Delhi---Ummmm, where's our driver???
After a 15 hour flight, we landed in Delhi. We waded through a sea of passengers to finally make it to the arrival area, eagerly looking for our driver. And we kept eagerly looking for our driver for about 2 hours. After several phone calls and a lot of pacing, we finally saw a young man with a big smile and a small sign that read "Mr. Lawrence". (NOTE TO TRAVELERS: When you are booking an airport pick up, make sure you know if they are picking you up at the correct terminal, and also the correct gate--we'd been waiting unknowingly at gate 1 when he was waiting for us at gate 2). We jumped in his car, and off we went. We had read alot about the driving in India, so we knew what to expect. The honking, the swerving, the ignoring of lanes. At one point our driver took a "shortcut" and drove on the wrong side of the boulevard for 5-10 seconds in order to save a little time.
The hotel we stayed at (Hotel Florence Inn, Karol Bagh) was out of the way, but very nice. On the other hand, the area surrounding the hotel was not the best of places. Although, we haven't been anywhere else, so at this point--what do we know!?! It was a bit of a shock to see the poverty first hand. We are still trying to get used to it. And since it was so late we decided not to try to navigate around the city and instead ordered room service; the food at this hotel is fabulous!!
One other major event to note, our main camera broke after 1 picture. We now have only 1 camera, with enough memory to hold about 100 pictures. We're working on getting that problem fixed!
We did not explore the neighborhood very much but what we do know is that there is an outdoor market about a block away that has a lot of shopping.
Last thing to note is that the company owns and operates 2 Florence Inns, so be sure you are making your reservation at the correct one and you know the matching location (which can be hard to find for unknowing taxis/rickshaws).
