The short version goes thus; arrived Heathrow 6.30pm Friday 2nd April, arrived Taj Vivanta Bangalore 8pm Saturday 3rd April. Success!
The slightly longer version goes thus; arrived Heathrow 6.30pm Friday 2nd April. Flying First Class was a completely new experience and a thoroughly rewarding one. To start with there was no queue for check in, how cool is that?! Then the we were fast tracked through all the other guff til we eventually arrived in the First Class lounge. A tranquil place amongst the usual insanity of Heathrow. Free food and free bar.
The flight was delayed so we did not end up boarding til close to 10pm. The first thing that struck me was how good it felt to turn left instead of right! The First Class area aboard the plane was so much fun. The air stewardesses were so polite and friendly that it almost…
*apologies for the interruption house keeping just came to “refreshen” my room!*
…got annoying. Orange juice, then a hot towel, then a lime juice, then Bose head phones, then a discussion on our choices for our evening meal. Then the alcoholic drinks began (which they kept refreshing whenever the glass went dry). Then it was a bowl of nuts. Pillows. Night wear. It just didn’t stop! In the end I decided to watch 500 Days Of Summer while Jacqui watched a rom com with Leonardo DiCaprio. Ok perhaps it wasn’t cos there were tons of explosions and guns and stuff!
About an hour into the flight our dinner was served. I had a prawn and crab starter followed by lamb. It was absolutely delicious. Jacqui fell asleep at some point, when my movie was finished one of the air stewardesses asked if I’d like my bed made up. So good. Decided this was a good time to then lie down, grab a few hours kip before breakfast. Cornflakes. Which seemed rather more amusing when asked “Would you like hot or cold milk Mr Thomas?”.
After some brekkie and a cuppa tea, a freshen up and the plane landed. I’ve been to India three times, but I am always caught out by the smell and the humidity that hit you as soon as you exit the airplane. Mumbai airport is unlike anywhere else I’ve ever seen. It’s massive, outside it’s dusty, there are thousands of people everywhere, it’s in a permanent state of extensions being built, which give the impression of a building site. Inside we were ushered through to pick up our bags and go through all the malarkey of immigration etc. Half hour later we were in another holding area waiting for us and our bags to board a coach to travel to the other airport for the internal flight to Mumbai. Still ridiculously hot. Still loads of people everywhere. Can only be described as controlled chaos.
Half hour later and we’re in the Kingfisher Lounge in the other Mumbai airport. At this point everything slowed down and got a tad frustrating. Our flight was delayed by over an hour. We were stuck in a lounge with weird food – green salad sandwiches on bread that was rock hard and looked very weird. No natural light, more air con. Suddenly the lack of sleep caught up with us as time slowly dragged by. Four hours and and two aborted attempts later we escaped to the departures lounge for a much needed change in scenery and a surprise.
In the departures lounge a familiar face. Jay! Yay! There was a lil run, a few screams, some hugs and then LOTS of talking! Jay had plane cancellations and delays and all sorts of nonsense BUT had managed to get transferred to our plane and surprised us in Mumbai. We boarded our plane. Two hours later we’re in Bangalore. Bags collected, exit the building and there was Achutha to meet us. Another familiar face to make it that little bit better. Bangalore Airport is so different to Mumbai Airport. It could be anywhere in Europe, it looks and is so westernised. Outside it was 7pm and the sun had already set. Our 4x4 picked us up and joined the battle that is the roads of Bangalore. It’s insane. For the uninitiated (such as Jacqui) it’s an insane experience where people appear to care very little about personal safety. Bikes, ricshaws (sic?), vans, scooters, vans, lorries weave left and right, in and out, up and down, crazy, horns buzzing, lights flashing, people walking in and out of the road. Things whizzing by, brake lights everywhere. Massive advertising hoardings. Buses packed to the roof. Dusty roads. Chaos.
One hour later we arrived Taj Vivanta Bangalore 8pm Saturday 3rd April. Success!
DT or Mr Thomas as everyone is calling me here
Mr Thomas, thanks for this. Good to know you're all in one piece. Can't wait to hear about the hotel.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's rickshaw, from the Japanese. Apparently.