We went to the Varanasi Airport for our short (little more than an hour) flight to Delhi. Flight was originally scheduled for 2:40 PM but left about 2 hours later. Before we could enter the terminal, our passports were checked. Once inside, we stood in line for security check. Bags on the x-ray conveyor belt and a pat-down by a female security person. My backpack was filled with items that were either valuable (cost) or unusual size/shape that wouldn't fit well into the suitcase. Even after they sent the pack through the x-ray twice, I had to show them what was inside. I felt like it was "show and tell" as I took out my windup flashlight (told him, "You just wind it like this, no batteries" ... he was impressed), opened the box that held my small Taj Mahal (he was more impressed), pulled out the metal chairs that go with little table (seemed like he never saw one of those before), and showed a few other things. Steve told me that, as he watched what was happening, he was giving a commentary to some people in our group. We had lots of time waiting for our plane to arrive. Waiting area was crowded with many people, including us, having to stand in the stuffy, hot room. From my limited experience and what I heard, appears that planes are often delayed. It wasn't a weather problem either. Finally we were on the plane and headed back to Delhi. They served food and cold drinks.
When we arrived in Delhi, we all had to wait for our luggage. Looked like all was going smoothly, but we found our very soon that there was a glitch. One of the people in our group had taken the wrong suitcase. Her flight was earlier than the rest of ours, so she and her friend were taking the shuttle from domestic to international. Fortunately, Sanjay was able to get in touch with her so we rode in our bus to the international terminal area to give her the right bag and get the wrong one from her. (That would reach its owner the next day, via the airline.)
Originally we were supposed to have about 5 hours at our hotel to rest and shower before returning to the airport for our return flights home. No such luck with the delay from Varanasi and the bag glitch. We had a little more than 2 hours at the hotel. Managed to get a shower and change into clean, non-sweaty clothes. Made some tea in the room and finished the crackers I bought a couple of days ago.
Refreshed and clean, we left for the airport at 10:30 PM. (Our flight was scheduled for 2:15 AM. They require us to be at the airport 3 hours before international flights.
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