Journey to India

DAY 1: Arrive in Delhi

    Today arrive in Delhi, the national capital of India. Upon arrival at the airport, our company representative will meet you and transfer you to the hotel for check-in.

Overnight at Delhi hotels

DAY 2: Delhi—Full-day tour (old& New Delhi tour)

    Today morning have breakfast in the hotel. At 9:30, the tour guide will meet you at your hotel and later proceed for a full-day guided tour in Delhi starting with Old Delhi visiting Raj Gaht. Jama Masjid, driving past through the Red Fort. Later in New Delhi visit Humayun's Tomb, India Gate, drive past through Parliament Street and President House and visit Qutub Minar.

Overnight at Delhi hotels

DAY 3: Delhi—Jaipur via Fatehpur Sikri (240 km/5 hours)

    Today morning after breakfast, drive to Jaipur, the capital city of Rajsthan state. Jaipur is also known as “Pink City”. En route visit Fatehpur Sikri, known as Ghost Capital. Later continue the drive to Jaipur. Upon arrival, check in at the hotel. Evening: free at leisure for your own activities.

Optional: visits to Chokhi Dhani Village Resort (US $25 per person)

Overnight at Jaipur hotels

DAY 4: Delhi (256 km/5 hours)

    Today morning after breakfast, drive back to Delhi airport. The total distance is 256 kms and you can cover it in 5 hours. Upon arrival in Delhi, board flight to onward journey.

NOTE: Price starts with US $ 215 with

• Daily breakfast and soft beverages (饮料) and packaged drinking water.

• Elephant rides at Amber Fort.

• Sunset or sunrise visits to Taj Mahal.

• All entrance fees to the monuments and train tickets.

    When I was younger, I was too shy to the point where I could not even make eye contact（接触）with people I didn't know. If someone greeted me in the hallway, I would lower my head and hurried passed.

    Funnily enough, this would not have been such a big deal if I had connected with their values and interests. However, everyone in my school was much wealthier than me, and focused on partying and fashion which were contrary to my interests. Although I had a few acquaintances（熟人）, no one seemed to understand me, unable to share my sometimes dark humor and interest in science fiction.

    Halfway through ninth grade, I was once again thrown into a school of strangers. Making friends was difficult, and I sat alone at lunch for the rest of the year. In tenth grade, however, I took part in my school's theatre program, where I met some of my closest friends. The theatre forced me to overcome my shyness and taught me to speak up for myself. Furthermore, pretending to be someone else gave me a sense of previously unknown confidence.

    Although I have a lot going for me right now, I will never forget the struggles I had to overcome when I was younger. This is why, whenever I see someone struggling or standing by themselves, I always invite them to sit with my friends and me. I may not be able to give them my full attention all of the time, but the main point is to let them know someone recognizes their existence and is willing to connect with them.

     Many of us feel uneasy when someone stands too close to us, talks to us too loudly or makes eye contact(接触) with us for too long. But have you ever wondered why those things make you uncomfortable?
      It's all about personal peace, which means not only an imaginary space around the body, but also the space around all the senses. People feel that their space is being violated(侵犯) when they meet with an unwelcome sound, smell or look. This is probably why a man on a crowded bus shouting into his mobile phone or a woman next to you putting on strong perfume(香水) makes you feel angry.

    Whether people have had a stronger wish to protect their personal space in recent times is hard to say. Yet studies of airlines show that people have a strong desire to have space to themselves. In a survey by Trip Advisor, a travel website, people said that if they had to pay more for some extra service, they would rather have larger seats than extra food.

    Although people may need their personal space, some hardly realize it. For example, people on a bus who hold newspapers in front of their faces to read in fact keep a distance from strangers.

    Go and watch a library table. You will notice that one of the corner seats will usually be taken first, because they are the farthest way. What if someone sits opposite to you? Maybe you will pile up books as if to make a wall.

    Preference for personal space is different from culture to culture. Scientists have found that Americans generally prefer more personal space than people from other cultures. In Latin cultures, however, people are more comfortable standing close to each other.

    Most young people enjoy some forms of physical activity. It may be walking, cycling, or swimming, or in winter, skating or skiing. It may be a game of some forms—football, basketball, hockey, golf or tennis. It may be mountaineering.

    Those who have a passion of climbing high and difficult mountains are often looked upon with astonishment. Why are men and women willing to suffer cold and hardship, and to take risks in high mountains? This astonishment is caused, probably, by the difference between mountaineering and other forms of activity to which men give their leisure.

    Mountaineering is a sport and not a game. There are no man-made rules, as there are for such games as golf and football. There are, of course, rules of different kinds which would be dangerous to ignore, but it is this freedom from man-made rules that makes mountaineering attractive to many people. Those who climb mountains are free to use their own methods.

    If we compare mountaineering with other more familiar sports we might think that one big difference is that mountaineering is not a “team game”. We should be mistaken in this. There are, it is true, no “matches” between “teams” of climbers, but when climbers are on a rock face linked by a rope on which their lives may depend, there is obviously teamwork.

    The mountain climber knows that he may have to fight forces that are stronger and more powerful than man. He has to fight the forces of nature. His sport requires high mental and physical qualities.

    A mountain climber continues to improve his skills year by year. A skier is probably past his best by the age of thirty. But it is not unusual for men of fifty or sixty to climb the highest mountains in the Alps. They may take more time than younger men, but they perhaps climb with more skills and less waste of effort, and they certainly experience equal enjoyment.

    It has taken an extremely long time－161 years－but the National Portrait Gallery finally has the Duke(公爵)of Wellington in its collection after a fundraising campaign reached its ￡1. 3m target.

    The gallery announced on Thursday that it had acquired Sir Thomas Lawrence's unfinished final painting of a man regarded as Britain's greatest soldier after a successful appeal.

    Nicholas Cullinan, the gallery's director, said the NPG had been looking for a suitable painting of the Duke of Wellington since the gallery was founded in 1856.

    He called it "a remarkable painting", while Lucy Peltz, the gallery's senior manager of 18th­century paintings, said the work was "an inspiring and powerful image of one of the most influential men of the 18th and 19th centuries".

    The NPG announced last November that it needed to raise ￡300,000, the final piece of a funding jigsaw(拼图). The Art Fund had already contributed ￡350,000 and the appeal reached its target thanks to ￡200,000 from the G&K Boyes charitable trust and ￡180,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. A further ￡570,000 came from a public appeal and the gallery's own funds.

    It was painted in 1829 when Wellington was prime minister, however, Lawrence died in 1830 leaving the portrait unfinished. The gallery believes it is a more attractive work because of that, with the viewer focusing more on the man himself rather than any clothes of power.

    Dan Snow, the historian and broadcaster, said Wellington was a "Titanic figure" in British history, the only field greatest prime minister, a man of genius on and off the battlefield. He added:" This arresting portrait must sit in the national collection and now, following an outpouring of donation, it will do. The artist has caught the Duke's legendary features. Among his many contributions to British life he formed the culture of unbending spirit in the face of difficulty."

    The painting was lent to the NPG in 2015 for an exhibition marking the Battle of Waterloo.

    We can make mistakes at any age. Some mistakes we make are about money. But most mistakes are about people. "Did Jerry really care when I broke up with Helen?" "When I got that great job, did Jim, as a friend, really feel good about it?" "And was Paul friendly just because I had a car?" When we look back, doubts like these can make us feel bad. But when we look back, it's too late.

    Why do we go wrong about our friends or our enemies? Sometimes what people say hides their real meaning. And if we don't really listen we miss the feeling behind the words. Suppose someone tells you, "You're a lucky dog." That's being friendly. But "lucky dog"? There's a bit of envy in those words. Maybe he doesn't see it himself. But bringing in the "dog" bit puts you down a little. What he may be saying is that he doesn't think you deserve your luck.

    "Just think of all the things you have to be thankful for" is another noise that says one thing and means another. It could mean that the speaker is trying to get you to see your problem as part of your life as a whole. But is he? Wrapped up in this phrase is the thought that your problem isn't important. It's telling you to think of all the starving people in the world when you haven't got a date for Saturday night.

    How can you tell the real meaning behind someone's words? One way is to take a good look at the person talking. Do his words fit the way he looks? Does what he says agree with the tone of voice? His posture(姿态)? The look in his eyes? Stop and think. The minute you spend thinking about the real meaning of what people say to you may save another mistake.