Late Arrivals in Delhi

jermaineGA

This is a little off-topic now, considering the direction that this thread has taken, but my wife and I just returned from a vacation in India, and I wanted to give a quick thumbs-up to the services provided by Namaste India Tours.

Right after the new year, my wife and I arrived in Delhi by train, to catch a flight out of India. We wanted someone to pick us up, drive us around so that we could do some shopping for souvenirs and gifts before we left, and then drop us off at the International airport to catch a 10PM flight.

Even though our train was 3 hours late, even though we didn't pay a rupee in advance, a Namaste India Tours driver was still waiting there with a sign with our name on it. After we got into the car, the first thing he did was to help us call up and reconfirm our flight. And even though it was clear that this was a shopping trip, the driver was very laid back about taking us where we wanted to go (even if it meant no commission for him).


On a different note... we had a great time in India! From a Bangkok hotel (where we stopped for a day of shopping at the weekend market at Chatuchak on our way back to the States), my Dad asked my wife over the pone, "Would want to go back to India again?" Her response: "I want to go back next week!"

If you are considering a first-time trip to India, and you are not the standard beach-resort-cruise-ship traveler and can stand a little adversity, by all means GO! Don't let all of the posts on this forum and all over the internet about scams, hassles, touts, harassment, and so on deter you. All of that makes it sound like India is something that you survive rather than enjoy, and maybe after a couple years you will be far enough removed to be glad you went... like taking medicine that somehow makes you better, but is not the best thing at the moment. Nothing could have been further from the truth, for us at least. That's not to say that we never were hassled or annoyed, but we still had a blast the whole time we were there.

Most people can't resist giving advice, and I'm no different. Here would be my two things to remember for first-timers in India.

(1) To avoid 95% of the hassles, it's as simple as one rule: Simply try to never buy/accept/listen to anything from a tout! Of course, this is good advice for travelers anywhere. My personal most-annoying-getting-scammed-by-a-tout experience was much closer to home on a trip to Washington, D.C.

(2) Every first-time visitor to India wants to see the Taj. But save the "golden triangle" (the Delhi/Agra/Jaipur area) for last if you can, after you've had some time to hit a few more laid-back locales and have gotten into the spirit a bit. This is the area of India with the highest potential for leaving visitors exasperated by the persistence of the local "welcome party." But it's still not too bad, as long as you keep a sense of acceptance, humor and wonder about you.

--Chris