Wednesday, 18 February 2026
Not our best day on tour today! It started very rudely when we were woken at 4.00am by the shrill ring of the phone in our room. Presumably a wake up call intended for another room? We certainly didn’t ask for it!!!!! It only rang the once, but the damage was done and we only dozed off and on until 6.00am when our iPhone alarm sounded.
We had time for a fairly leisurely breakfast with the rest of the group – which allowed for the Vegemite to be shared around! – before finalizing our packing and check-out, to be ready to be collected at 8.30am for our transfer to the airport. Our driver, Suneet, and the local rep, Sunil, arrived on time, loaded our luggage into the minibus and we were on our way back to Delhi, anticipating being back at the beautifully appointed Hotel ITC Welcom by early in the afternoon.
It was a much better airport drop off than we experienced on Monday, with us being dropped at the terminal almost too early for our flight at 11.35am. Still, we all agreed that we would prefer that to the debacle on Monday that had us arriving after check-in closed and almost missing our flight. The only problem today was that one of our group had a suitcase in excess of the 15 kilogram limit. Fortunately, with some reapportionment between the girls and the purchase of a small bag, the excess was able to be taken as carry-on luggage.
We settled in to wait until boarding commenced and several of the girls availed themselves of another shopping opportunity, browsing the airport shops and picking up a few more last minute souvenirs. I resisted, although I was very tempted by a very cute elephant money box. What’s the point of that though? No-one has coins to put in a money box anymore. We did buy some water, nuts and chocolate for the journey though as the flight between Varanasi and Delhi offers no food service.
Boarding commenced, so we made our way to the gate and clambered into the shuttle bus to be driven out to the aircraft. The aircraft was filled very efficiently and we were taxiing out to the runway on time. We had an uneventful flight back to Hindon Airport in Ghaziabad, collected our luggage, found the rep and … that’s when the wheels fell off.
We can’t recall the name of the rep, but Bernie says he was the same guy who was at the airport on Monday who pointed us towards the terminal entrance doors and told us to have our tickets and passports ready. What? He was the Special Holiday Travel rep? We thought he was just a helpful airport staff person. How can he justify the fact that he watched us enter the terminal on Monday, knowing that check-in had closed and then left without making sure we got on the flight?? He doesn’t deserve to have his name remembered and he certainly didn’t earn a tip. Not that anyone realised he was someone that might be expecting one.
Before we boarded our mini bus, the rep advised all our transfer times for tomorrow. The Queenslanders are being picked up at 9.00am for an early afternoon departure and those going to Sydney and Perth are being picked up at 5.00pm for flights at around 10.30pm. We were told that we would also be collected at 5.00pm – even though our flight is not until after midnight. No, we said, we raised this with TripADeal when we received our paperwork and it was agreed that this was not reasonable and they would sort it out with the Indian tour provider. OK, he said I’ll ring my manager to ask about it.
We were initially excited to be loaded into what looked like a much higher standard of minibus for our transfer to the city from Ghaziabad. I did say on Monday that it was the Hotel ITC Welcom that is at the arse end of nowhere. This is, of course, wrong. The Hotel ITC Welcom is near the Indira Gandhi International Airport, so it is conveniently situated at Delhi’s gateway to the world. It is actually Hindon Airport, out here at Ghaziabad, that is the arse end of nowhere. I mean we just flew in over fields filled with crops, we’re not near the heart of the city at all.
Anyhow, back to our excitement about being loaded into vehicles that looked like they might have come off the production line this decade. The seats looked plush and comfortable, they were not. The seatbelts looked promising. They were sash belts, not just lap belts BUT also very uncomfortable. Anyhow, now underwhelmed by our minibus, we set out on what turned out to be an EPIC 43-kilometre journey to our hotel. Not quite as far as driving to Tullamarine Airport from Dandenong and that would usually take about an hour. But in India, even short distances become epic journeys.
We left Hindon Airport/Gaziabad at about 1.30pm and did not arrive in New Delhi until around 4.30pm. It’s only 43 kilometres but it took THREE HOURS! We spent nearly three times longer transferring between the airport and our hotel than we spent flying between Varanasi and Hindon. WTF?! We’ve also realised, checking the route on Google Maps later today, that we didn’t take the tollway. Surely, we could have taken the tollway and saved some time??? Was the driver given cash to pay the tolls but he pocketed that and drove us the slow way? During the drive, Mohit rang to say that he would personally pick us up at 9.00pm to drive us to the airport BUT he offered no assistance with the matter of extending our stay in our room until then.
We are very disappointed because, when we received our tour paperwork we noted that our flight was not until 01:30 FRIDAY the 20th of February. Bernie rang TripADeal and pointed this out saying that we would be expected to hang around in limbo for about nine hours before our transfer to the airport and that we didn’t think that was acceptable. Their rep agreed and offered two hours lounge access or a late check out. We asked for the latter and we thought that had been organised for us. But … no.
Finally, with everyone’s patience worn very thin, we arrived at the Hotel ITC Welcom, where we could spend the remainder of the day at leisure, ha, ha, not there was much of the day left. As we checked in, we asked the desk about late checkout and they told us it couldn’t be arranged until Thursday morning. Not wanting to be left high and dry, Bernie went online and booked a room for Thursday night – at great expense – so that we could be comfortable in a hotel room for the whole day and shower and clean our teeth in the early evening before our transfer to the airport for the 16+ hour journey home. Really annoyed that we are having to sort this out ourselves when it was flagged with TripADeal as soon as we received our tour paperwork.
It’s so frustrating because the ‘Incredible India for 2’ deal that we booked all went really smoothly and we were happy enough with our experience. However, we are very disappointed with how the optional add-on, to experience the spiritual heart of India in Varanasi, has been delivered by the local tour operator. Not at all disappointed with Varanasi itself, which was an incredible experience but less than impressed with how they got us there and back again AND very unhappy with the arrangements that have been made to fly us back to Australia, basically cutting us adrift for a day before sending us homeward bound.
In an attempt to walk off my frustration AND feeling all antsy from sitting for so long today, I walked laps around the 10th floor of the hotel. With the rooms arranged in four wings around a central atrium it was pretty perfect for working on my Exercise and Move goals … even if I looked like a crazy person striding around and around … and around the floor, ha, ha.
Dinner in the restaurant and then bed with the alarm set for a very decadent 8.00am.
Steps: 11,886 (8.09kms)
