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Published: November 15th 2012
We woke up at 445am already having our bags packed from the night before and went for a nice early breakfast. Once done breakfast, we got our bags to the reception, then waited for the speedboat. There was a japanese lady with us and a few locals on the boat as it sped the 45 minutes to the airport island. We left with mixed feelings. We were really getting our rhythmn on the island, but we also realized there was more adventure to get to. The ride in the boat was flat, which did me well. Every so often a flying fish would come out of the water as we moved toward the airport. Once dropped off at the airport, we passed through entry security and then to our checkout counter. We don't have this in Canada, but many airports in the world have you check through a minor metal detection and bags through an xray just to get into the airport. Once we got to the checkout counter, it was hard to hide our destination from Penny as there were only 3 flights leaving the airport at the time we were checking in. Of those three choices, one was an
internal flight to another part of the Maldives, and the other was a return flight to Doha in Qatar. The only surprise Penny got was the fact we were flying to Colombo in Sri Lanka on Sri Lankan airlines. Leaving from airports in asia is really cool because you get to stand out on the tarmac and pose for pictures in front of the plane. After a few shots, we boarded the plane and within an hour we were in Colombo. Penny checked through the onboard magazine to familiarize herself with Sri Lanka; but as was the case in all our flights so far, it was all for not as we were connecting. It's hard to keep secrets about your next move when you're not going to the baggage claim, so as soon as we reached our next gate, the cat was out of the bag. We were on our way to Delhi, which of course meant one thing, and one thing only. The Taj Mahal was finally coming off the "must do" list. Sri Lanka is actually on our "To See" list, but with the limited amount of time we had on this trip, it was deferred to a
later date. The read on the country did wet the appetite for a future visit. Once we arrived in Delhi, we were surprised with a new airport. Much more space then we expected, so it was a breeze going through customs and getting our bags. Penny was very nervous about how we were getting to our hotel but I told her not to worry, I had researched every little detaill about transportation to and from the airport. As well, I had also booked the India portion of our travel as a land tour so I knew someone would be waiting for us on the other side. Whenever we go into the public area of an airport after arriving, Penny is always looking for her name. Well, today someone was actually waiting for her with her name. The reason I chose to go with a land tour is the closing of the Taj Mahal on Friday's. I knew if we had just the slightest bit of trouble getting out of Delhi on Thursday, we would be in jeopardy of missing the Taj. So, once through and picked up, we arrived at the hotel. We went over with the tour representative our
itinerary for the following day, then he bid us a good night. We walked around the area a bit to stretch our legs, then it was back to the room and bed time. We had a 5 hour drive ahead of us the following morning, so we wanted to get some sleep. 18 hours to go and another goal is reached!!
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Karen Filer
non-member comment
India
I like the photos although I don't think Dad would be waiting in line just to look at the Taj. There are sure enough people and lots of traffic. We are having nice weather - above freezing. I've been working on the calendars. Enjoy India and take lots of photos.