Sunday 1 April 2012 - the alarm went at 0630 and we set off to Delhi airport at 0830.  The nearest airport to Darjeeling and Sikkim is Bagdogra which is 2 hours flying time from Delhi in West Bengal. With not that many flights a day we chose Jet Airways a wise choice as Kingfisher is in the process of going bankrupt - all be it slowly !  

Arriving at the airport proved wise as there seemed to be some problem in finding our reservation although in the end we got seats !
We had arranged a three centre week trip with the Elgin Hotels starting in Darjeeling, then on to Pelling and Gangtok both located in Sikkim staying at hotels owned by the Group.

The drive from the airport is 90 kms starting on the plain and then rapidly heading up a narrow switch back road to Kurseong and on to Darjeeling. At Kurseong (1458 metres) the road starts to run along side the narrow gauge railway and we stopped for tea. Actually our first pot of real Darjeeling tea and a plate of vegetable Mou Mou - dumplings.

​Darjeeling itself is at 6700 feet asl 2134 m) and it began to feel cool as we climbed over the remaining hour. Our destination was the Elgin Hotel which began life as a hotel in 1930. We started the stay with High Tea in the lounge and then a gentle walk through town.