Well, not really. We got in at 2:30am and everyone was excited to get off. The flight from Dubai was on United Arab Emirates - a great company with a really good selection of Indian food. As the plane hit the ground passengers were unbuckling and rushing to the overhead compartment to retrieve their luggage.... the Stewards didn't like this at all. They were constantly yelling at people to sit down until the plane pulls up to the exit ramp. They put people with kids in the very back of the plane, so we knew that we would have a long wait to get off... and besides, we had a lot of lines ahead of us.
The airport was a zoo. It looked like 15 planes landed at the same time. Immigration was packed. The typical immigration booth has 2 officials checking passports with lines going to each official. They check over your passport, scan it, and make sure that the immigration documents that you have filled out to get in are correctly done.
Luck would always have it that I would enter in the "Slow" line. The line next to us was going at lightning speed. I don't even think the official was looking at their passports. The official in our line would stare ahead at the crowd, look off in the distance..... then another official came over to "chat" with him...... then we would chew on something, look away and slowly stamp the passport.
One American in the line next to ours was in a group of 3, the others in his group got through. Apparently he didn't have his forms filled out properly and the official told him to "GO Back, Fix it, then come back..." Well, he fixed it, but then suddenly the official in the line next to ours LEFT. He just walked away. No explanation. SO, the people in the line next to ours started butting into our line.... then the American with the improper form harassed his way to the front also. We were tired, unsympathetic and pissed. However, if you can't fill out a form to properly get into a foreign country, you probably won't do well in it. The official in our line unexpectedly got irritated and testy. He threatened to stop his work until a proper line formed - and straight - and forced the line next to ours to go somewhere else. And they probably still made it through before we did.
It felt like this was taking forever, but when we got through immigration our bags still hadn't made it to the baggage area..... :0.
YES - the exchange was open, and why wouldn't it be ? We found our way to the taxi station and for 350Rs got a taxi lift to Heather's parents. The driver was either falling asleep or partially blind. He leaned on the steering wheel, squinting ahead. Not so good considering that there was a very dense fog that night. At least he kept the speed slow - we found out for the first time that trucks, or other vehicles, DON'T use their taillights. They're disconnected to save GAS. The trucks were typically filled to the gills with people, appliances, building materials, gas canisters, or a combination of people+explosives. In addition, there are people walking on the side - or in - the road, auto-rickshaws (Tuk-Tuks), bicycles(loaded with stuff and people) : all of this is either moving on the road, or sometimes not. Finally at 4:30am we made it safely to Delhi and safely to sleep.... for 3 hours when the kids woke us up.
My first morning in Delhi: The air was calm and cool - and not as stinky as I thought it would be.
