The Terrific3 travel blog

It is 1038am on Saturday morning as I lie in bed at the Taj Palace hotel in India. The room is dark and the kids are still sleeping as we finally got to bed at 4am after an extremely long 24 hours of plane travel that started on Thursday at 3pm. On the way to Amsterdam, we were seated in the back with several rows open so each of us got to lie down on 3 sears. Though the kids each slept about 4 hours and I about 2, our plans were somewhat thwarted by a crying newborn and then extremely rough turbulence that had the plane lunging the the woman across from me having a panic attack.

We made it to Amsterdam and the transfer date was only a 5 minute walk; super easy. We got some food for the kids and waited for our 2 hour transfer in a crowded airport terminal that already looked like India , with 99% of the passengers being Indian, and….smelled like India—-I had forgotten how most of the men here don’t wear deodorant!

We boarded the KLM flight, which took a long time as they checked each passport of a full flight as we boarded. Then once boarded, several delays..hydraulic pump of plane broken and had to be serviced, then fog then waiting for other planes then….this is a new one….the truck attached to the plane that helped it back out couldn’t disengage. Despite this, the pilot was gracious and communicative and in the end, we were only delayed by an hour. The plane flight was tough as I couldn’t get the kids to disengage from the screen in front of them, especially those darn video games though I knew if they did 9 hours of straight screen time without rest or sleep, they would be hard to rally through customs and immigration after 36 hours of almost no sleep. So I made them rest for 2 hours and cursed myself for traveling so far with young kids . Despite that, looking back, they did remarkably well overall.

We landed in Delhi, and immediately the plane smelled smoky. At first I thought something was burning on the plane but then I remembered why I had chosen to only stay in Delhi overnight. The AQI was 330 and the smog was thick and viewable even from inside as we disembarked and there was no escaping it everywhere. Immigration and customs took less than 15 minutes and we met our tour guide on the other side and another 35 minute ride to the Taj Palace hotel, which is super luxurious. The customer service at check in was impeccable, with drinks and blessings and a suite upgrade offered to our family and smiles all around even at 330am.

We got into the room, and they had already set up the extra bed and for once in their lives, the poor kids were begging to to to bed immediately. It took us about 15-20 min to unpack and get organized and now I need to wake them soon as we are driving to Agra today (4 hour drive). The AQI in Agra is 200, so that’s better I guess. I checked udaipur and Jaipur and they’re all 150s, so I guess I’ll not take for granted the clear skies in portland anymore. S asked how people could live in this as no one walked around with a mask and I explained to him that unfortunately this would be the future of the whole world in about 10-15 years as no one seems to believe in climate change.

Anyways I can’t believe we are here to start this incredible adventure, yet coming into India every time I’ve traveled is so jarring with the changes and smells and culture shock. It’s been 20 years since my last trip to India and perhaps 40 since I’ve been to Delhi and wow, the roads are incredibly different and developed, like highways in the US. Probably all at the cost of the the smog though.

I better start making some noise to get these kids up so we can have breakfast and get moving, though I’m enjoying my first moment of peace in 2 days.