INDIA, DECEMBER 2025: LAX TO GUWAHATI

December 14-16, 2024    

We've been wanting to go to India for a while, but the timing never worked out. A few years ago it was not our year to have everyone home for Christmas, and I made the casual comment to Bob that next time it wasn't our year, I wanted to be traveling instead of sitting around at home. He took that as a green light for India and began planning. Once Bob starts planning, well . . . 

We drove to LAX on Saturday, December 14. We were trying out a new parking structure--105 Airport Parking--and couldn't find it. It turns out it had changed names to South Bay Parking, but no notice had been sent informing us of that change. It turned out to be a bit of a dump, and not a place we would recommend. There was only ONE available parking spot in the whole place, and it was on Level 6, the top floor. Of course, the elevator was broken, so Bob dropped me off and unloaded our luggage before going up (and then taking the stairs down after he parked).  We waited and waited and waited in a decrepit waiting room for a shuttle.  After at least a half hour, we gave up and called an Uber, which cost $18. 

Luckily, we always leave ourselves lots of time when we take international flights out of LAX as we never know what kind of traffic we will be facing on the LA freeways. We had time for a pizza at Wolfgang Puck's before flying to San Francisco Airport, where we again had plenty of time and enjoyed some clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl. 

The plan was to meet up in India with my sister Chris and her husband Stan, who live in Billings, Montana. While we were in the San Francisco Airport, we got a text from Stan telling us they had missed their first flight from Billings→Seattle, which meant they might be behind 24 hours or more. Later we heard that they found a Billings→Portland→Seattle flight and made it in time to make their Seattle→London flight before their London→Delhi flight. Whew.

When we boarded our Air India flight from San Francisco→Delhi, we were struck by how Indian the plane seemed. Its seats were a yellowish-orange and red, and it smelled like an Indian restaurant. 

There were almost no Caucasians on board the very large plane (9 seats across). Our seatmate was a young Indian guy on his way home to Rajasthan who was a computer science major at UCI. He was very nice.

We settled in for our 16-hour flight. Unfortunately, the row in front of us had a young couple with a totally out-of-control little boy who was somewhere around two or three years old. He screamed most of the trip although he was occasionally happy while using his seat as a trampoline. He did sleep for 2½ hours starting at about 1:00 AM California time, and then briefly again later. (He was cute when he wasn't screaming or jumping, which wasn't very often.) His parents did nothing to quell the screaming that must have kept the entire cabin awake. It definitely kept me awake. I think it is one of the worst passenger experiences we have had. You can see a short segment here of one of his happier moments.

With a 16-hour flight and a 12 ½ time difference, we somehow skipped Sunday. We did get food multiple times, but overall, we weren't thrilled with the food on the plane. It was way too spicy for me and just not tasting good to Bob. 

When we finally arrived in Delhi on Monday morning, I noted that the Air Quality Index (AQI) was 349! Insane!

  

Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport is crazy. I got a kick out of the very unique decor.

We were surprised by the numerous Christmas decorations. India is only 2.3% Christian, but they seem to have embraced the commercial part of the holiday. We would see a lot more Christmas trees and other Christmas images in the next two weeks.

The restrooms provide extra help: illustrations in case you weren't sure where to go, and a dot indicating the center of the button you need to push to flush.

However, there are no friendly helpers. Delhi was only a stop on our way to our final destination: Guwahati, a city in the easternmost state of Assam, still 2 hours and 20 minutes away by air.

We had a very hard time navigating customs, and then we didn't have boarding passes or an e-ticket because the online check-in told us we had to get them at the airport, and the agents kept telling us we needed one or the other but couldn't tell us where to get what we needed. We finally found a way to get boarding passes, and the same place took our luggage, which had already been checked through to the Guwahati Airport. We finally made it through security and had about five hours to kill. 

The Delhi Airport has a pretty nice food court where Bob had a veggie and tuna sandwich at Subway and I had mutton biryani at an Indian place. It seemed crazy that I was eating more adventurously than Bob! 

There were a few unusual travelers picking up a bite here and there. Nobody seemed too bothered by the scavengers.

We hung out in the food court, and after a while I went hunting for an ATM. There were lots of cash exchange places that charge a large fee, but no ATMs. We figured we would find one eventually and decided to wait. While I was out looking, however, I found some incredible dates, a type we don't get in California. The internet says Ajwa dates are grown exclusively in Medina, Saudi Arabia.

I also found some chocolate. While that looks like the Swedish horse on the front, this was Indian chocolate. It was okay--not the best chocolate I've ever eaten, but it would do.

It was finally time to go to the gate, a fairly long walk that included three moving sidewalks. When we got there, Bob looked for his phone to charge it and realized he had left it charging in the food court. We booked it back to where we had been sitting. We had been gone 25-30 minutes, and I was sure it would be gone, but no! It was still there!

We were really exhausted by the time we finally boarded the Air India Express plane to Guwahati. It was jam-packed and the seating was as tight as any plane we have been on. We were surprised to get a hot lunch. Only a few passengers got them, and they had to be pre-ordered, so we guessed that the tour company we were working with may have ordered them. Again, it wasn't great food, but it was nice to have something, and the lychee juice was the best food of the day.

Here is the container:

This is what was inside, along with chocolate cake with a weird star on it:

The Guwahati Airport was just as interesting as the Delhi Airport, although much smaller.

We looked for an ATM here, but no luck again. We have always gotten cash at the airport in foreign countries, even in places like Indonesia and Kenya. Strange.

We were met at the Guwahati Airport by a very quiet driver from the Radisson Hotel, where Bob had booked a room. Traffic was insane, and our driver honked his horn about once every ten seconds, which we came to realize is standard procedure in India. There were cows walking alongside the road and some of the scenes of poverty reminded me a lot of places we have been to in Africa.

We checked into the hotel and got upgraded to a business suite, which was really nice.  

We tried getting cash out of the hotel ATM, but it wasn't working. We were wondering if we would ever get any rupees. At the very least, we needed them for tipping.

The lobby had its own bakery. Too bad we were only going to be here one night!

By the time we got to our room, we had been on the road for about 40 hours, but there is literally no rest for the weary when we travel. We were ready to get out and start seeing India!