I’ve been cancer-free for 14 years – here’s why I travelled to India to celebrate

On a transformative trip, writer Xenia Taliotis adapts India’s most famous route to find serenity in her journey

Sep 18, 2026 - 11:15

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I’ve been cancer-free for 14 years – here’s why I travelled to India to celebrate

When I first visited India, the children were eight, five and two. For their mother, my cousin Michelle, it was a return to a country she had loved since her teens. For me, it was a life-changing travel experience – a return to normality after 20 months of cancer treatment.

We planned to explore the Golden Triangle – Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Michelle had told me such stories about them, and I’d thought of little else during my appointments. They were a distraction from my present and a hope for my future.

We arrived in Delhi with a hectic schedule, but after two days there, we realised neither the children nor I could cope. Instead, we headed to Kerala’s lakes and Goa’s beaches, where I was introduced to India’s backwaters, its ankle-snapping shorebreaks and its street hawkers.

I left India hoping to return, but it was 11 years before I did so. Then, aged 60 and feeling the limitations of middle age, I booked the Leela Palace Northern India Trail of Delhi, Jaipur and Udaipur (instead of Agra). Remembering the peace I had found by India’s waters, I was happy to forfeit the pin-up romance of Agra for Udaipur’s quiet lakes, composure and art.

Before that, though, there was Delhi…

Traditional Kalbelia dancers and musicians greet guests on arrival at The Leela Palace Jaipur

Traditional Kalbelia dancers and musicians greet guests on arrival at The Leela Palace Jaipur (Xenia Taliotis)

In the car that The Leela had sent to collect my group, it was clear that New Delhi was what it always was, only more so: more commotion, more people, more heat, animals, vehicles and more pollution that clogged the sky with smog and the ground with grot.

Before I could take them on, I needed time in the hotel. An architectural beauty whose airy domes and cool colonnades echoed the designs of architect Edwin Lutyens, the British architect responsible for much of New Delhi’s design. The Leela prepped me for old Delhi with its “vitality breakfast”, created for gut health. I ate while watching a display of art on the hotel’s digital gallery wall, part of its contemporary art collection, which is one of the best in New Delhi. The Leela’s in-house curator leads art walks for guests.

We headed to Khari Baoli, the world’s largest wholesale spice market. This 17th-century maze of alleyways vibrated with life. While New Delhi is fuelled by AI start-ups and cryptocurrency, the industry here is visible and noisy: moneylenders and accountants, buyers and sellers, and minimum wage-earners who do the pulling and pushing, the lifting and loading.

A calligraphy lesson with Ameen Ur Rehman, a master of the art who has dedicated his life to keeping the craft alive, followed, with each of us leaving with our artwork – our name in Arabic.

If New Delhi showed me a city racing towards its future, then Jaipur – a five-hour drive away – demonstrated a more philosophical take on modernity. At its Leela Palace, cascades of rose petals welcomed us, filling me with such joy that I chased after them. My graceless show only served to amplify the elegance of the Kalbelia dancers as they spun, the tiny mirrors sewn into their skirts glinting and splitting the sun's rays into rainbows that splashed across the gleaming forecourt.

Devotees queuing to present their offering to the warrior goddess Kali Mata

Devotees queuing to present their offering to the warrior goddess Kali Mata (Xenia Taliotis)

As befits the capital of India’s largest state, Rajasthan – meaning “Land of Kings” – Jaipur is majestic. When I looked up at such architectural wonders as the honeycombed Hawa Mahal (Palace of the Winds), I thought I was looking through rose-tinted spectacles, but Jaipur’s hue is real, a result of Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II’s decision to have it painted pink in honour of Prince Albert Edward’s visit in 1876, and it has been known as the “Pink City” ever since.

Our visit coincided with Navratri, the nine-day festival celebrating the goddess Durga. Devotees bearing gifts queued to enter the temple.

As impressive as the architecture is, the city’s determination to keep its artistry alive makes it relevant for the next generation. The Sculpture Park in Vijay Garhi, a former prison, encourages the public to engage with modern art. Noelle Kadar, co-founder of the Jaipur Centre for Art (JCA), explained: “Where art is concerned, there is a tendency to look back rather than forward, but with the opening of JCA and the Sculpture Park, we hope to see progress. Both are in historic buildings to inspire a dialogue between past and present.”

The gorgeous grounds of The Leela Palace Udaipur in India

The gorgeous grounds of The Leela Palace Udaipur in India (Xenia Taliotis)

It is a similar story in Udaipur, the City of the Lakes. Here, we visited Aavaran, a women-run enterprise reviving the region’s 600-year-old block-printing craft, using historic motifs and indigo-dyed fabrics. I had a go, leaving with a linen square stamped with wonky lotus flowers.

At the hotel, I took a sunrise yoga class and later sat looking at the moon’s reflection in Lake Pichola. I gave thanks for my 14 cancer-free years. In some ways, my second visit to India ended as my first had begun, with me finding the peace I needed in a country so often considered chaotic.

Xenia Taliotis was a guest of Leela Palaces Hotels and Resorts.

How to do it

British Airways, Air India and Virgin Atlantic all fly direct from the UK to New Delhi. Prices from £430.

At Leela Palace Hotels and Resorts, rooms start from £140 per night. The Leela Palace Trail across Northern India, taking in Delhi, Jaipur and Udaipur, starts at £499 a night for six nights during the winter season (October to April).