Jennifer’s thoughts on
It’s a LONG way to India.
Seeing Angie, Wade & Caden for the first time in 8 months – so incredible – we don’t know how we’ve lived without them.
It’s much hotter in Delhi than it ever gets in Minnesota – upwards of a 100 degrees – and we missed the “hot” season. Of course it’s been 50, raining and gray since we got home and 100 degrees now sounds nice.
Reading blogs about the traffic cannot prepare you for the reality of it – two lanes being used as five by auto rickshaws, peddlers, pedestrians, cows – the sheer madness and aggressiveness of it – and how slowly it moves. It took us five hours to go 140 miles to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and another five hours for the 140 home. Could have something to do with the million speed bumps.
The Taj Mahal is incredibly beautiful and the tour of old Delhi was very interesting. Having a tour guide is a necessary expense. Having a daughter and son-in-law who planned every aspect of the trip to perfection is priceless!
Never bus your own dishes at McDonald’s.
We made the mistake of trusting the traffic again and made the typically 2-3 hour trip to Mysore (it took us slightly less than 5 hours each way, and we only needed one barf bag). We did see a beautiful palace and a temple. Katie, Caden and I rode on an elephant – Katie and I were terrified.
Palm Meadows is a beautiful neighborhood. Katie and I could probably live at the clubhouse and spa . . .
Angie must secretly hate us though – she talked Katie and me into having our arms waxed – OUCH!
Birthday parties planned by the party planners in India are amazing once in a lifetime parties (or so Angie and Wade claim).
It pretty much breaks your heart to have your grandson ask, “Grandma, can you please not go back to Minnesota?” And it warms your heart to hear him ask it also. Kind of like all of India really – a paradox of good and bad all in the same experience.
Having a cook, maid and driver is awesome. (What a wonderful cook Mrs. Pinto is!)
Having a cook, maid and driver is sometimes not so awesome.
You miss having ice in your drinks.
I like taking for granted in the US that there will be a normal toilet and toilet paper when I use the restroom.
Shopping is fun once you get used to the bartering, but Katie and I still prefer the “set price” method we’re used to.
The intestinal trouble Angie has described is also as bad as promised. I think it’s hard to lose weight though because everywhere in between the tummy trouble is another awesome buffet.
According to Caden, “Grandma, they’re not called dogs in India, they’re called stray dogs.”
Brunch at the Taj West in Bangalore is just as amazing as Angie described it. So much food, so much champagne and wonderful friends. AND an awesome enclosed playground area where the kids play while the adults enjoy a leisurely meal.
We so much enjoyed meeting Tom & Tracy & Jimmy & Kay & Billy, Petra, Michelle, Melissa, as well as many others.
It was hard to say goodbye to the new friends we made, and can imagine what it must be like for those who live the experience to say goodbye when their time is up.
Goa is beautiful and everything at the Park Hyatt Goa is sensational. Every day there was perfect (although I enjoyed my clay wrap at the spa more than Angie and Katie enjoyed having the first three layers of their skin rubbed off during the sea salt scrub). There can’t be a much better way to spend an hour though than having a simultaneous manicure/pedicure in an open room with a breathtaking view of the Arabian Sea.
India is a very interesting country with so many nice people. I don’t think you’ll typically hear people describe India as ‘pretty’ or ‘clean.’ Yep, ‘interesting” is a good word.
Saying goodbye is really, really hard. Less than 100 days until the reunion back in Minnesota.
The trip home takes 32 hours and 15 minutes from hotel to front door.
Katie sang “America the beautiful” when the plane landed in Newark.
God Bless America!
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