July 28 - Egypt to India
Cairo to Mumbai
So it's 1:00 in the morning by the time we actually get into the terminal to wait for our 3:00AM flight to India. We sat at the cafe and played cards. We finally learned a new game - Gin Rummy - to which I downloaded the instructions a while ago but we just now took the time (because we had the time) to learn it. Jon is a very good card player and picks up these games and their strategies very easily. So I lose almost every hand, but it's still fun! At 2:30, we boarded the plane for our flight, and - because we had checked in so early - secured an exit row for ourselves! About half-way through the 7.5 hour flight, the plane landed in Dubai to drop off passengers and pick up more. We slept for the entire 45 minute stop.
Mumbai
The flight landed in Mumbai (Bombay) at 12:30 and had to pick up our bags and transfer to Jet Airways to get us to Delhi. Our bags were - of course - the VERY LAST bags off the plane as we were probably the first people to check in. But we're starting to get used to this. We found a Jet Airways shuttle bus to take us to the Domestic Terminal. And thank God we did because how were we supposed to know that the Domestic Terminal is on the other side of Mumbai?!?! Seriously, it took a half-hour to get to. But we got to see Mumbai, the crazy rickshaw drivers, and the cows wandering the roads. (Don't forget that they're sacred here). So we feel like we got an extra little tour.
At the Domestic Terminal, we checked in, exchanged money, and checked out some bookshops that were so filled with books that they were literally piled in stacks on the floor at least 5 stacks deep. It's a wonder that the owners even knew what was in the deep stacks. And while we've complained non-stop about being such obvious tourists, we actually realized a benefit of it at the airport: we "snuck" our way into the first-class lounge! I say "snuck" because we didn't have to be sneaky about it at all - we just walked right in and no one even blinked. We sat down on some of the comfy chairs and let the waiters do their thing. The lounge was run by Oberoi Hotels, which is a very nice hotel chain, so we were quite happy.
Jon enjoying the glory of the first-class lounge
So at 4:30 we boarded our 5:00 flight to New Delhi, which was no easy task. We counted FIVE security checkpoints before we got on the plane:
- X-Ray when we entered the terminal
- X-Ray to get to the gate
- Hand-held magnetic detector (separated into "Ladies section" and "Gents section")
- Hand search through our carry-on bags
- Frisking before boarding the shuttle to the plane (also "Ladies section" and "Mens section" which is good because they definitely got personal!)
After this, the US "has anyone unknown given you anything?" system looks like childs-play!
Delhi
Our flight arrived in Delhi at 6:30, and we waited for our bags which were - of course - last off the plane because we checked in so early. We went to the pre-paid taxi booth and got a voucher for a taxi. Our taxi driver tried to get us to another hotel other than the one we told him to go to because he wanted a commission. But we told him we already had reservations which wasn't true. But then again we also told him we were Canadian and had been to Delhi before so what's one more fib in the grand scheme of things? (We're quickly picking up on things to do to avoid getting the "dumb tourist" hassle).
For those of you who care for a re-cap of this 24-hour travel saga, our "commute" to Delhi looked like this:
8:00PM - 10:00PM sat in Sharm El Sheikh airport
10:00PM - 11:00PM flight from Sharm to Cairo
11:00PM - 3:00 AM sat in Cairo airport
3:00AM - 12:30 flight from Cairo to Mumbai, 45 min. layover in Dubai
12:30 - 5:00PM sat in Mumbai airport
5:00PM - 6:30PM flight from Mumbai to New Delhi
So this was a good 20 hour trip. The good part is that we saved on one night's hotel! India, by the way, is 3.5 hours ahead of Egypt which means it's 10.5 hours ahead of New York. Very odd - the extra half hour - but I'm sure there's a good reason for it somewhere!
Jukaso Inn
The Jukaso Inn is a bit pricey, but we wanted a place that was centrally located with A/C, and it's got some charm to it so that's not bad. They showed us two double rooms: one was a standard double with two twin beds, shower, and A/C. The other was a "deluxe" which means that it had a double bed, shower, A/C and carpet but was 100 Rupees more a night. Granted, that's only $2.00 but HELLOOOO! Two twin beds versus an itty-bitty double? We'll take the two twins any day! "Just like Ricki and Lucy" Jon says.
El Rodeo
I'm almost embarrassed to say this, but we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. We had Indian for lunch in the First Class Lounge in Mumbai, and Jon's been craving Mexican. So there you have it - we went. Get over it. Besides, this place was such a riot! The staff had uniforms of cowboy hats, jeans, chaps, guns, ammo - you name it! One of them was walking around shooting a cap gun at the patrons. There was dance music blaring and videos on the big-screen TV. It wasn't as good as Tortilla Flats (our favorite Mexican in NY), but it was good!
Then we went back and crashed because jet lag had gotten the better of us.