Sunday, Feb. 3rd Moving on day

It is very strange to travel with so many people that you know. How many times do you get on an airplane and know most of the people on it?

The Indians do not do well with moving groups of people in an organized manner, so getting everyone into vehicles to go to the airport was the usual “cluster f…” The airport was very well organized. They x-rayed the bags just as you came into the building. They put a plastic tape around each bag and a guy then carried them to the check in counter. A quick boarding pass and baggage tag operation (It took two people – one whose only job was to put the tag on the case) and then we were all ready to go to the gate. A fast 10 minute operation. (Our bags had been touched by about 6 people, because if you can use 1 person to do a job, 2 (or 12) will be better.)

At the security check point we were divided into male and female lines. Our flight which was 60% physicists had many many more men than women, so our line was much shorter. Instead of walking through a scanner, each person was wanded, so in this culture a woman had to check the women.

Kingfisher was a very pleasant airline, in 1 ½ hours they did a lunch service. The choice was veg and non-veg.

At Jaipur we were met by a bus. We were all staying a different hotels, so they tried to separate the suitcases into areas in the luggage compartment. At each hotel they threw the people and their suitcases out and went on to the next. When it was our turn, we were put on the curb, they neglected to say that the hotel entrance was around the back of the building. Art and Lucille are staying at the same hotel, so there we were, 4 old people, lots of suitcases and no idea of where we were to go. A tuk-tuk (aka 3 wheeler and auto-rickshaw) driver saved us. He loaded all of our stuff into his vehicle. There was room for one person – so Chuck was nominated to go with him and keep our stuff safe. We followed him to the driveway and then hotel employees shifted everything the rest of the way. (Another CF.)

The view of Jaipur from our hotel room window. The hotel is lovely and modern and nicely located, but all of the hotels are islands in a sort of slummy looking sea.

After checking in, we had ½ hour until a bus would pick us up to go to the conference venue for registration. Then we had to wander around for hours until the reception started. This was in a giant tent behind the building. (There are more than 800 participants, I think that this many people are very hard to handle.)

The venue:

I used this opportunity to talk to the travel desk about our need for a car and driver from Agra to the Delhi airport. He suggested instead that the car would meet us at the Agra Airport, show us around and take us to the hotel. The next day they would take us to the Taj Mahal and the Fort with a stop for lunch. The following morning they would then take us to Delhi. A car, driver and guide for all of this for $250 plus tips. It sounds good – so we made a deal.

The waiters at dinner were all dressed in black suits, black fedoras and white gloves:

The bus boys were all in white with baseball hats.

After the reception, we whined and cried until they got their act together and got the buses loaded to return to the hotels.

The room is large & lovely. The beds are comfortable. This hotel is a little posher than the last. We really slept well. Didn’t wake up until the alarm.