and open the back of the van. The van was examined for explosives.

Our luggage had to be put through another x-ray machine and we had to go through another metal detector. These procedures were put in place after the hotel bombing in Mumbai in 2008. Our van, luggage and ourselves will have to be examined every time we return to the hotel.

We checked in, had lunch buffet at the hotel and a short time to relax before our guide met us at 5 PM for a tour some of Delhi's historical monuments.

We boarded the bus and began our drive to Qutab Minar. On the way to this first monument, we drove by people living in the parks and roadside islands. The amount of trash everywhere is unbelievable. When we arrive at Qutab Minar compound, we had to walk through a clearly non-functioning metal detector.

Qutab Minar which is a Unesco World Heritage Site built in the early 13th century. The red sandstone tower of Qutab Minar is 72.5 meters high. The surrounding archaeological area contains funerary buildings, notable the magnificent Alai-Darwaza Gate, the masterpiece of Indo-Muslim art (built in 1311), and two mosques, including the Quwwatu'l-Islan, the oldest in northern India, built of materials reused from some 20 Brahman temples.*

After the visit to Qutab Minar, we drove by Rashtrapati Bhavan (president's house formerly the viceroy's residence), and the India Gate (formerly called the War Memorial).

We then returned to the hotel-again our van was inspected, our day packs/purses were x-rayed and we had to pass through a metal detector.

The hotel's common area is beautiful but our room smells of mold/mildew so I am wearing my mask when I am in the room. Unfortunately, we are spending two nights here. But I am exhausted from getting little sleep last night so I am hoping that I can sleep even with my mask on.

*This background information was supplied to us as part of our itinerary.Read more