Taking some advice from Madonna, we headed out for a mini-vacation 2 weeks ago. It took a good month of planning and waiting till we were finally off to our "break-from-it-all". Worried that the immaculate planning and budget control would get the better of us and we would come back disappointed, we were apprehensive as we got into our taxis to head to the airport.
And as luck would have it, the worst of Delhi hit me 10 minutes after I left home. All alone in a taxi called for from the local taxi-stand, it seemed safe enough to make it to the airport. When you're set to take one of the busiest roads in the capital, there is hardly a worry in the world. As I mentally ticked off things on my packing list (even though I had checked and rechecked my bags numerous times over the previous week), I was presented with a traffic jam that would have clearly taken an hour to get through, optimistically talking. The driver suggested we take a detour through a very famous engineering college close by and I agreed. What I didn't realise was how large the campus actually was. While finding our way out (and the cabbie insisted that he knew the way), we reached a dead-end in a deserted area with nothing but a dirt road to turn back on. Frantically, I called up my significant other (SO) to feel safe and hyperventilated until we reached civilization again. I finally made it to the airport on time with a little less than 3 hours to spare until the flight left. SO was worried about not reaching on time!
Check-in, immigration, security check was smooth but not without the hordes of Indian tour groups littered outside the airport. Like lost sheep, they had no clue where to go, waiting for their tour guides to assist them and in the bargain ruining it for individual travellers like us by blocking all possible doors to the airport. I hope that after the Delhi airport renovation is complete there will be more order than chaos. Dinner was a non-event as the trusty Subway outlet inside the airport had disappeared and we had to make do with trashy snacks from the airport-owned vendor which left us with full but disappointed tummies. The duty-free shop had been reduced to the size of 2 toilet cubicles with a aisle space only for a size zero (whether I managed to squeeze my way through is something never to be mentioned!). I think I caught a glimpse of the shop attendants peeking out from behind the tiny cash counter waiting for someone to knock a bottle over so that they at lease made a sale. We fled before anything disastrous would happen (getting stuck in the aisle is counted).
As we emerged on the other side of security check we realized that all the action had been there. Restaurants galore and a small but better version of the Duty-free changed my initial view of the really boring security check area. Earlier it was a place where one was trapped and could only escape when it was time to board a flight. The pre-security check but post-immigration area was meant to be the fun part and I have spent many outbound journeys maximizing my time outside before moving to the next stage.
Considering the fact that the Delhi airport was far from exciting, we were literally shaking with excitement when they announced boarding for our flight. Actually, SO was shaking with excitement while mine was more of a nervous shiver.
