New Delhi Airport Terminal 3 – First Thoughts
Posted on 25. Aug, 2010 by David in Airport, Blog, Delhi, Travel
At the end of July the New Delhi airport opened up the brand new Terminal 3 for international flights. Here are my initial thoughts regarding the new terminal after flying out and back in on a recent trip.
- High ceilings: There’s a wonderful spaciousness about the new terminal and the much higher ceilings, especially in the check-in and baggage claim areas, greatly help this.
- Lots of carpet: The spacious departure and arrival piers have a curious flooring choice – carpet. Not just any carpet, but patterned wall to wall carpet that seems thicker than carpet I’ve seen in airports. A rolling bag didn’t roll as easily on it due to the extra friction from the thickness. I wonder how well the carpet will hold up over time with all the traffic walking on it.
- Long, wide walkways: Departure gates in the previous terminal were all mostly in the same small area. In Terminal 3 the gates are spread out across the super long walkways making up the departure pier. It can be a long walk from the food court in the departure hall to your gate.
- No post office: Unlike the old terminal, Terminal 3 has no post office in the main departure hall before you go through immigration and security. Perhaps there will be one if the future, but for now get your final post cards mailed off before you show up at the airport. (Update: according to the airport’s interactive map a post office is now listed in the T3 Departure Main Hall.)
- Less free wi-fi: Previously the international terminal offered 60 minutes of free wi-fi provided by Airtel. Terminal 3 now offers free wi-fi for up to 20 minutes through Aircel. After 20 minutes it’s available for a fee, but I couldn’t determine how much as the wi-fi wasn’t working the day I flew out.
- Different currency exchange: In the international baggage claim area of Terminal 3 there are two choices for exchanging foreign currency into Indian Rupees – Thomas Cook and Central Bank of India. The latter option is new and seems to replace the State Bank of India which was the recommended place in the previous terminal since it didn’t charge the commission which Thomas Cook did. I wasn’t able to confirm it, but I think the Central Bank of India doesn’t charge a commission either.
- Outside pickup: If you have a taxi waiting to pick you up on arrival, the driver will now be waiting just outside the arrival hall rather than inside the hall like before. That’s no fun for the driver if the weather is hot.
- Rough around the edges: Terminal 3 is a great upgrade over the previous terminal, but there’s still some work needed to complete everything. Not all of the restaurants and shops were open when I flew out, and I couldn’t find any ATMs in the international arrival hall even though they are on the map. I’m assuming all of this plus other little details will be complete by the time the Commonwealth Games come to New Delhi in early October.
Check out the official Delhi airport website for more information on Terminal 3.
Shikara Boats On Dal Lake
Posted on 07. Jul, 2010 by David in Blog, Kashmir, Travel
Of the many highlights offered to tourists visiting Kashmir, a relaxing ride in a shikara boat on Dal Lake is one of my favorites. These little gondola like boats can be seen all over the lake, but one of the best times to watch and join in with the shikara traffic is in the early evenings during the summer. The majority of tourists and even locals will be out enjoying the last couple hours of sunlight while the temperature gradually cools down for the evening.
Here’s a scene from last month taken near one of the shikara ghats along the boulevard.
Scenic Traffic Jam in Kashmir
Posted on 14. May, 2010 by David in Blog, Kashmir, Travel
There’s a big construction project going one right now in Srinagar where they’re digging up the main road around Dal Lake to put in new water pipes. It’s causing plenty of traffic trouble right at the start of the peak tourist season.
I was able to capture this shot from my phone while sitting for a while a traffic jam caused by this construction. The image quality from my phone isn’t great, but if you look closely you should be able to see the traffic backing up on the other side of the road. In the midst of all the honking, at least the view was nice to look at.
Delhi Baggage Claim
Posted on 13. May, 2010 by David in Airport, Blog, Delhi, Travel
This was from the baggage claim area at the New Delhi domestic airport recently. Eventually I was able to get to my bag.
India Tourist Visa Revision
Posted on 12. May, 2010 by David in Blog, News, Travel
Ever since India revised their tourist visa policy late last year to require a 2 month gap outside of India between visits, there has been lots of talk and rumors about if this policy might change. Tourists who have plans to visit nearby countries and then come back in to India again in less than 2 months before returning home have faced significant challenges with their itineraries.
However, things seem to be opening up slightly for tourists with those types of travel plans. I just read this article from The Hindu about some new revisions to the tourist visa policy. You have to read the new changes closely, but it looks like good news for those tourists who want to go in and out of India for short trips to Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, etc. and then come back in to India before heading home.
As a further reference, here is the Tourist Visa FAQs as written by the Ministry of Home Affairs in India after the initial policy change.
Road Signs While Driving To Kashmir
Posted on 30. Mar, 2010 by David in Blog, Kashmir, Travel
As promised, here’s a collection showing some of the clever and amusing road signs seen along the way when driving from Jammu to Srinagar, Kashmir. Unfortunately I missed getting a photo of the one that read “BRO Be Gentle On My Curves.”
I should point out that the letters BRO on the signs stand for Border Roads Organisation. Enjoy!
Delhi to Kashmir Road Trip
Posted on 25. Mar, 2010 by David in Blog, Delhi, Kashmir, Things To Do, Travel
Wow, what a road trip! Last Sunday and Monday I traveled by road from Delhi to Srinagar, Kashmir for the first time.
On Sunday our trip took 14 hours to go from Delhi to Jammu. The next day’s journey from Jammu to Srinagar took us about 10 hours. Going faster is possible, but we took our time when stopping to eat or stretch our legs.
Travel by air from Delhi to Srinagar takes only 1 hour and 15 minutes, so a road trip may not be ideal for those tighter schedules or who hate spending so much time in a vehicle. If you have time to spare it certainly makes for a unique way to enter the Valley of Kashmir and then you can always fly out when you leave.
Over the weekend or early next week I’ll post a series of photos highlighting some amusing road signs along the highway. For now here’s a quick teaser of one of them:
The Value of Convenience
Posted on 20. Mar, 2010 by David in Blog, Travel
Two nights ago my family and I arrived back into India via the Chicago-Delhi flight on American Airlines. The line at immigration was unusually short and fast, our bags didn’t take too long to come out, and soon we were met by our familiar taxi driver waiting for us in the arrival hall with a sign board displaying our name. Ah, convenience!
A lot has changed for us since we first started flying into India. The first several times we didn’t have a taxi waiting for us, but just went with the non A/C government prepaid taxis. Somehow we felt wimpy to have an A/C taxi waiting for us on arrival! We believed the chaos of pushing past the numerous porters and eager taxi drivers to secure one of the prepaid taxis outside was part of the experience of traveling to India.
After doing that for a while we decided A/C taxis were a convenience worth paying for in warmer weather. They didn’t cost that much more, there were still prepaid ones that you could get on arrival at the airport, plus they came with an assigned license plate number on your receipt so you didn’t have to beat other travelers to a taxi but could easily just find the one with the matching plate number.
Eventually though, we wanted additional convenience for 2 main reasons. The first was that the prepaid drivers usually had trouble finding our hotel and would stop often to check for directions. The second came when we were traveling with our infant son and found that the prepaid A/C service was out of taxis and we would need to wait 30 minutes to get one. After an international flight with a very active infant there’s not much patience left for waiting when you’re this close to your hotel!
My wife and I decided right then that next time we’ll arrange for a taxi ahead of time to pick us up. Looking back I’m not sure why we didn’t do that sooner, especially since we do that for all our customers! Maybe it was just part of “earning our stripes,” maybe we were just being cheap, or maybe it was both. All I know is that now I definitely appreciate having a taxi waiting to pick us up when we travel in India.
What about you, are there any travel conveniences you now choose that you previously didn’t consider worth paying for or even necessary?
Travel In India
Posted on 26. Feb, 2010 by David in Blog, Culture, Travel
There’s a line we add to the itinerary pages of our tours which says “Although this represents the tour’s planned itinerary, due to the nature of travel in India it is subject to change at the discretion of the tour leaders.” This week I received an email asking for clarification on what we mean by this. In replying to the sender I thought this also may be good to share on the blog and see what opinions there might be.
Is travel in India more unpredictable or chaotic than other places? Some people who have visited India might say yes. Trains and planes can be late, strikes occasionally happen and disrupt things, or a government VIP visits the place you were going to and security shuts things down. Yet others may say that travel in general is unpredictable anywhere in the world.
I would agree that travel can be unpredictable anywhere in the world. So why not just say “due to the nature of travel…” and leave India out of it? Two reasons. One, while travel can be tough anywhere, in our experience tourists to India sometimes experience a higher level of culture stress than other places around the world. Two, we’ve seen that travelers perceive and expect things differently when in another culture/place than their home.
We may know that travel is unpredictable and be okay with that in the familiarity of our home culture. However, once we experience the unpredictable/unexpected in a foreign place our unrealized cultural prejudices can rise to the surface and we find ourselves thinking or even saying out loud, “What’s wrong with this place? Don’t they know how to do things the right way?!”
Our business caters exclusively to foreign tourists rather than Indian citizens. We want them to enjoy India with flexible attitudes that can adapt well to any possible changes. The majority of time we don’t have to make changes. However, when we do it’s great to have customers who already know that could be a reality and display great attitudes when adapting to any potential changes.
Tell us what you think. Is travel in India more challenging from travel in other places? By saying “due to the nature of travel in India” are we unintentionally enforcing negative stereotypes of India? What would you say?
Top 6 Things To Do When Delayed At The Delhi Airport
Posted on 19. Jan, 2010 by David in Airport, Blog, Delhi, Tips, Travel
January can be a bad month for fog at the New Delhi airport, causing all kinds of flight delays. Last week my family and I ended up being in the international airport from midnight until 9am due to a 7 (!!) hour delay from heavy fog. Ahh, family fun, especially with a 15 month old!
So after that experience, here’s a quick list of the top 6 things you can do to kill time when delayed at the New Delhi international airport:
6. Take advantage of the free wifi to get online and email/blog/tweet/facebook your friends or family to tell them you’ll be late but not to worry because you have this top 6 list.
5. People watch and try to guess what countries all the various people in the airport are from without knowing what flight they’re waiting to get on. See if your guess is right if they approach you to ask why you’re staring at them.
4. Check out the departures screen and see if you can correctly identify the countries for each of the destination cities listed. If you’re a geography expert, then the additional options are guessing the time zone and longitude/latitude of the destination cities.
3. Count how many times an airline announces the “last and final” departure announcement for a flight to see which airline is the biggest offender of this loudspeaker abuse.
2. When an airline repeatedly pages someone’s name to come and board their flight that is departing, try to find that person or try to convince the airline staff to leave without them.
1. When the above options have been exhausted and you’re still waiting, go to Cafe Ritazza in the waiting area and buy yourself one of the jumbo super-sized Toblerone bars they sell. Chocolate makes everything seem better.
