Hi, all. I'm asking for your thoughts on a five/six day domestic intinerary in India (previous threads have been very helpful) and then a couple of airport specific questions.

Some failure to plan on my part resulted in me having to arrive in Chennai instead of Mumbai for an upcoming vacation. I'm planning to spend five or six days in country before heading to JNB from BOM. My originally intinerary had me in Mumbai for the full time (perhaps with a quick trip to Goa), but the MAA arrival puts things in a new perspective. Air-gorilla.com tells me that less than $300 would get me a ticket out of MAA to DEL, and then from a DEL a few days later to BOM. I'm not married to spending time in any particular place, and would welcome any thoughts on smart apportionment between the two. I'm on my own, and have never been. I do, however, have scads of friends of friends in Delhi who are willing to show me around there.

My MAA arrival is just after midnight. I presume it will be 1:30 or so by the time I clear customs and immigration. From what I've read and heard, Chennai is fine enough, but not a particularly interesting destination. So I was planning to book a flight out to Delhi first thing the following morning. Anyone have any thoughts on the advisability of just hanging out in the terminal? I'm not much a fan of that, but in light of the time change (I'm coming from IAD), it seems less effort than going out, finding a room for the day, and then coming back for a flight to DEL.

Fastforward to my BOM depature - any thoughts on how much time one should allow for getting through security and whatnot for int'l depatures? It's an evening departure (10pm) and I'm using South African Airways.

Many thanks in advance.