My un-unique experience getting from delhi airport to my hotel

chad

Whew!! Finally back in India, and have been here for 10 hours or so now. I am so happy. But it was a hassle to get to my hotel. I bought pre-paid taxi for Rs.320 from Delhi Traffic Police counter. No problem. Good fare imho. Got in black and yellow. Driver claims he knows where my hotel is (hare krishna guest house in paharganj). I recognize the columns of Connaught Place at 2a.m., which is when driver asks me "now which way." I could have shot the b*&^%rd I was so pissed. Of course I don't know which way, and he is adamant that he doesn't know the way, so I feel trapped and forced to follow his suggestion to take me to tourist office where they will "call my hotel and get directions." If you have Rough Guide to india, you already know where this is going. So tourist office guy "calls" my hotel and they inform me they are booked. I tell the tourist office guy that I don't believe him. He acts very offended. I am pissed. So autorickshaw driver says he will take me to my hotel, and he knows where it is. It is on the bloody Main Bazaar for god's sake!!! But he acts confused and is asking "strangers" along the way how to get to main bazaar, and one tells him and me that Paharganj is completely closed to foreigners due to celebration of India 60th Indep. Day. I tell him he is a lier. He tells me to be careful and watch my passport and moneybelt very well. So I am getting nervous. I just tell rickshaw driver to take me to New Delhi Railway Station and I will walk from there.

SOOOOOOOOO............

my advice to anyone staying in paharganj is to simply tell taxi driver at airport to take you to new delhi railway station and walk from there.

I have calmed down now. The only reason I didn't do that in the first place was that the other time I came to Delhi, prepaid taxi knew exactly how to get to my hotel in paharganj and gave me no hassle.

So it is a coin toss. But to avoid the stress after being in transit from USA for 24 hours, I would just have driver take me to NDRS.

Thanks for listening to the story that has happened to a million people. But this time it was mine.

shashank.aggarwal

He was trying to con you...you should have simply got down from the taxi and should not have handed over the slip to him...if you dont give him the slip..he doesn't get paid..

Other solution would have been to make him stop the cab wherever you see a PCR (Police control room)...

PS : And I dare not say anything about these yellow and black cabbies and recommend radio taxies instead..because last time I did that on IM..everyone voted in favor of yellow and black cabbies...

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Familyonthemove

Sorry to hear about the hassle ...

The only people in India I can't get on with is taxi drivers ..... they always seem to be trying it on.

Don't let them spoil it for you - they are a minority.

I've managed to avoid taxis for 3 months now. I find the Bombay auto's pretty good, I've bought a motorbike, the trains are a blast ... and erm .... I have a (big) car and driver

Ex pats ..... Overpaid and over here!

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steven_ber

A good reminder to members that this still happens.

If going to a hotel in Paharganj it's probably better to get the pre-paid to New Delhi station and just tell the taxi driver you're meeting a friend there and will be staying in the friends home.

I think I would have been tempted to keep the slip so the taxi driver wouldn't get paid, but it's easy to say that whilst I'm sitting comfortably at home, but I don't think I'd advise a first-timer to do that.

I would have definitely held up a Rs100 note and explained that it would have been the taxi drivers tip if he'd taken me directly to my hotel.

I wonder.....if a person finds themselves in a taxi, and the driver is saying "I don't know where the hotel is" or "we go to tour office to call hotel", would it be a good idea to just offer the driver an extra Rs100 to take you to your hotel and save all the hassle?

I know it's wrong, but when you find yourself in that situation, would it work?

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machadinha

<cross-posting with Steve>

Hey! Didn't know you were landing already Chad!

Thanks for write-up, keep us posted. Classic intro eh

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capt_mahajan

It probably would, though 100 seems excessive to me.

However, there may be a driver or two who actually doesn't know where the hotel is, exactly. In fact, quite a few may not, though they may say they do. Budget hotels are normally not well known.

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brownboy66

I know that in Thailand you can go to the tourist police to report this sort of thing (and since they are at most of the main intersections its pretty easy to flag them down if you're in a taxi and the driver is trying to con you). Is there any sort of equivalent here?

kullukid

Are you sure you got the right counter? There are two next to each other in the arrivals area the quiet one in the corner is official, the one next to it with guys calling you over is not run by police. There is another official booth just outside the airport. The correct fare to Paharganj is RS200-220! KK

karuna

The other way is to bring a map of Delhi with you and/or get directions from the guesthouse- and then when he says "Which way now?", tell him!

Actually the map is very important. I tried this in Bangkok and the driver suddenly couldn't understand English, but when you whip out the map and do pointing and gesturing, they can't wriggle out of it!

machadinha

Actually combined with a cultural trait to consider it rude to say "no, i don't know," whipping out a map in India can have disastrous results. That is to say people may do their best to pretend to know what they're looking it, when they really don't.

Seriously, many people will know their city (or the parts they know) by heart, not by some map grid. I agree it's therefore tough to judge some driver; they may really not know. (I remember on my first arrival I got out at the wrong end of New Delhi station. Finding my bearings -- but not realizing I was at the wrong end -- I picked up a cab and asked to go to Main Bazaar. After a substantial ride which had me puzzled, sure enough we land up at the other end of the station. So here's me thinking Ah, that's typical. Only much later did I find out at the time at least there simply was no more direct route around the station. So no, apparently I hadn't been ripped off like I automatically assumed.

Chad's story sounds like a classic however. Still, you just never know.)

karuna

Yeah, I mean when you're fairly sure the guy's scamming you, as in this case. Then I don't care much if he's embarrassed or not. It puts you back in control again because even if he can't read the map, YOU can, and give directions from it. Provided you know where you are, which in this case, the OP did.

machadinha

<cross-posting, missed your edit>

I didn't mean embarrassment; it may just not help him find the way. Even many drivers don't seem to know the city by way of a map grid; moreover I'm unaware of any maps in existence covering all the alleys and whatnot, certainly in that area. I've seen many get convincingly lost there; I agree though you'd expect them to know Main Bazaar. Still, I dread to think how many rickshaws and taxis Delhi might count; it's conceivable those who don't regularly ply their business there don't know it. (Even more fun than this is trying to find your way around Connaught Place with or without a driver, with all those blocks called N19 etc.)

Asking for the station is probably a good idea; on a second arrival even the city bus dropped me off at a wrong spot there and being left inundated by touts. Knowing your way you can just laugh it off and walk on, but on a first time I'd have found it less amusing no doubt.

ranjan154

The same embarrassing story for the India Lovers, the first impression is again gone wrong. May I had the access to the driver so that I may slap him very hard to give him a lesson that never try that again in your life. Anyway, my friend I am happy that you have taken all these harassment in your stride. Keep it up.Once you learn to tackle these things, you will be able to enjoy India much more than expected. My good wishes with you.Have a great holiday.

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karnail

Never hesitate to take the help of police in such cases. Delhi also has Tourist Police, but presence is only at selected tourist points. Let me assure you that PCR can work out most of such things for you.

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bent_gate

Alright, a bit of non-sequittur and also not...

My Hawaian trip experience from two weeks back. Supposedly, a very highly rated airlines Hawaian Air... And some experience with it.

So, After travelling from East coast for about sixteen hours, we reach Maui. Hawaian Air apparently has cancelled our connecting flight to Kuaui due to Air craft maintenance work. Doesn't sound like a reason to screw up my holiday thus, but anyways, we are on vacation and refuse to be perturbed.

So we wait in the queue patiently for another hour awaiting our turn at the counter. The lady at the counter looks at us with that look of interrogation... "So, you were here on time?"

"Sure we did", and I am thinking to myself... no apologies for the cancelled flight and concern for our plans but an effort to discredit us as folks who missed our flight as a fault of our own???

"Ok, the next flight is from Honolulu tomorrow am. Tonight you will fly to Honolulu, and take the flight in the morning."

So there goes a night out of our holiday.

That still is all fine.

To cut the story short, here's what happened:
- We reached Honolulu, three hours later.
- We were made to wait for our hotel vouchers for another half hour (After flying or travelling for 20 hours, every minute of delay plays on your mind.)
- Then we were told, our meals were included in the voucher.
- Not so, when we reached our hotel.
- Then another half hour wait for the shuttle.
- Ofcourse, not to mention the arrogance of the staff.
- Also consider this, all other airlines, under such circumstance would have compensated with an air ticket or something else... not Hawaian.
- Also, the staff acted as if by not taking us to Kuaui, they were saving our lives. Air craft maintenance is not on my time... Also, the staff acted as if by giving us a room, they had saved a few dollars on our vacation.

- But after a week and half in Hawaii and the beaches, I forgot this attitude of the airlines.

Underlying lesson, whether it's Delhi, or Hawaii, bad behaviour towards tourists is bad behaviour.