India & Dubai

What a trip! We went from poverty to luxury and it was only a 3 hour plane ride between both countries in February 2016!

The trip started in Delhi and all I can say is wow! I have never seen as much poverty as I did in Old Delhi -- trash all over the streets, some people living on the traffic medians -- it was overwhelming! One co-worker mentioned to me that perhaps I was just not used to seeing urban poverty -- I actually am but never saw it to that extreme where disease seems to be free flowing.  It was however very interesting to take in. People have said that India is an assault on the senses and now I totally understand why!

Delhi was the base for our Golden triangle tour -- after seeing the tourist sites in Delhi we were off to the Taj Mahal in Agra and what a sight it was! Absolutely magnificent -- it changes colors at different times of the day depending on how the sun is hitting it -- that was the highlight of that area plus some shops!

We were then off to Jaipur -- this was the only place where I wasn't super happy with the hotel I picked -- not central enough and I could haven gotten more for my money elsewhere!  All in all -- India is not for everyone but we were really glad we explored it!

Keep in mind that India is very inexpensive -- we hired a driver & tour guide for the week and that cost about $500 - that's it! The rest of the money was spent on ticket fees, hotels, eating, shopping and plane tickets!

After India, we jetted off to Dubai and it was crazy luxurious! Of course we didn't stay in a luxury hotel -- too expensive -- but in a really nice, centrally located hotel across the street from the mall. Doing that allowed us to save money and put it towards renting a car and touring Abu Dhabi at our own pace, stopping by most of the tourist attractions of Dubai using their excellent Metro system and eating to our hearts content -- the most memorable being a camel burger! It was a wonderful & relaxing end to our vacation.

Total spent -- around $3800