MAY 23, 2007 -- It's a little after midnight and I just checked into The Claridges hotel in New Delhi. There are about 20 people in this tour group -- all of whom I met upon getting out of customs at the airport. Amit, our guide, greeted us with a Friendly Planet Tours sign. He's about 40 years old and very pleasant. You can tell he has dealt with a lot of anxious tourists, as he talks to our group in a very calm, reassuring manner. We learned on the bus ride to the hotel that our day tomorrow starts bright and early -- a five-hour drive from Delhi to Agra, where we'll be visiting the Taj Mahal. My wake-up call is in six hours so I better make this quick and get some sleep. I did my best to not sleep on the plane so I'd be good and tired when I arrived here. (Note: My strategy worked.) I just brushed my teeth using the hotel's complimentary clove-flavored toothpaste. The taste takes me back in time: I'm 16 years old, wearing lots of black eyeliner and writing depressing poetry on my school folder as the physics teacher drones on in the background. What ever happened to clove cigarettes, anyway?But I digress. Before going to bed I need to put together my "supplies" for tomorrow and make sure my camera batteries are charged. My checklist:
Sunscreen - check
lip balm with sunblock - check
Purell hand sanitizer - check
Charmin on-the-go wipes - check
Stickers to hand out to kids - check
notepad and pen - check
camera with both lens and fully charged battery - check
controlled-release insect repellent with 20 percent DEET - check
OK. I think I have everything and it's time for some shut-eye. Nightie-night!
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