Trip Report Part 1 - In which we travel to Delhi

This past weekend 3 other Googler expats and I ventured out of Hyderabad and headed up to Delhi to see one of the wonders of the world - the Taj Mahal. The trip was fantastic, and it helped me to continue to expand my understanding of this country. Because we did quite a bit, and because now that I'm settled in here I don't really have any interesting updates throughout the week, I'll write a separate post for each day of the trip. Here we go!

The night before we left Hyderabad, our airline informed us that our flight was delayed by several hours - this became a theme throughout the trip, as I'll elaborate on later. Nonetheless, we left work a bit early on Friday and headed back to the Hyd airport. Unfortunately we weren't aware that in India, in order to even get IN the airport, you need to present your printed itinerary along with your passport. Luckily the airlines all have counters on the outside of the building and they are able to print out an itinerary for you. Security is also a bit different here. As at the cricket match, there are separate lines for men and women. Men are searched out in the open, whereas women are searched behind a curtain. You don't have to take your shoes off, and they're not overly particular about things in your carry-on luggage. One of my traveling companions had liquids confiscated, but I got through with my bug spray and sunscreen just fine. The one thing they ARE particular about it your luggage tag. You must affix one of those baggage tags they have at the airline counters to each piece of your carry-on luggage (filling it out is optional). When you go through security, they stamp the tag, and you must show proof of this several times throughout the travel process (more to come on this later as well). Once past security, after only a few more delays (thank you, Jet Airways), we were on our way to Delhi.

Upon landing in Delhi we were picked up by a driver and taken to the guest house in Gurgaon (the area of Delhi in which another Google office is located). Delhi has a much more cosmopolitan feel than Hyderabad. They have an above ground metro system, traffic is (somewhat) more orderly, and there are a lot of western looking buildings lit with neon lights. In a city of 17 million people however, I imagine we only saw a slice of the pie.

After a passionate discussion in the car about all of the American food that we missed, we were elated to find a Ruby Tuesday just down the street from where we were staying. I really don't mind Indian food, but it's mostly all we eat here. After a taste of home (specifically chicken fingers and fries, with honey mustard even!), we headed to the corporate apartments and turned in for the night.

Stay tuned for more updates tomorrow!