January 4, 2024 - Thursday - Arrival in Delhi

We landed in Delhi at 8:45 PM an hour ahead of schedule on Thursday. The walk from the gate to baggage claim was extremely long. On the way, we noticed signs telling how far it was to the next restroom and admonishing passengers not to wait. We did not wait. In the process, Alice found an iPhone in the ladies' washroom. We decided to take it to lost and found.

Before claiming our baggage we had to pass through immigration. Thankfully I had purchased e-visas online. This made the stop very quick. When we arrived at the baggage carousal the wait began. Priority handling for business class luggage was of no importance here. Not only were our bags slow in arriving, but they did not appear together. There were large gaps between them. We finally had all 3 bags and proceeded to exit the baggage hall. Right outside the exit, we saw a man with an Oceania sign. He was our guy, Nazim.

After introductions, we told him about the phone Alice found. He led us to the lost property office. They suggested that we take the phone and wait for the owner to call the number. Then we could set up the return to them. Nazim agreed and we proceeded to the car. Our luggage was easily loaded and we got in. Nazim told us that earlier he had met another couple going on our cruise who were doing back-to-backs totaling 11 weeks. They had 9 bags three of which had to be carried on top of the vehicle. When Alice and I did our 12-week cruise of Southeast Asia in 2019, we only had 4 bags. Thank goodness for free laundry.

We soon arrived at our hotel JW Marriott Aerocity. As we approached the driveway security stopped us and 3 men examined the vehicle before letting us proceed. They looked in the trunk, under the hood, and under the car. They also had a dog sniffing for drugs and explosives. Our guide told us that all of the hotels do that. After a short wait, while Nazim checked us in, we bid him good night and made our way to our room. There is a ten-and-a-half-hour time difference between here and Elk Grove. So while it was 10:30 here, It was only noon at home. Our sleep clocks were not adjusted to this yet so we stayed up puttering around until 12:30. Then we went to bed.