Delhi.

New Delhi, the capital of India, is a vibrant and bustling metropolis. It is home to iconic landmarks such as the India Gate, Qutub Minar, and Humayun's Tomb. The city features grand structures from the British colonial era, including the Rashtrapati Bhavan (Presidential Residence) and the Parliament House. It was also where I landed on my first day in India when I arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on my Virgin Atlantic flight from Heathrow.

Indira Gandhi International Airport.

We landed in New Delhi early, but for some reason, we had to wait for the plane to be issued a gate to park at, and then we had to wait for what seemed an age before we were allowed to leave the plane.

At the plane exit, there was a large queue for first-time visitors to register their biometric details. Many people got confused by the vast blue signs telling newly arrived people where to go and just stood around muttering about a lack of instructions. The signs telling you where to queue and what to do were so big and clear that I think many people on the plane would have gotten lost leaving their own homes.

I joined the queue and scanned my passport. I then gave both thumb and fingerprint scans before being told it was correct. I then moved on to fill out the same sort of immigration form that you have to fill in anywhere in the world these days. Once I filled it in, I went through immigration. I made a mistake on my form because I entered my flight number incorrectly. I had entered details of the BA flight number from yesterday and not the Virgin flight from today. The guy at immigration asked me a couple of standard questions and sent me on my way.

After collecting my case and walking through Customs, I changed the $291 I had with me for ₹23,800 and then walked through to arrivals, where I met some of my new travel companions for the first time.

We had to wait for a while until all my new companions managed to navigate their way through the Indian bureaucracy at the airport. Once our guide Digambar had checked everyone was accounted for, we walked out of the airport to the car park to board our coach.

The first thing I noticed was all the stray dogs lying in the road and car park. They were lying in the sunny spots, just enjoying the Sun and ignoring everything and everyone around them.  I wondered if this is where the saying "it's a dog's life" originated. When our coach arrived, we had a 45-minute drive to our hotel. The roads were hectic, and I couldn't help but notice the dogs, cows and occasional monkeys along the roadside.

I did find the stalls along the road selling crash helmets quite strange and maybe a little morbid.

 Eros Hotel.

The hotel for my stay in Delhi tonight was the Eros Hotel. The hotel was beautiful, and my room was very nice. The window had a westerly view, and I saw the sunset over Delhi. Looking out of my window, I could see a beautiful garden on the roof of part of the hotel outside.

I had a beer in the hotel bar, not cheap at ₹1,375 for two bottles, but it was nice after a long day. I tried to get a couple of hours of sleep in the afternoon but was woken by guest services checking on me several times. Without realising it, I had been pressing the room service button and not a light switch.

This evening, I went to our arranged meeting with our guide before dinner tonight. The guide, Digambar, told us about our schedule for tomorrow, and then we enjoyed a beautiful buffet.

After our meal, I talked to a few of my travel companions for a while before going to my room at about 9 pm. I typed up some notes about my day and went to bed around 10:30.