Big day! Today we arrived in Delhi,India, which was our first port of call on our 8–9 month trip around the world. Our blog post ‘Day 1: Delhi, India’ recaps the first day in the madness of Delhi, India.
Morning
Delhi Airport
The arrival at Delhi Airport was surprisingly straight-forward. I was expecting a bit of a delay due to the heavy smog in the area, but we landed slightly after the expected time.
Immigration was the next part; we actually went to the wrong queue by accident, and it worked in our favour. We had an e-Visa and should have joined that section; we didn’t see it and went to a paper visa family section, and we were through in about 5 minutes. It was only after I noticed the massive queue for e-Visas.
Our phones hadn’t charged on the plane, so we found a seat, charged our phones, and made a plan for how to get to our hotel in the city centre.
Option 1 was to get a taxi from the airport, and option 2 was to get a metro into Delhi metro station and make the 20-minute walk to the hotel. As we were on a budget and the metro was 60 rupees each, option 2 was the option we would take.
Metro to Delhi Metro Station
This was really easy, and I would recommend it if you are staying within the vicinity of the metro station or a connecting metro station. The station was a short walk from the airport T3, and after a quick security check, we purchased our tickets and got on the waiting metro into the city centre. (Top tip: keep your metro ticket; it is a small thing, but you need it to get out at the other end.). Don’t be Megan, who turned hers into tiny pieces! I have written a blog post about our journey on the Delhi Airport Metro Express Line.
Afternoon
Walk to the hotel.
It was our first experience of the madness of Delhi, and we jumped in at the deep end. Our first task was to get across the railway tracks. This does sound simple enough, as there is a crossing to get over. However, when a city has a population of 35 million, a lot of people are going to be using the railway station. The place was absolute chaos and very overwhelming; trying to navigate through people carrying two bags and trying to keep eyes on Megan and Nicola was exhausting, and we were only 5 minutes into our journey.
Once out of the train station, we had to dodge the rickshaw drivers coming at us from every angle, either wanting to take us to our hotel or wanting us to move out of the way. Inside, I was freaking out and chuckling at the same time; the place was genuinely mental.
Nothing ever goes simple for us, and Nicola’s phone died about 100 metres away from our hotel. This might not sound like a drama, but when you are in a maze of streets that have hundreds of hotels on them, it isn’t easy to spot your hotel. A random lad stopped us and asked if we were OK; thankfully, he was about to point us in the roundabout direction of our hotel using Google Maps.
We backed ourselves up by a couple of streets and spotted our hotel down a narrow road, and we were never so glad to arrive.
Arrival at the hotel
We were greeted by Raj, who runs the travel desk at the hotel, and the rest of the fantastic staff that Hindustan By Backpackers Heaven has to offer. They were impressed that we walked from the metro. They said normally people either don’t make it to the hotel or jump in a taxi or rickshaw, and the driver will tell them that the hotel is closed and take them to a tourist place to buy another one. This is a common scam across the city.
I think with respect to walking, we got off with the hard sell for guided trips that I read about in the reviews on the internet.
Our room wouldn’t be ready for another 2 hours. However, they could see we were wrecked and gave us a larger room to have a sleeper or shower, but we would have to swap rooms the next day. They didn’t have to do this, and we were grateful.
No sooner were we in the room, and I was out cold and slept solid for 3 hours.
The first evening in Delhi
Not wanting to stray too far from our hotel, we only walked a few streets and got the constant question, “Do you need a ride?”. It was very overwhelming; we must have stood out as the tourists fresh off the plane. We met another guy who was very adamantly pushing us towards a tourist information place to get a free map. However, this is another scam-free map, and then they want money for other things. We managed to get rid of him by saying we were going home tomorrow and went into a restaurant for dinner, actually next door to the tourist place!
First meal in Delhi
I am not a fan of Indian food; I don’t like the flavours. However, I found Thali, which was as basic as it comes, and it filled a hole in my stomach. I took note of it for future meals.
Megan is different and loves Indian food. She got herself a butter paneer, rice, and a naan and almost inhaled them. A random fella behind her saw how excited she was and came over to make sure she was enjoying her meal!
The first drink in Delhi
I didn’t realise this would be as awkward and difficult as it was. Finding somewhere to have a beer was a struggle. We walked around the streets looking for a bar. Finally, we found a room of sorts selling beer, and we got ourselves our first Kingfisher of the trip. It was an expensive one at that, but it was our first drink in Delhi.
Back to the hotel
Indian Bingo was completed on the walk back to the hotel. Megan screeched with excitement as she spotted a cow walking down the street. Apart from that, the walk was pretty uneventful. We were staying in a residential area, and no one bothered us as we headed for the hotel.
Once inside, we headed straight for our room and got an early night. It was much needed after such a busy day of travelling and the attack on our senses that Delhi brings.
Thank you for taking the time to read about our ‘Day 1: Delhi, India’. If you have enjoyed the read, please come back tomorrow for Day 2.
The Lewis family
