Pappuji and the Disrespectful Journey to the Taj Mahal: Episode 3

EPISODE 3:

The rest stop doubled as a restaurant and mechanic. But it was also a total hole in the wall. There was no chance we'd be finding a clean bathroom here.

Pappuji and the Disrespectful Journey to the Taj Mahal: Episode 2

Episode 2 begins:

Pappuji approaches the group and he and other the men have themselves a little chat. They both motion for us to pile into Pappuji's little car. We're hesitant. We don't trust anyone at this point. But we make the decision that, should the need arise and they were in fact plotting on us, we wouldn't mind attacking Pappuji and end up on the New Delhi nightly news. 

Pappuji and the Disrespectful Journey to the Taj Mahal: Episode 1

It all begin when 4 friends had the crazy idea to add a day trip to the Taj Mahal during their emirati vacation. 

I was convinced that we had packed all that we needed to see of Dubai into our itinerary so we had time to spare. Frankly, after all the research I had done, I thought I would get bored there (I was right, I wasn't as taken with the city as I heard I might be).  

The Top 7 Things I Learned About Traveling to India

I'm not going to mislead you. Traveling to India was a challenge. Traveling to any new place can be a challenge I think....but there are certain factors that can make one destination worse than the others. 

I found the trip from Dubai to India to be more than challenging. I'll give you a list of reasons why here in a bit. 

But in general, when the airport is chaotic, crowded and difficult to navigate, that can make things challenging. When the check-in agent doesn't know what yo do with your US passport because you're the only Americans on the flight and likely the only Americans that he's encountered in the past 3 months, that makes this challenging...and unnerving.