First time arrival experiences.

steven_ber

A great read, I loved the paragraph above.

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PRIYA

I was gonna write my initial arrival/experience.........but I think it'll have to wait a while after reading kokopelli's experience. I did have some pretty amusing encounters tho - maybe when I pluck up the courage. ;}

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SilverButterfly

Hi Guys,

Have just been reading about all of these experiences - trying to get an idea of what to expect when I arrive. I have to say, it all sounds very overwhelming and has made me a bit nervous! Ive done little travelling, only to the US a few years ago.
I have a friend who is meeting me at the airport, who I havnt seen in about 4 years. I was just wondering amongst the craziness of it all, will it be easy to find him? Just curious to what the lay out is when you come out through customs, you know usually there is a big barrier where you walk out and can see people standing there waiting for you. Is it the same at Mumbai International?

Any feedback would be very reassuring!

Thanks

shanthi

It seems easier for someone to look for their name on a placard when confronted with a sea of faces at the arrivals exit! - especially when you haven't seen them in ages! Ask you friend to put your name clearly on a placard and hold it up - (as many other will be doing) and you should be able to find each other without too much trouble!

goangoangone

I too was worried about navigating Mumbai airport but it's nowhere near as bad as some people make out. I had no problems. Just ask your way around if you're not sure.

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steven_ber

I've arrived at Mumbai (twice), Delhi and Chennai, I think Mumbai seems to be less hassle than the others.

Nachiket

bump...
Maybe we've had more first timers now who can relate their experiences.

Shiver me Timbers

OK, my arrival was 3 weeks ago - I crossed the Wagah border from Lahore with two companions, and it was like, in the words of Willima Dalrymple, 'coming up for air'. Apart from all the usual adjustments one must make when crossing a border (money, language, etc.), the fact that it was still Ramazan in neighbouring Pakistan made the change even more special, and crossing this particular border brought with it many perks - namely, being able to eat during the day, in the open, without feeling like a naughty schoolboy sneaking a cigarette at break-time.

Another huge change was seeing the other half of the human race again - it was like seeing women for the first time! At first I was kind of scared to look at them, and I was extremely guarded when one started talking to me (this doesn't happen in Pakistan). Was she coming on to me???

Finally, I was able to drink beer again, but having gone ten weeks without, I was in no particular hurry to start htting the booze again.

We stayed to watch the border closing ceremony (which I had already seen from the other side), and I felt like a traitor shouting for 'Hindustan', after having had such a great time in Pakistan. But that was over, and it was time to throw myself into this new country.

First stop was Amritsar's Golden Temple, and I can think of no better place for one to spend his/her first night in India. No hassle, a warm welcome from the Sikh's, and a beautiful and peaceful spot to take it all in.

That night, quite late, we went out, and I had my first lassi, and my first samples of Indian street food. Then, very late, on our way back to the temple, we got talking to a Sikh cycle-rickshaw guy, and after we bought him some chai, he took us back to the temple for free.

And that was that, judging by the answers above, a fairly tame entrance to India, and in a way, I kind of feel like I missed out on 'The Big Delhi Entrance', but I wouldn't swap my first day in India for anyone else's.

Conor.

Nick-H

What a wonderful first-time!

Never mind the 'The Big Delhi Entrance', you had a first taste of India that few of the rest of us (the overland veterans?) can ever have.

kiwi_razz

My first entrance was in Nov 1999:

We had already spent 1 month in Nepal thinking that it would help ease us into India. How wrong were we?

When we saw everyone pushing to get on the plane, we thought "holy shit". We ended up standing back and waiting until everyone else had boarded. Sure enough, when we got to our seats someone was already sitting in them. Shifted them though.

We flew in Varanasi. At varanasi, you fill in you landing form at the airport (not the plane) then join the scrum at the front. no queue at all, just push your way through. once the customs guy has you paper you extract yourself from the ensuing masses.

We caught a prepay taxi to Dasaswamedh ghat, but obviously taxis cn't go the entire way, so we had a cycle rickshaw for the two of us (neither of us are small people) and our bags. the rickshawwallah was a very old and skinny man who walked the bike.

We went to the Shanthi guesthouse. It feels like a prison. When you have a couple of Israelis in the room next to you screeching out Israeli songs accompanied by a guitar all night, you wish you were in a prison.

The next morning we though "lets get money changed, get train tix out of here and have a late breakfast". Needless to say it took the whole day just for those two chores (This was before they had ATMs everywhere). My missus gets very irritable when she doesn't eat and she honestly was ready to go back home after that.

But once we got out of Varanasi, we started getting into the swing of things especially when we went to South India.

We later found out that at the same time as our KTM-Varanasi flight, that the KTM-Delhi flight had been hijacked. Apparently that flight had been sat on the tarmac somewhere for 3 days before they got out, so I guess it could have been a lot worse.

Nick-H

Wow!

I just walked out the airport and looked for a placard with my name on it

I'm feeling hard-done-by

john.sw

Arrived at Kochi airport one night and was met by the MD of the tour company and a driver.

Cleared customs and drove into Ernakulam to the hotel, only to find that our room was double booked!

The hotel put us up in a more expensive hotel at their expense.

That's probably the worst experience I have had in India... isn't it a great country!

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Muss

Mine was a classic, arnt they all, Delhi 1997, 3am, from the self promise not to get drunk on the free beer on KLM, to the guide books advice to stay in the airport till 6am 'for saftey?' and on to the apparent bomb scares and closed hotels that my new friend the rickshaw driver knew all about, to waking the next day about 4km away from my destination, having been charged prices that would make the hotels in Brighton blush.
the preceeding week was a lesson i still harp back to today, much to the rolling eyes and sighs of those that know me, they may have heard it all before but any chance i get to relive it i jump at.
Did it all the wrong way round, the only bit of advice i had, was from an old india head i had met before leaving, 'keep smiling', the best advice i've heard to date i might add.
with attempted kidnappings by kashmiries to being left penny less the wrong side of delhi in 33 degrees, not pleasent for an over weight 27 yr old, who had done little in the way of exercise for 10years, that was a walk and a half.
what a week, one i would redo in exactly the same way given the chance. Every time i return, although i now see the chaos and smell as a big hug from mother india, she still suprises and thrills me.
11 Days and counting...... cant wait

dhans

Was the first time. After having done Marocco individually on Interrail, I felt I was ready for India.

Naturally I wasn't

We arrived at the end of the day and were met by the tourleader from ASHRAF, a dutch no-budget travel agency. They opted for camping in India and Nepal which I now think is one of the most silly things you can do (but I enjoyed sleeping under the stars). The first night we spent at the Delhi Tourist Camp, not in a tent yet (they were with our 20 year old mercedesbus in nepal) but in a shack furnished with two chowdikars (or how do you call these ropebeds) in total. On the recommandation of our tourleader (who had been in india for years) we ate at a stall nearby, which resulted in the first 6 casulties in a group of 12.

Well, so much for a start. I was lucky. I didn't fall ill, but 8 persons got varoiious deseases as hepatitis (a and/or b), (amoebic) dysentry, normal flu, malaria and alll kind of other stomach deseases.

The four of us that stayed healthy (basically by drinking enormous amounts of chai, not much bottled water at the time) had a great time.

Leaving India proved to be another thing, as Air India had thrown us of the flight. After a day of lounging at their office,they admitted that they were wrong and we ended up in the 5 star Centaur Hotel for four days. Probably the last experience made it easier to go back to India a couple of years later. We will be back in 11 days YES!

Hans

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Nick-H

Great story! What is it to be this time? Five-star hotels ---or a tent?