Arrival in New Delhi: Week 5 / Day 32 / Feb 11
New Delhi, India: I arrived in New Delhi a bit worn out from the overnight flight. I almost did not make it on to the plane for departure from Israel. I filed for an eVisa from India about a week ago and it was rapidly approved. I printed out and brought the required documentation, but was sent back to the gate counter when I tried to board the plane. The agent at the counter then went over my paperwork in detail checking that I had fulfilled all of the requirements. One of those requirements, that I had apparently overlooked, was proof of an onward or return flight from India. I had not booked one yet as I am not 100% sure where I am going next. I then had to try and book a flight from India to Thailand on my laptop at the gate. All the while there was another agent shouting repeatedly over the intercom, “All passengers for New Delhi must board immediately! The plane door is closing and no more passengers will be allowed on board.” At the last moment my credit card was rejected (I probably fat fingered the credit card number). I just closed my laptop at that point, smiled towards the agent, and said, “Onward flight to Thailand booked!” I boarded the plane at that point and hoped for wifi on board to continue the booking process. No such luck.
Arrival into New Delhi and clearing customs was surprisingly easy. No one asked about outbound flights and I thought that my worst case scenario was leaving immediately for Vietnam or somewhere else that does Visa on Arrival.
The Uber ride in from the airport was remarkably uneventful and I soon was settled in at my ridiculously large apartment (3 bedrooms / 2 baths).
I would have preferred something smaller, but at the time I booked on airbnb, this was pretty much the best available. It is part of a larger apartment complex comprised of about 24 buildings.
The grounds of the complex are quite pleasant and have a wide variety of plants and flowers.
I decided to take a short walk through the neighborhood nearby and check things out.
However, I was too tired to do any serious exploring and decided to head back to the apartment for some much needed sleep. When I got back I wanted to get some high level views of the city. However, from the top floor of the building (26th Floor), smog is about the only thing that can be seen clearly.
When I had checked the Weather Channel app upon landing, I had noticed that “Smoke” was the day’s forecast. I had noticed the smell of a campfire as soon as I got off the plane and the weather definitely delivered on that forecast.
