1. - 22 December 2001: Start of trip to Southern India

Arrive Delhi at 2300hrs by Air France. This has been a troubled flight plan. We were supposed to fly with our miles via Sabena, which had a direct Brussels-Chennai flight, but Sabena went bankrupt a few weeks ago and we had to re-route ourselves via Delhi. It’s a waste of time and money but we have no choice.

As we leave the arrivals area the usual mob of unlicensed taxi drivers, porters, fake guides etc. assaults us in the dark humid Indian heat. The stink of latrines and waste is a very unpleasant first impression one gets when landing in this major capital city. Anyway, we don’t have to suffer much of it as we are welcomed by our agency and transfer to the nearby Hotel Radisson, very high standard.

Southern India will have to wait for us until tomorrow!

Itinerary of a trip to India 2001-2002

Trip to Southern India, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, 2001-2002 itinerary
Day	Date	Visit	Night	Km	hrs
1	22 Dec	Arrive Delhi via Paris	Delhi	0	0
2	23 Dec	Shopping, flight Chennai at 16:45	Chennai
3	24 Dec	Chennai, city tour	Chennai
4	25 Dec	Kanchipuram, Mahabalipuram	Mahabalipuram
5	26 Dec	Visit Mahabalipuram	Mahabalipuram
6	27 Dec	Depart to Pondicherry, visit	Pondicherry
7	28 Dec	Depart to Chidambaram, visit	Chidambaram
8	29 Dec	Depart to Gangaikondacholapuram, Darasuram and Kumbakonam, arrive Tanjore	Tanjore
9	30 Dec	Brihadeeshwara temple	Tanjore
10	31 Dec	Depart to Trichy, visit Srirangam en route	Trichy
11	1 Jan	Depart to Madurai, visit Meenakshi Temple	Madurai
12	2 Jan	Vishnu temple and Alargarkovil as well as the Tirumala Nayak Palace	Madurai
13	3 Jan	Depart to Periyar	Periyar
14	4 Jan	Boat ride Periyar, depart to Kumarakom	Kumarakom
15	5 Jan	Kumarakom, sunset cruise	Kumarakom
16	6 Jan	Depart to Cochin	Cochin
17	7 Jan	Visit Cochin	Cochin
18	8 Jan	Cochin	Cochin
19	9 Jan	Flight to Delhi and connection to Europe	In the air
20	10 Jan	Arrive Europe