Whilst working in Hyderabad, my colleague Lalit, asked if I’d like to go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Not wanting to turn a good offer down, we quickly put together a plan.
Lalit proposed we could do it in a day, so we set off on the earliest flight leaving Hyderabad, and flew to New Delhi. Our IndiGo flight was on-time and we set off on our adventure.
We had a booked driver who collected us from the airport and drove us to Agra – the journey is long (about 4h – 250km).
We did a few de-tours to visit/experience a temple and other stops.
When you arrive at the Taj Mahal you enter a queue – separated between visitors and locals. Fortunately for us the foreign visitor queue was short whereas the local was quite long – and no doubt our price was different, but as I recall not too high.
As you enter you go through a smaller building which then opens up into a court where the Taj Mahal is centre stage – this gave it great impact. It’s a beautiful monument.
During our visit they were cleaning the marble with clay, and it was quite amazing the difference in the before and after.
After spending time exploring the site, we then visited the fort, shared lunch, and headed back to Delhi. Here’s were our challenges began! Traffic soon was our worst enemy, what should have been 4h back soon turned into 6+. We had booked the last flight back and we were now close to 30 minutes to departure and still in the Taxi km’s from the airport.
Possibly Krishna was watching over us! After reaching the airport and running into the terminal (and pleading to have the flight re-opened for boarding), the staff managed to board us as the flight was delayed ! We fortunately got the last flight back to Hyderabad, despite my fears of being stuck.
The experience was special, especially as I shared experiences with my friend Lalit which will stay with me forever. It has stress! and I would suggest not to try to do it in a day! Take your time, it’s well worth the visit.
To find similar tours see these links