Amritsar Airport (for 16 hours)

4.30am Friday checked in for our flights to Delhi and onward to Varanasi. Oh how smug we were when we were upgraded to Business Class. It certainly backfired as our flight was delayed and delayed and delayed.

Amritsar Airport is awful and still being improved there is just one big waiting area that was crowded, the facilities are poor, one cafe, the ladies loos only have 2 cubical one Indian (where you have to crouch) and one Western.

We were given a variety of imaginative reasons for the delay, Delhi Airport preparing for armed forces day, the weather, technical fault etc, etc. Finally at 18.30 the flight was cancelled, we found out that it was due to the pilot’s hours running out.

There was almost a riot when passengers found out the flight had been cancelled an angry mob surrounded the Air India Manager and staff, armed security guys had to intervene and disperse the crowd that had gathered.

We were given a hotel room for the night so all piled back into taxis and driven back to Amritsar. We were shattered and delighted that we were getting another 3.30am wake up call.

Checked in again at 4.30 and this time we got on our way (not without more hassle, but too boring to go into).
Now we’re finally in Varanasi but for 3 nights not the 4 nights we had planned. Sadly Varanasi is dry so we’re not able to have a drink to recover. . . .


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