The Terrific3 travel blog

It is 448am in Agra and we’ve been up for 2-3 hours already. oh jet lag at its best!

Yesterday, we did a “quick” lunch at the Taj Palace in Delhi then headed out for the drive to Agra. It was amazing to be on the roads and see how much India has changed. The roads were well labeled highways, the driving wasn’t as insanely terrifying as I remember, and there were more large vehicles and fewer bikes and motorcycles on the road. I have a distinct memory as a teenager being driven in India on a congested road full of bikes, motorcycles with a whole family piled on them, trucks, and cars, and the driver weaving in and out of this traffic with alternating heavy acceleration and heavy braking while I closed my eyes in fear of an imminent accident. Once we got out of the Delhi smog, and because it was a Saturday, there was barely any traffic on the well constructed and smooth road. Every few miles, there was a rest stop with bathrooms, a small Indian restaurant, Burger King, baskin robbins or the like. Our driver, Jagdish, who will be with us for about 10 days, is a man in his upper 50s or lower 60s, unassuming, thin, with a mustache, and who is always wearing a sweater in what I consider pretty warm weather. He wears nice dress shoes and is warm, informative, and very accommodating and helpful. I tried to find out more about his family but I only know he has kids and grandkids. He lives in a city about 400km away from Delhi , in the mountains, where apparently it is also smoggy as it is in all of northern India, per him.

Once we arrived to our hotel in Agra (the Taj convention center), we were greeted by the local agent from Trinetra, who helped us check in and oriented us to our itinerary for the next day. It was already almost 5pm. The woman from the reception then showed us the club room, our hotel room, informed us the pool was closed due to an event (big bummer). The kids went to the kids’ game area while I ran on the treadmill for 20 min (much needed for stress mgmt of traveling with 2 rowdy boys), and I had ordered room service to arrive before we got back. However, they found us in the club room for happy hour appetizers and wanted to bring our food there as they were worried it would be sitting cold. The customer service here is so good they always know where you are. Unfortunately our dinner timing ran into bedtime timing and it was just a hurried evening, making interactions with one of the kiddos extremely difficult.

It has now been 24 hours in India and today is our first full day of touring. We will see the Taj Mahal and other sights in Agra in a somewhat packed day before we leave for Jaipur tomorrow. I didn’t realize each of the four places requires 2+ hours…we will see how it goes but we may not be able to make it all with such an early wake up.

Looking forward to seeing the sights with my boys but also somewhat dreading the day, a bit, to be honest. Traveling with 2 littles alone, especially when one is already dysregulated at 4am and both feed off each other and are wild and rambunctious, is not for the weak of heart. I ask myself seriously why I do it every time; however my love of travel is too much and guess my memory too short 😜