After about 12 hours (of well needed) sleep we both woke up well before breakfast was to be served in the hotel so we headed off for a wander down to the front. The sun was bright and warm, but I very quickly regretted not grabbing my jacket, the wind off the ocean was freezing. A couple of locals out for a morning jog said hello as they passed while we did the tourist thing and took photos of nothing in particular.
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Day 0 – Singapore Helsinki Copenhagen Reykjavik
Iceland is about as far from Melbourne as you can get.
Today/yesterday/a week last Tuesday started early, 5AM early. After getting the bags into the car we headed off to the airport. I was supposed to fly into Melbourne today, but the flight to Singapore had been bumped up by 3 hours so I came down a 12hrs earlier. At least it was a good run in to the airport, until we hit the airport exit. Took 15min to crawl the last 1km to the terminal.
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We quickly checked in and head to the Qantas lounge – a perk of flying with Dad. Eggs for breakfast and a quick top up on my phone battery. -
Day 16 – On the road form Agra to Jaipur
We checked out of the hotel and got our luggage out the front and the door man asked for our driver’s name. “Praveen”, he went over to the desk and picked up a phone, which was connected to a really REALLY loud megaphone pointed at the car park. There were about 10 cars and drivers waiting for their passengers. “Something something Praveen something something” and one of the cars started moving.
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Day 15 – Agra Fort, Baby Taj, and awkward dinners.
After a rather busy morning at the Taj Mahal we still had the rest of the day in Agra. After an awkward breakfast where we were asked how it was going several times between mouthfuls we met back with the guide and headed off. On the way to Agra Fort he said they had a place to show us that wouldn’t take too long. We had specified in the contract with the travel agent that we never wanted to be taken to any markets or other random places that we didn’t already agree to. With some annoyance we proceeded onto a place where they make marble goods with inlaid stone, some thing we had seen a fair bit of at the Taj Mahal.
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Day 15 – Agra: The Taj Mahal
We got up early again, not quite as bad as the day before, but still early enough. Our guide met us in the lobby of the hotel and we got into the car and headed out. It was a short ride to a big parking lot with lots of other people (westerners) and a bunch of hawkers. We were told we couldn’t take large bags into the Taj, and tripods were banded. I quickly moved all my camera gear from my backpack into my shoulder bag and left the tripod behind. I had already managed to use it once in Singapore, so it wasn’t a complete waste of effort bringing it.
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