Our first adventure was leaving Customs in Delhi and going towards the airport exit. After turning the corner from Customs and passing through the baggage claim, we came to a door with armed guards and a sea of drivers on both sides of a railing. Sort of like one of the tunnels leading to a football stadium where the players pass through the middle. In this case, we were the ones passing through. I scanned one side and Don the other looking for our names on the hundreds of white signs being held up. Neither of us saw either of our names. Once you "run the gauntlet", that's it. No passing back and re-entry.
No driver, now what to do? After discretely waling behind each row of waiting drivers and scanning the other side, we did not see our names again. We did yet another pass and saw nothing.
So, Don's iPhone wouldn't work and I was appointed to call for help. I phoned Robbin who called the Servcie Desk in Chennai. While she did that, I called the number on the itinerary and got several messages saying I wasn't dialing corrctly.
Finally, I got a person after 6 tries and the the voice took my booking number and called the driver. About that tine, Robbin had gotten through and the Service Delivery Manager in Chennai also got the driver - on his cell phone.
What we didn't know was there was a second gauntlet of drivers and ours was outside gate #2. We left the termnal and saw the driver right away.
From the airport to the hotel was about a 30 minute drive. As Todd said, driving is a combination of horror and comedy. Never attempt this feat yourself - you will perish. More on this later in Bangalore.
We got to the hotel, passed the bomb sniffing dogs and mirror scan of our car. We were serched again and led inside. Because we had a double room upgrade, we were led to a another araa and registered privately. It was very formal and very ornate. My room was spectacular and truly fit for royalty. The bad news was I only had one night and had to pack for departure early the next morning for the flight to Bangalore.
More on that later. It is about 6:45am and I am to meet one of the providers today for breakfast and a tour of their place with a full day of activity. I'll post more tonight when I get a moment to catch my breath.
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