One Fine Day

Here is how our weekend was supposed to end:

Sat 16:00 - Arrive at Varanasi Train Station

Sat 16:45 - Take train to Agra

Sun 5:45 - Arrive in Agra

Sun AM - Enjoy Agra, go to Taj Mahal

Sun 13:00 - Flight from Agra to Delhi

Sun 17:00 - Flight from Delhi to Hyderabad

Sun 19:00 - Arrive back at ISB in Hyderabad

And here's what actually happened...

Sat 16:00 - Arrive at Varanasi Train Station

Sat 16:10 - Learn that our train would be 3 hours late (it was actually 5 hours late)

Sat 21:30 - Board train to Agra

Sun 10:00 - Still not in Agra...

Sun 11:00 - Learn via Blackberry that flight to Delhi was cancelled

Sun 12:00 - Still on train, rebook flight for Monday AM from Delhi

Sun 17:30 - Arrive in Agra, 12 hours late, 20 hours on the train

Sun 17:40 - Learn that the Taj Mahal closes at 5pm (Woodson was devastated)

Sun 17:50 - Get a taxi from Agra to Delhi with two people from Wisconsin

Sun 21:45 - Arrive in Delhi after traveling for 25 consecutive hours, 30 hours if you count the train station

Mon 4:30 - Wake up and go to airport

Mon 7:00 - Flight from Delhi to Hyderabad

Mon 9:45 - Finally arrive at ISB

The trip back from Varanasi was absolutely horrendous. Not only was the train five hours late in leaving, but it took much longer than expected and completely ruined our travel plans. In addition to having to scrap our trip to the Taj Mahal (thankfully, I had already seen it), we had to rebook our flights, take a three hour taxi ride to Delhi and get a hotel room (which was necessarily plush after our horrific adventure - thank you Mr. and Mrs. W!!).

Woodson with a Glorified Sheet

Sitting on a train for 20 hours doesn't sound THAT bad at first, but you have to understand that we were in Sleeper Class, which is the lowest class on the train. The higher classes book up months in advance, so this is what we were stuck with. The Sleeper Class cars are very drafty and have windows that don't close all the way. In India, that doesn't sound like too much of a problem, but, unlike the stereotype of it being 120 degrees everyday, the temperature was probably in the low 40s that night and the low 50s during the entire day. Try sitting in 50 degree weather for 20 hours when you aren't properly attired. Oh, and they don't have food or water on the trains either.

The part that was really frustrating was lack of information. We never had any idea how far away we were from Agra (until I realized I had a GPS on my Blackberry... when we were 20km from Agra). Also, the train would go at a reasonable speed for ten minutes or so and then stop and sit in the middle of nowhere for twenty minutes. Pretty frustrating. We later learned that it was the worst fog of the season in the region and that everything was shutting down. Nice of them to tell us.