Airports

We spent the weekend in New Delhi/Agra. We left Friday evening. I will document the airport experience. You need a ticket to even GET IN the airport here. In the US we have the TSA, here a form of military runs airport security. They check your ticket and then you give your bag to the airline for a security check and they will lock the bag. You then get your boarding pass (there are no fancy quick check kiosks) and proceed through airport security. If you have a carry-on it must have a tag from the airline. Someone checks your ticket and then you put your carry-on through a scanner. The carry-on limit depends on who looks at you at the time. Maybe if they like you they will allow you three, maybe only one, it depends. Women and men go to separate lines. You are patted down and hand scanned even after you go through a metal detector, doesn’t matter if it did not go off. You don’t necessarily have to take your laptop out of your bag, again it depends on who you talk to. My only assumption is that most people here don’t carry laptops. Your carry-on bag tag is stamped as well as your ticket (twice on both sides). Then we sit in the chaos of the airport. Doesn’t really make sense to get on line when they call the flight, remember, there is NO line. You get in where you fit in. There is no fancy machine that connects the terminal to the aircraft, it is simply your feet; you walk to it. Before you exit the door for this walk, security checks for the stamps on your ticket and your carry-on. In both of my weekend trips I have flown Kingfisher Airlines which is like the 5 star airline here. They still serve meals. As a matter of fact, the flight attendant woke me up to give me my drink and my meal. We arrived in New Delhi around 9pm and met some other coworkers that flew in from Bangalore. In total there are seven of us on this field trip. Getting a cab was interesting, cabbies flock to you when you leave the airport soliciting you to ride. The Americans let the three native Indians do the negotiating. The cabs are old style English cars. The streets in New Delhi are completely different than in Pune and Bangalore. New Delhi is the capital city so the streets and highways look similar to home. I am instantly impressed. Traffic is still the same, although there is less ability to ride on the opposite side of the street when traffic is backed up because there are medians. LOL. The first night in Delhi we don’t do much but eat dinner and go to bed since we have a 6am train. We are at the Taj Palace. In every city I have stayed at a Taj Hotel. This one is the BEST. I can’t even believe my eyes. They hooked us up and put us on the Club floor so our accommodations include access to the lounge, fruit basket and wine, and breakfast. Life is good.