The eagle has land-zzzzzz

I suppose it would be more accurate to say the black kite has landed than the eagle judging by the sheer amount of them we have seen so far (even in heavily built up Delhi they are prevalent!!)

Anyway from the title you can safely deduce that Sarah and I have made it to India. We upgraded our tickets before the flight and it meant we had a generous amount of additional legroom and cushy leather seats as well as lovely little perks like unlimited drinks (anyone travelling with a Sarah knows that you have to keep her a) entertained and b) hydrated (preferably with drinks of an alcoholic) variety.

We started early by indulging in a posh champagne at the oyster and caviar bar in terminal three at Heathrow. Not even the £14.50 per flute of champers could dampen my mood (much!) and we had a meal in the pub in there which was surprisingly quick and tasty (the food was so quick it arrived before our drinks!). I followed the champagne up with a Long Island Iced Tea (which is fast becoming my go to cocktail) and so I was feeling suitably merry as we boarded our plane.

"Shelling" out on at the start of the honeymoon

We were on one of Virgin's new Dreamliner planes which is the side of a jumbo, but without the bobbly head part. I have to say the plane was fantastic, it had dimmers on the windows which apparently stop you from feeling jet-lagged and it was designed to reduce turbulence by 80% (according to the literature) although how on earth you can measure such things remains a mystery to me. That said, it was a smooth flight with only a couple of little bumps along the way, so I will take them at their word. It also was amazingly quiet, and you could be forgiven at times for wondering if you were in the air at all.

Sarah's little base for the flight, using my tray as a place to put the laptop!

Added to that, was the crew, who were very attentive for the whole journey, plying us with free drinks and food whenever we wanted it, and when they found out we were on honeymoon, they presented us at the end with a bag of goodies and a bottle of fizz all wrapped up and signed by them!! That certainly elevated our mood.

Lovely gift from the airline - Fizz and Refreshers!

Delhi airport was not what I expected at all. I had visions of it being a bureaucratic nightmare, but it was clean efficient and very stress free, putting the chaos that is Heathrow passport control to shame!

Also, I am already thinking of revising my view that Gambians are the happiest people in the world. The Indian people we have met so far have been amazing. Right from our pick up man, to the driver (who will be driving us around Rajasthan). They are helpful, chatty and can't to enough for you. Case in point. On arrival at the car, the pick up person gave us a traditional good luck bracelet, while the driver kept giving us ice cool drinks from the back of his car. Then on arrival at our hotel, we were welcomed into the hotel with a traditional blessing on our foreheads and given a garland of flowers to wear too. 

Then as if by magic (or as if word had got around that a silly Englishman was wearing a flower garland) the whole staff in the hotel came down to greet us. It was lovely how welcoming they all were, and they then topped that off by presenting us with a cake to celebrate the fact that it was our honeymoon!! I was so caught up in the moment and feeling strangely elated and not sure I warranted being the centre of attention, that I let ride the fact that some of the staff were singing happy birthday to me!

Sarah and I at the Shanti Home cake cutting reception - what a lovely welcome!

The hotel is lovely. We are staying at the Shanti Home, a boutique style home, and I can guarantee that I would never have picked this place in a million years if I was left to organise this myself. It is a far cry from the sanitised western ideal of what a hotel should be, but it is wonderfully Indian, and the staff make it a beautiful place. The rooms are clean and spacious, and while there is no window as such (it looks out onto a wall), we are very cosy and comfortable here.

The roof restaurant at the Shanti Home

The weather is not too bad - sitting in the lounge area on the roof

**Update**

We have just had our first properly authentic Indian curry, on the rooftop of the Shanti Home and we are not disappointed, the food is exceptionally good, and differs slightly from what we would consider a curry to be. Sarah had a Paneer pasander dish and I went for a Murg Malai kebab, a chicken kebab cooked in the tandoori oven, both of which were fantastic, but the dish of the day had to go to the starter which was like a lentil rolled up poppadum and the delicious chutney which was fried onions, sweetened (somehow) and cumin seed (we think).

Sarah was feeling a bit peckish......it was Delhi-cious!!

Anyway, I need to start heading off to sleep, the past two days are really catching up with me (I never sleep on flights, as I am too busy looking out of windows or looking at the TV in the back of the seat!).