Am I the only person who didn't die of shock...

goose

...upon arrival in India?

Getting there was the smoothest thing ever, mainly thanks to this website and Bollywood. If I had to chart a reaction, it was likely one of disappointment that a cow didn't obstruct my first visuals. But I guess this doesn't make for good reading, so don't worry, I'll spare you my arrival story.

Who else had an easy time getting initiated?

phobal

Yeah you just have to relax and realize that its going to be a challenge.

edwardseco

I cowered on the floor of the taxi into Delhi from the airport. Made the inlaws crack up..

PeakXV

I remember waking up at Hotel Center Point around noon the next day after arrival and looking out the window of my room. There were Green Parakeets in the trees squaking - exotic wow! I remember that the shower was not exactly hot as I would have liked. Got dressed and headed down stairs .... bumped into some women buddhist monks from the USA with their head shaved and they sort of had that Dalai Lama smile thing going - it sort of freaked me out for some reason. Headed out on to KG marg and was scared silly to cross the road - everytime I tried it seemed that some idiot would purposely speed up or there would be a car coming on the wrong side of the street. Walked down to Janpath with my head on a swivel and tense. Crossed at the lights still with difficulty and walked along Janpath for about 5 minutes until a hawker says "excuse me sir but you've got some sort of Shit on your shoe" - I looked down and he wasn't kidding - somehow I had managed to be sporting a big dollip of doo-doo on my shoe. Totally naive to this common trick, I was thankful when a shoeshine wallah shows up around the next corner and offers to clean it off for 100rps - jumped at the offer. Went back to the hotel turned on TV - cricket everywhere - turned the TV off pulled the drapes and escaped from first day nightmare ......

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We shall not cease from exploration and at the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started ...and know the place for the first time.
T.S. Eliot

Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

TracyB

When we arrived in Delhi last year around 2:00 am, we were expecting the worst, and nothing happened..We had arranged a transfer from the airport to the hotel..They were there to meet us, we left through a back door of some sort, and into the car and away we went.. Totally hassel free!!

cdrake

I nearly died of malaria when I first landed in bombay..literally. I got the shivers about three hours after I checked into the oberoi.

70s-80s overlander

Call me obsessive: generally I read for about a year about a country before I go there. With India, I read for two years -- allowing myself a good six months to pack my one small shoulder bag. Flying into Chennai -- "Madras" in those days [1980] -- was one of the wisest moves I'd ever made.

From the airport I walked and took local bus to what then was a "traveling businessman's" hotel, the clean but spartan "Dasprakash," owned by the local dairy and thus complete with ice cream bar [the hotel is still open -- but strikes me as pricier now]. Having grown up as a child on the west coast of Florida, I felt like I had somehow gone backwards in time -- but otherwise there was no shock.

I would encourage "first timers" to consider flying into Chennai.

goose

But this thread isn't about the horror stories. Its about the uneventful blah arrivals. Just a head count of sorts.

lotus blossom

lol like crazy. oh, thanks PeakXV for giving me the best belly laugh i've had in a long while. you should write - you're great!

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Not all who wander are lost

PeakXV

Okay Goose, I'll lie now! from the airport to under the covers at the hotel - saw nary a cow or cockroach - the air was as pristine as a Seychelles breeze, the Taxi driver didn't once hoark any of that paan (red tide) out the front window thus spraying me in the face in the back seat, Mossys? what Mossys - not even one in the taxi - The taxi driver honked rarely and kept to his side of the road ........ Culture shock Ha!

cdrake

um well,

what can i say? after it stopped raining, the rooftop pool in the hotel overlooking the arabian sea was nice?

wendyo

I didn't have any problems, either. Like another poster said, I read a lot and this forum helped. I was also with my (Indian, Hindi and Marathi speaking) boyfriend, so that probably helped. Ironically, the hardest thing about India for me was the way that my boyfriend and I had to modify our behavior (in front of family, in public, etc.).

I guess some people are more "shock proof." And- NOT getting malaria probably helps

Moose

I was amazed at how i felt on arival in India, having worked myself up into a bit of a state for the few weeks prior to departure, thinking it was was going to freak me right out.
On arrival i just got myself a pre paid taxi, jumped in, started chatting away to the driver with a on my face.
I've got to say i felt totaly at home , in fact i was more relaxed about it than visiting a new city in the UK.
Cows in the road.....Check
Mutilated Beggars....Check
Bloody great Cockroach in my bathroom......Check
Touts and Hawkers.....Check

IMO if you have spent a few months reading these forums then you should be prepared for anything.

Though i must admit, i did do it the easy way by flying to Trivandrum....which is good place to start for a slightly nervous first time India visitor.

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I think I've discovered the secret of life - you just hang around until you get used to it.

kalyani68

My husband and I flew into Chennai at 1:30 AM when nothing was going on.
Pouring rain and almost eerily quiet even though several groups of people were hanging around outside.
Husband's parents met us at the airport.
We all took hired cars to his parent's flat.
Slept like logs til late the next morning.
Woke up to a lovely South Indian breakfast.
No cows, no honking, no beggars, not much of anything, really, at least not until the next day when we flew to Cochin. That was slightly more interesting than our late night arrival in Chennai but not by much. I guess I also was pretty well-prepared for what to expect in India. I did get to experience things in a more gradual way rather than as one big wallop. I felt a little short-changed and was expecting more an assault on my sensibilities. I guess I shouldn't complain.....

Anokha68

My husband and I are first-timers who are leaving in five days and I have to say my excitement has been giving way to trepidation. This thread might not have the drama of reading cautionary horror stories, but it's making me feel less freaked. It's like verbal Xanax.

I have spent more time researching this trip than we will actually spend on it and I know there's no way it's not going to blow my mind. (Good and bad!) Nonetheless, we are opting for the "soft landing" by flying down to Trivandrum and heading to a resort in Varkala. After four days of recouping from tavel and jet lag (and drinking rum drinks) we head out for the real adventure. But I figured that for the first bit I could indulge in A/C and Bollywood films on the cable.

// Margaret Cho the comedian is in Delhi right now and her blog of the trip is HI-larious.