From Gaya we arrived at the New Delhi railway station at about ten o'clock in the morning
and took a taxi to the nearby Hotel Ajanta, where we usually stay when in Delhi. During the
day we took walks in the interesting neighborhood, had a couple of good meals, and went to
bed early to get some sleep before leaving the hotel for the airport at about 11:00pm.
For some reason that we have not been able to figure out, our flights to India seem to always
arrive about the middle of the night and depart from India an hour or two later. Our KLM
flight 872 was scheduled to depart Indira Gandhi International Airport at 1:30am.
We arranged with the Hotel Ajanta to have their car take us to the airport at 11:00pm for
US$5 which we considered a real bargain considering that the airport was about an hour
away. The car looked like an ordinary four-wheeler but when on the way to the airport the
driver stopped to refuel and we were interested in learning that fuel consisted of liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG).
At the airport we found the usual crowds and confusion, but our flight departed with only
slight delay and arrived in Amsterdam about nine hours later at about 6:00am local time. At
9:30AM and about another nine hours later we arrived at Newark International Airport
(one of New York City's airports) at about 12:30pm local time. It then took us the usual
hour or so to get out of the airport and almost another hour to get home by a car service.
Home again!