In India at Last

We made it! We had a great flight and would highly recommend the direct flight option - we flew Chicago to Delhi on AA. Fourteen hours straight in an airplane seemed quite a bit easier than having to unload and spend a few hours in London half way through. The one thing about the direct flight is that it gets you to New Delhi at night, and if you are continuing on to Kolkata at 6am the next morning, the only logical choice is to spend the night in the luxury accommodations known as the Indira Gandhi International Airport. If you choose to follow in our footsteps, here are a few things you might do well to remember:

DON'T go with the guy you meet outside the Terminal who says he'll get a "private car" to take you to the Domestic Terminal. We met a girl who did that and spent 1000 Rupees compared to our 270 that the Pre-Paid Taxi service inside the airport charged.

DON'T expect to win an argument with the guard at the entrance to the Domestic Terminal by claiming that you called the airport from the US and someone said the terminal was open 24 hours a day. He REALLY isn't going to let you in before 3am.

DO just follow his instructions and go down to the Ticketing Office to wait until 3am - it is indoors and there are nice hard, plastic seats to wait on.

DON'T expect to use the restroom while you are waiting at this Ticketing Office, unless you have a very creative way to do so without using a restroom.

DO think about staying at the International Terminal, where you arrived, until around 3am before going over to the Domestic Terminal. It seemed like a much nicer place to wait. Once you can get into the Domestic Terminal, after 3am (according to the very knowledgeable guard we had a pleasant conversation with), it is a very nice place to wait - lots of shops, food, seats, even free electronic foot massaging machines outside the Disney play area.

DON'T plan on actually playing in the Disney play area unless you are between the ages of 3 and 10.

DO get a croissant and something warm to drink at the Baker St. cafe - it was very tasty and inexpensive. You can see how happy we look after eating something and drinking some tea here. This was taken around 4am, approximately 32 hours after we left home, and only about 6 hours until we finally arrive at our hotel in Kolkata.



Thank you for reading Cliff and Tami's guide to overnighting for free in New Delhi. It feels really great to be in Kolkata and we even have the exact same room that we stayed in when we picked up Raina! It's beautiful.