Adventure: India!

I’m off on another adventure. Now that I’ve crossed Japan, Australia and New Zealand off my list, I’ve decided this time would be India!

I’m taking a four-week tour that covers both the north and the south but skips the middle so I’ll take a flight to Mumbai to check it out on my own before heading for home.

Because of security I needed to be at Pearson airport at 3:45 am, 3 hours ahead of my 6:45 am flight for India. I don’t react well to getting up early but pulling an all nighter was just up my alley, especially if it would help me make the time change!

So the night before my flight I came home from work, did some final prepping, followed by 7pm a screening of Avatar with Jenny and a 10pm concert with Corey. The Skydiggers is my favorite live band and their annual Christmas show is a personal tradition. Being able to squeeze it in just hours before departure meant a lot to me.

From the show Corey drove me by my place to pick up my bag and we were off to the airport.

The flight was straight forward and long. I slept as best I could on and off. Apparently Air India is notorious for delays so leaving fifteen minutes late was considered a coup. By the time we reached Delhi the slow downs had snowballed and we landed 2 hours late plus I had to wait nearly an hour for my luggage to show up and baggage. I think the girl beside me missed her connection to Mumbai.

But when I came out of the airport something cool happened to me that has never happened to me before. I was greeted with a personalized sign and driver to my hotel.

It was an immediate immersion into the madness that is Indian traffic. The lines on the road are not even considered as suggestions, traffic lights are rare and vehicles accelerate suddenly and break within inches of whatever is in front of them.

For all that, there seems to be a structure in the chaos, a ballet of pedestrians, bicycle rickshaws, cars and Tuktuks. Tutuks are the three wheeled auto-rickshaws that are like overgrown vespas with a bubble shaped shell that you always see in photos of Delhi.

After dropping my bags and meeting my roommate for the night Nick (a recently divorced grandfather from the U.K.) I did a short walk about in search of a cash machine and to see the neighborhood.

With no luck in finding an ATM that both accepted my card and had money in it I returned to the Sky Rich hotel where the full tour group had an initial meeting followed by an excellent dinner.

The group looks like a good and varied bunch. Ages range from early 20’s to Nick who I believe is in his early 60’s. They cover New Zealand, Australia, England, Belgium, Denmark and of course Canada. In fact I’m one of 4 Canadians and we’re getting along famously.