Continuation from: http://carolasolis.com/blog//2012/06/05/india-i-pre-trip-pre-conceptions/?lang=es
This experience was going to be different..
So, once at the airport in Dehli, I am delighted by the art at the airport, its environment and the variety of people from all nationalities at the same place at the same time (I always love that, different accents, different people, different attitudes). Once out, it is time to look for a taxi. One of my first surprises is that our suitcases will have to go on top of the taxi and not inside. 
I remember this used to be a constant in my own country years ago. Nowadays it is not allowed and “prohibited by law”, as they say it is unsafe, the suitcases could fall over somebody or cause an accident, they say. After we recover from the “unsafe” surprise and agree to take this cab, off we go on our way to this fantastic looking hotel (It looked fantastic on the web) booked days ago when in new York. 
Taxi driver asks for directions on how to get there, I hand him the address: he seems confused… (I wonder why). He says he is going to call the hotel, he does. We talk to the hotel and they tell me to please not pay attention to the driver (he might try to convince us that the hotel is fully booked or is not nice, just to take us to another hotel. I had read about it in my travel guide, so I am not intimidated), they ask us to come directly to the hotel.
We arrive at the “given” address.
I look out the window and all I see is a street full of dusty shops, adverts hanging here and there, people walking, I start feeling like in the middle of a movie set (just like one of my friends told me I would :o), not real, it is all fiction, there must have been a confusion, this is the address, but I see no sign no sign of the pretty hotel seen on the web. 
My world starts falling apart, the address where the hotel is supposed to be has all the looks of a decadent rug shop. Uhm…
I want to take pictures, but I am too confused and overwhelmed to react, to take out my camera.
First thing I notice are the whitest “Kolynos” smiles I have seen in my entire life. Guys surround us all smiley , polite and helpful.
However the apparent dustiness and chaos, nobody is harassing except for the rickshaw drivers who are offering their services and trying to pull up our luggage. I tell the one who is helping us, that all our luggage will not fit (not that we have a lot, it is just that it seems bulky and the treasure of a photographer is precisely her camera), and I am quite concerned about my “valuables” as if it is all I have in this world, in fact, that is true, that is all I have at this side of the world. It feels as if I am being left naked in the middle of nowhere.
It is in that precise moment that I start questioning myself.
What on earth were you thinking to put yourself in a situation like this?
Alright, trips? Enough of them, trips are over in your life, period.
Do you think this is fun? Why would you make such wrong decisions and travel… for this? Is this what you would call an “adventure”? (*)
We take two rickshaws. I feel them as completely fragile, and I feel like in a caravan (like the kings going through the streets at the time), jumping through the narrow uneven streets as we make it to our hotel round the corner. 
I have a look at the hotel and it does not match the pictures, but they assure us we are in the right place. We get in, get asked all sorts of questions which I am suspicious and reluctant to answer (where are you coming from, how long are you staying, where are you heading. I mean, does it matter to them… where I am heading?. The worst part is… I am too tired to know where I am heading! Plus, I am the only one speaking fluent English and trying to deal with it all… Bless them) I am just not used to hotel people asking me so much but there was a reason (they wanted to sell us a tour). Seconds later, one of the most charming guys, vivid eyes and a speech of a king dressed in a suit makes his appearance. He is trying to convince us that the best option is not to rest, _Oh – no!_ but to continue _or better said_ begin our journey. A dinner and shower later, we have been convinced and are signing a contract to go on a three day tour! A guy from the Himalayas will be our driver… Voila!
India _knackered or not_ here we go!
We were ready and mostly eager to enjoy the unknown and once again, prove pre conceived conceptions wrong.
My beloved journey was about to begin…
P.S. (*) I questioned myself deeply in that moment due to my own pre-conceptions related to other visits, other countries. I had been to places like this before, pretty much out of adventurous decisions, in which the reactions of people were not as calm or as charming. I thought this would be the same case and I had the great chance to prove myself wrong. This was not the case in India. And however shallow this might sound (because this is a superficial judgment based on my sole experience) I can say India is different to most places I have been, appearances cannot be compared nor should be judged based on stereotypes for good or bad…
What has your experience been? To be continued…
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