September 15, 2017

Final preparations are finished for the group tour to India’s Golden triangle – Delhi, Agra and Jaipur – in north central India then a few days in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

  Most of the 44 participants of the group tour attended the orientation meeting last week.  We were given our etickets; name tags for the airport, to acquaint ourselves with the other tour members; hotels and our itinerary with things to know about traveling in India and United Arab Emirates.  We have started the early stages of packing.

  The flight is scheduled to depart Toronto, Canada, at 10 p.m. Sunday, which will be 8:30 a.m. Monday in any place in India. The flight will take about 14 hours. It is shorter than flying from Vancouver, Canada, to Sydney, Australia.

  When flying from west to east, (for example from Chicago, in central North America, to Budapest, Romania, in eastern Europe) to recover from jet lag can take up to ONE DAY per time zone. However, flying from east to west, the jet lag averages only about HALF a day per time zone.

   UTC = Coordinated Universal Time. There are 11 time zones between Toronto (UTC -5) and Delhi (UTC +5.5) which is a 10.5-hour time difference. 

   We will arrive in Delhi late in the evening and, hopefully, will be able to sleep as soon as we get to the hotel room.  The tour will take six days in India and two and a half days in Dubai with a full day of travel each way. We will be in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh (part of its eastern border touches Nepal) visiting Agra, the highlight is seeing Taj Mahal, and Rajasthan (part of its western border touches Pakistan) visiting Jaipur.

  Delhi, India’s capital, is in a special region known as the “National Capital Territory of Delhi”. It has a population of over 18 million, with the combined Old Delhi city and New Delhi city population having over 11million people. India’s population is over 1.345 billion, which is close to China’s population of 1.389 billion.

  India has a parliament and is a federal constitutional republic comprising of 29 states and 7 union territories.  The President, currently Ram Nath Kovind, is the head of the government and the armed forces while the Prime Minister, currently Narensra Modi, is appointed by the President to assist with the administration of India.  The Canadian dollar is equivalent to about 52 Indian rupees.

  We have our prescription malaria pills (about $5.25 Cdn per tablet) to take just before going to Jaipur, and a week after, as well as insect repellent for mosquito.  Delhi and Agra are not considered in malaria mosquito zones.  Sunscreen of 50 is best since the UV index will be 9 or greater.

  In India, we can expect some rain each day, since it is the tail end of the monsoon season with high daytime temperatures in the mid 30s Celsius (93-96 F).  We will be travelling by bus from Delhi to Agra to Jaipur and returning to Delhi. The flight from Delhi to Dubai is less than four hours.

  Visiting Dubai for 2.5 days, we will have a city tour going past Nad AL Sheba, which is the camel and horse racing track. We will have a Dhow ride on Dubai Creek and see Burj Khalifa, the extremely tall high rise building of modern Dubai.  The temperature in Dubai will be hot 40 C (104 F), but there probably will not be any rain.

  Dubai is located part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), it is one of seven emirates that form the country. UAE is a small Middle East country in the southern Arab peninsula, located on the western coast of the Persian Gulf with a population of about 8 million. It is a Muslim country where visitors should dress conservatively. Abu Dhabi is the capital of the UAE and another of the emirate union. The country was a British colony until 1971. United Arab Emirates’ government is a constitutional federal presidential elected monarchy.  The president is elected from one of the seven emirate Sheikhs.

  Half of the tour group will be extending their visit adding two more days visiting Abu Dhabi.

  Just before leaving we were advised that for our winter cruise, the departure port has changed from Valparaiso, Chile, to San Antonio, Chile. We had booked a week in the coastal city of Valparaiso, after the Panama Canal cruise, so when we return we will have to make an adjustment.  The worst-case scenario would be to have to take a bus the 90 km to Santiago and then another bus to San Antonio to go the 90 km from Santiago back to the coast. However, the proprietor of the house in Valparaiso has advised us that there are buses between Valparaiso and San Antonio.  Our travel agent found out that there are multiple buses daily. We will have options.