The Terrific3 travel blog

I woke up at 245am today and the boys at 330am and we are now getting to bed at 730pm after long day of driving and touring.

The worst thing about getting up that early is having to parent 2 mischievous and energetic boys. Once the day gets going, it’s not so bad as then we have things to do, but the space between 3am and 7am when breakfast is served can feel like an eternity…(I just want to keep traveling with kids real for my audience. It’s not all fun and games).

I did manage a 3 mile treadmill run this morning, and that is great as both hotels we are staying at in Rajasthan have no gyms as they are heritage hotels/renovated former palaces. I had a little travel stress yesterday when I receive a WhatsApp message from buena vista luxury villas, a hotel in Jaipur where I had booked through booking.com in September. They said they had just received my reservation, only had 2 of the 4 days, and it would be $1800/night, which was more than our total stay cost. Can you imagine how much money that is in India?? Unbelievable. They had a wedding so my guess is they had plenty of business and didn’t want mine. Thankfully, the tour operator Trinetra CEO was available by phone and as I called him in a panic, he assured me he would find us something. 10 minutes later, a call that many hotels in Jaipur are booked but he had a 4 star heritage hotel that he recommended. Honestly, I always prefer that type of stay over a hotel without soul. (Though I will miss working out). And it’s a gorgeous place! Photos tomorrow!

Back to today….we left the hotel at 830am and drove to meet our Agra guide at Fatehpur Sikri, the ancient capital of India in times of the moghuls before it was Agra and then Delhi. We walked through the sandstone palace complex and learned some more history. The architecture again is gorgeous, with intricate carvings that impressed both me and Z. The boys seemed happy to see it.

Next we drove to lunch, then to a small town called Abaneri, Rajasthan, where there was indias deepest stepwell and an eight century temple. When we got there, our driver bought our ticket and then a guide introduced himself and said he would be the local guide. I thought maybe he was pre arranged with the company or part of the ticket. He hung with us for the 20ish minutes to see the palace with stepwell and temple and then I was about to tip him when he informed me his services were 300 rupees. I told him I had to check with our driver first and he insisted I pay him. I told him it wasn’t fair for him to not tell me how much he cost at the beginning and then expect payment at the end. I mean in the end, it’s $4, but I was more annoyed at the precedent and dishonesty. However I also know it’s often like this in countries like India; we got this sense even more so in Bali this past summer. My driver was annoyed at him too and in the end, the man didn’t even take my tip!

It was amazing to me to see architecture from the 8th century. I had my kids do some math and figure out that was over 1200 years ago. Z remarked how he loved how much history India has and we noted there is no such rich history in the U.S., which is such a young country. Both kids were also impressed with the artistry in and intricacy in the carvings on the temples, in a time when big tools didn’t exist.

We finally got to our hotel in Jaipur around 5pm. The traffic in Jaipur is crazy busy! The hotel is gorgeous and we have a suite with 3 beds. It is definitely a bit rustic inside, but that’s not a problem for us.

I’ll take some hotel photos tomorrow.

We have a long day of touring tomorrow plus some elephant interactions. I can’t believe it’s only been 3 days here. Feels like so much more, maybe because we are sleeping so much less. Please send us good sleep vibes for tonight!!