Saturday, October 22.
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| Delhi Airport Passport Control |
Within 20 minutes after landing we zipped through passport control and customs found ourselves waiting for our well wrapped plastic Rimowa’s to appear. We were in the new terminal of the Delhi airport so the process was fast. We collected our bags and were greeted by 5 men who took our luggage and escorted us to our awaiting car. We met our local tour operator and he welcomed us to India by placing the most beautiful garland of orange and white carnations. I was overcome with emotion. I took a deep breath of fresh air as we exited the terminal and smelled India. The thick scent of smoke marked my senses of India.
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| Our Beautiful Indian Welcome |
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| Trident Gurgeon Delhi |
A quick 20-minute ride to our hotel located in Gorgeon, just 30 minutes outside of Delhi. We pulled up to this fantastic modern hotel which was on a massive lot of perfectly manicured green lawns adorned with black reflective swimming pools complete with three story columns of limestone shooting brilliant flames from the top of each column. We were greeted at the hotel with a young Indian man who passed us flutes of fresh watermelon juice as another gentleman showered us with rose petals and dotted the center of our foreheads with red powder. After settling into our rooms, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at our hotel—complete with Indian, Asian and continental cuisine and headed to bed. The hotel was absolutely stunning!
Sunday, October 23
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| The Leela Palace Delhi |
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| Aman Delhi Hotel Private Plunge Pool |
Hotels, Hotels, Hotels. With the wild Jetlag change, we awoke wide-awake at 4:00am. I was so thrilled to be in India that I woke Josh up. We danced around a bit and waited for breakfast to open at 6:30am. Today was our day to go visit about 7 hotels. Oy, yikes. Ugh. We saw every luxury hotel in the city. Seven welcome drinks, 7 standard rooms, and 7 suites fit for a king. It was a lot and very exhausting. We stopped for lunch at the Leela Hotel. There was a buffet, which could have fed an Indian village, and the cuisine was fantastic. But, the DJ was playing remixes of pop music while we were stuffing our faces with various chutneys and curries—a bit of a misconnect there. Top hotel choice in Delhi: The trident to be away from all the hustle and bustle, offering out-of-this world service. Second, the Leela Palace; a brand new modern hotel, which feels as if you are in a palace. The Leela Palace also has a stunning rooftop pool, a divine spa, and 4 restaurants including Le Cirque and Megu, which will make any interior designer marvel at the intricate details. By the end of the day, I was exhausted and wanted my own bed, but I was thrilled to go back to the Trident Hotel. Later that evening, we met up with a friend who was in town staying at the high fusion-designed hotel, the Aman where every room has its own plunge pool on a balcony—pretty sick.
