My adventure started the night before in Noida. While staying at the hotel, I received a call from a local friend asking where I was and if I was alright. Somewhat confused, I said I was at the hotel and was fine. He replied that there had been a series of terrorist attacks in Delhi, about 20 miles from where I was staying, two of them in places I had been touring earlier that day.
Five bombs had gone off in different locations around the city. With 20 killed and over 100 wounded, it was a horrible tragedy.
My friend advised me to stay in the hotel. I was supposed to travel the next day, so I called my local travel guide to check on those plans and whether I would need to talk to the hotel about staying longer. He said that for now, nothing would change but he would stay on top of things and let me know. In the end, I did travel that Sunday.
I headed out to the airport. I got there, and the security guard asked for my boarding pass. I handed it to him, at which point he said that this was for the following week. Aghast I looked at the pass and sure enough, I had booked it for the wrong week. Good thing I was three hours early. I went to the airline desk and was able to change the reservation.
I then headed out to the gate. They announced my flight was boarding. Expecting to then head onto the plane, instead we all boarded a bus for a five minute trip across the runway, around moving planes until we finally reached ours.
Here I am aboard my plane:
After a two hour flight, we landed in the wonderful city of Pune:
All in all, it was a great trip. The room here is nicer than the Stellar, but the city is not quite as nice. More modern than the somewhat laid back Delhi area.
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