Day 5. 24thJan (continued) We did go out last night at around 8pm, after an hours siesta. Walked up past the Grand Socco looking for a mobile shop that was shown on Google but didn’t exist! We both needed them as neither could get a signal out here. As we were returning it started raining, raining heavy, very heavy. We took shelter under shop awnings, only moving on when it eased off. Still got soaked literally to the skin. Found a mobile shop much nearer to our hotel and bought sim cards. Michael had no trouble with his (€8) although it took some time setting up in the shop. I just bought one with no data on it (€3), thinking I would sort it out when we returned to the Hotel (where my phone was). The ... read more

Day 1. Mon 20 Jan Taxi came 10mins late at 7.40am, then hit unusually heavy traffic to airport so arrived at 8.20 (cost £19). No problem with bag check-in though and flight left on time at 10. 2.5 hour flight, seeing Cornwall from high up which looked good, and the snow-topped Pyrenees which looked fantastic. Sadly most of Northern and all of Southern Spain was shrouded in cloud, so didn’t see much until landing, which was quite exciting – zooming low over the Med to the airport. Eventually found the train station at Malaga but had some trouble connecting my phone (which used to automatically locate a signal, but now I had to do it manually – what is the world coming to?). Eventually texted John with my eta at Malaga Center and after the 12min ... read more

Last Day in India Day 28. Thursday 28th December Ate breakfast in the garden at our hotel, it was that or eat in our rooms as there is no restaurant here! This is supposedly a 3* Hotel – The Indira International Inn. But they put us in double rooms, no extra bed as requested (and paid for) so Reedies were all squashed up. We then found that although we are supposed to get free breakfasts, that only applies to one person per room! And then only up to Rs150, barely enough for an egg & coffee. We asked for an extra bed to be put in the Reedies room for tonight but no bed was there when we returned in the evening! I’ll be having wiords with Agoda when I get home and getting a credit ... read more

Boxing Day Blog Day 26. Tuesday 26th December Today started with a pack of monkeys making their was across the rooftops towards our rooftop restaurant. Kids were fascinated, adults worried. Our waiter produced a catapult and just the sight of it seemed to work and they moved along. We decided to visit Akbars Tomb today, the last major site to visit, but about 10km from the Taj. Then we planned to carry on to a good market for some last minute shopping as we only have a few days left now. But trying to hire a taxi was very hard here as they are not really allowed in this area. But we found an auto-rick who said he had a taxi. But he drove us for miles in his barely held together rick, with rusty holes ... read more

A Wild Day Out in a Deserted City Day 24. Sunday 24th December (Christmas Eve!) Earlyish 8am breakfast, ready for early start; did a bit of crisps & sweet shopping for eventuality of there being no cafes in a deserted city (which there weren’t). Set off about 9.30 in a proper taxi (booked through our auto-rick yesterday) who drove us the 40Km to Fatehpur Sikri. Leaving Agra we drove through the cantonement area (large army base) which was massive. Then onto a toll road which was like a motorway apart from all the tractors and cyclists, and the occassional motorbike going the wrong way on the hard shoulder. All trucks stay in the “fast” lane so we had to overtake them on the inside. But we made good time, reaching a reckless 50mph at times! I ... read more