One of the big surprises of our India trip was the first few days which were dedicated to "acclimatization" from the roughly 24 hour trip, landing in the middle of the night in Chennai and the bizarre time zone difference (7:30 PM Wednesday in NYC is Thursday 5:00 AM in Chennai - that's right - a half-hour difference).
After collecting our bags (all of them made it for the 23 of us, except our tour leader's musical gear and clothes, which never reached him during the 30 day trip despite great efforts), we were shuttled to a BEACH RESORT! The airline, Jet Air, otherwise, was fantastic. Newer, and nicer aircraft than i have been on in decades - great food - impeccable service - great personal entertainment center - and all in coach. BTW, the entire tour cost $4600, and included all lodging, food, transportation (including round trip NYC to Chennai), admissions to all temples and events, etc. for 30 days.
The beach resort was the Ideal Beach Resort in Mahabalipuram, directly south of Chennai on the Indian Ocean. i had been to the town before, as it is a famous temple and stone sculpture site, but had no idea there were beach resorts there. The pics of the interior courtyard, dining room and beach show that this resort could have been anyplace. Excellent food, service, rooms (shared), beach "stuff", etc.
It was a really great time to get to know each other, relax, unwind, and recover from the trip. Things were about to get "different", however.
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