So Long, New Delhi

Hello!

It's Andrew again, I have wifi finally here in Abu Dhabi at the airport. We departed New Delhi on Thursday, March 26th at around 9PM and headed to Abu Dhabi, UAE. After a nearly 3 hour flight, we arrived and now have a 4 hour layover until we finally head home to Chicago. With the conclusion of our trip it is a good time to reflect back on our journey to India and recap the last few days.

Our last few days were really laid back and relaxing for the most part. We toured around Jaipur and got a good sense of the history of the city and some of the key landmarks. A really neat part was when we visited an elephant village where female Asiatic Elephants are looked after and bred throughout the year. It was really interesting to see these majestic animals interacting with us humans and being such gentle giants. On our last day we took a bicycle tour throughout the city to explore some of the hidden areas not accessible by bus. Besides nearly getting hit by a pack of motorcycles and cars on our first major intersection, it was a successful ride! The most interesting part was seeing all the animals throughout the ride. No joke, on this 90 minute ride, we saw dogs, pigs, monkeys, cows, bulls, birds and much more. India is literally just one big zoo!



It was a really neat experience to visit India because I had never been to the country and was eager to see how different the culture is compared to the United States. Being able to experience a new culture and way of life really opens up your eyes and allows you to be appreciative of all you have. While India is a fantastic country, it was very sad to see some of the living conditions of the people. To me, it just felt like more could be done to help the people out, but considering the country is home to over 1.2 billion, it has to be a challenge.




Another very interesting thing I noticed was how much garbage was present throughout the cities we visited. It seemed as though people just discarded their garbage wherever they pleased and this was evident when you looked down a river and instead of seeing water, you saw a flow of garbage. The landscape and scenery was breathtaking and it just made me wonder why there was so much garbage everywhere? Such a beautiful place shouldn't have that much, but that is just my opinion.

Overall, the trip was very nice and we had a great tour group, which is always a positive. Being able to explore the world and see new countries is something one should never take for granted. I'm thankful and grateful to have been able to visit India and explore the country a little bit. I'll never forget this trip and the people who made it so worthwhile.

All Hail the Monkey God

Today Andrew made it to the final city on his tour of India. Jaipur is the capital and largest city in the state of Rajastahn. The group took a tour of the city when they arrived in the morning. Andrew noted that Jaipur seems slightly cleaner than the other cities he has seen. It is called the "Pink City" because pink is a welcoming color. Over 2 million people live in Jaipur.


After exploring, the group went to a gem making factory and walked around the surrounding area with local sellers. Andrew spent his afternoon at a Hindu Temple of the Monkey God. From the pictures (below) I gather it is a   beautiful complex with monkeys hanging out everywhere. Andrew has a good story and video from the temple that he can share when he has an opportunity.


Tomorrow he gets to go to an elephant reserve, visit another fort and shop at a bazaar in the city. Hopefully he will be able to share more soon.

Living Like a King

It's Kenzie again. From the sounds of it, today was Andrew's favorite day in India so far. The morning started by leaving Agra and heading to Bharatpur. The group was able to have some pool time today and then visited the Keoladeo Ghana National Park. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to tons of animals, including birds, monkeys, cows and bulls. Andrew said he really enjoyed being so close to all of the animals.

And with extreme jealousy I report that Andrew spent the evening in a Palace (yes, a real Palace!) that was converted into a hotel. I am sure the pictures don't even come close to doing it justice, but they are beautiful.

Tomorrow the group heads to Jaipur, also known as the "Pink City." Hopefully Andrew will have wifi and be able to share more stories with you, but for now here are a bunch of pictures of the Laxmi Villas Palace (where he stayed) and the nature preserve:

 

 

     

Taj Mahal, A Site to See

Temperature Update: At time of posting (10:36PM) - 90 degrees, High for Today - 111 degrees.

I'm back!

A big thanks to Kenzie for updating the blog these last few days! You see, at our first hotel in New Delhi, they didn't have free wifi. Instead, they made you pay to use it and considering the prices weren't that cheap and the reliability wasn't for sure, I decided against it. However, our second hotel here in Agra, India doe shave free wifi!

We left New Delhi at about 7AM local time and it took us a little over 3 hours to drive to Agra. The main reason it took so long was because traffic in New Delhi is a nightmare and it took us 1.5 hours just to get out of the city and onto the highway. When we arrived in Agra, we visited another UNESCO World Heritage Site, Agra Fort. The present-day structure was built by the Mughals, though a fort had stood there since at least the 11th century. Agra Fort was originally a brick fort known as Badalgarh, held by Raja Badal Singh Hindu Sikarwar Rajput king (c. 1475). It was stunning to walk through this fort and it had an incredible view of the Taj Mahal. We only stayed here a little bit as for our main attraction was the aforementioned, Taj Mahal.

The Taj Mahal is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the south bank of the Yamuna river in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan (reigned 1628–1658), to house the tomb of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The tomb is the centerpiece of a 42-acre complex, which includes a mosque and a guest house, and is set in formal gardens bounded on three sides by a crenellated wall. It is truly a remarkable site to see and incredible when you come to find out this was all done for his deceased wife! Our tour guide, Luv, told us it took approximately 20,000 workers over 22 years to finish the entire complex. Every single detail was done by hand and personally engraved into the marble. Pictures will unfortunately do this no justice because it is truly remarkable to see in person. On a side note, it was really stunning to see how dirty the locals were in regards to this pristine place. You were required to wear shoe covers when walking inside the main mausoleum and once you exited, the floor was littered with the shoes covers even though trash cans were nearby.

Tomorrow, we head off for Bharatpur where will visit a bird sanctuary and another UNESCO World Heritage site. We will only spend one night in the city before we head off to our final city of Jaipur. Supposedly, we are going to be staying in a total palace in one of the upcoming cities which should be awesome! More updates and pictures to follow assuming I have wifi access (hasn't been common so far!).

-Andrew

Exploring New Delhi

It's Kenzie again. (From Minnesota this time!) It sounds like Andrew had a great first full day in India. He got to tour all of New and Old Delhi. The group visited a Mosque, a Sikh Temple and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

He also got to experience a 'rickshaw ride' - a 3-wheeled bicycle cart that transports people. He said it was terrifying; it was very crowded and constantly felt like their cart would crash. Also, he mentioned the weather is bearable but super dry heat.

Tomorrow the group leaves bright and early for Agra and will visit the Taj Mahal at sunset. I am sure Andrew will have more stories for you once he can post (he is hoping he will have wifi at the new hotel tomorrow), but for now here are a few pictures he sent:

Andrew at the Jama Masjid Mosque.

Touring the streets of New Delhi.

Experiencing a Riskshaw ride.

The view from Andrew's hotel.

I think this is one of the temples Andrew visited.

Safe (and sweaty) in India

It's Kenzie, writing from my desk in Chicago. Where it is a perfect 65 degrees, I might add. I am writing to share that Andrew has safely made it to New Delhi, after about 20 hours of traveling. He isn't able to get on wifi yet, so I will be posting for him until he can.

Andrew said the long day of traveling wasn't actually too bad. He watched the movie Room and (almost) cried. He touched down in New Delhi around 7:30 p.m. local time.

The tour group he is with is about 40 people, all American. Once everyone had their bags, the group boarded a charter bus to head to the hotel.

Andrew's first observation is that there seems to be no law when it comes to driving. People drive all over the road and have no desire to slow down for anyone.

He also wanted me to mention that it is currently 102 degrees, even at night without the sun. It'll stay in the 100-110s throughout his trip, so hopefully he learns to deal with the heat!

Unfortunately, I only have the pictures that Andrew was able to post on snapchat while he had wifi at the airport. As soon as he can get online, he will share more pictures and stories from his trip.

It's after 11:00 p.m. in India right now (10.5 hours ahead), so Andrew's plan is to eat and sleep. The group starts exploring New Delhi bright and early tomorrow morning. I will keep you posted as he sends me more updates.

Thanks,
Kenzie

Greetings from Abu Dhabi

After over 13 hours in the air, we finally touched down in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The city is the capital of the U.A.E. and boasts an impressive skyline and incredible structures. While we won't have time to actually tour the city, we have gotten a brief glimpse and it seems like a world-class one to say the least. Immediately upon arriving, I checked to see what the current temperature was and not to my surprise at all, it was 108 degrees! Yep, no joke, 108 degrees. Good thing we won't be leaving the airport while we wait for our connecting flight to New Delhi, India. Another super cool thing that we noticed when we landed was the air traffic control tower. It was no just a standard one like you see in the U.S., but instead this wavy, all glass structure out near the runways. It definitely looked like something out of a ski-fi movie, but nonetheless, very cool.


Much more to follow once we arrive in India and get our trip started there!

To India We Go

Hello again!

I know, it's been awhile since Madrid, but fear not, the next trip is upon us! Tomorrow is the big day, after months of anticipation and counting down, the trip is finally here. For this trip, it will be my dad and I (sorry Kenzie, you get Puerto Rico!). Quick background on how this trip even got started. You see, Groupon is a heck of an invention and we owe a big thanks to them for having this trip on their site for such a great price. Even though we were unsuccessful in securing two spots the first like 15 times we tried, the 16th time was the charm and we successfully booked it (I'm not even sure how many times we tried exactly, but it was a ton lol). Look, it was kind of sketchy at first going through this travel company, but we both have all our documents and it seems legit, I think. If it isn't legit, well, you all won't be following a blog at all during the next 9 days unless you want to hear about how my games of FIFA 16 have been going (very well might I add).

Anyways, as far as we know, tomorrow at 12:55PM, we will set off on the first leg our journey to India. As you may remember from our Madrid blog, we had a 10 hour flight home and boy was it a long one. I mention this because we will depart from Chicago and head to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) to reach our connecting flight to New Delhi, India. From what I can gather online, this first leg is going to take about 13.5 hours roughly. I thought coming home from Madrid was long, well, looks like I've got a whole new beast to tackle tomorrow (wish me luck). After we reach Abu Dhabi, we have a layover for a few hours and then hop on another plane to New Delhi which will last a few more hours. If you have been following along closely, you will have noticed some pretty large numbers thrown out there in regards to travel time. Fear not, I have calculated this all and my ballpark math tells me that the total travel time to New Delhi, India will be give or take 20 hours. Yep, you heard that right, 20 hours! It will literally take us nearly nearly an entire day to make our way over there, which is pretty incredible.

India is 10.5 hours ahead of us (assuming you are on CST), so we won't be getting there until around 7PM their time. This is pretty convenient though because we can just crash and catch up on some sleep before we actually begin our tours. Unlike Madrid, this entire trip will be a guided tour and we will visit four different Indian cities (Agra, Bharatpur, Jaipur & New Delhi). Each city offers something unique and we are excited to immerse ourselves in their culture and to see all there is to offer. While in India we will visit a UNESCO World Heritage Site, tour through New Delhi, explore a bird sanctuary in Bharatpur & see the Taj Mahal, among many others things.

This is going to be a truly unique experience and I hope you will follow along throughout it all! Much like Madrid, I will do my best to update the blog as often as possible and include as many photos as I can. Remember to subscribe via email to get all the updates and pass word along to your friends and family!

Thanks for following along!