14-Apr-2013 Kolkata to Mumbai
By the morning I still felt totally shite and still wanted to go home, so bought a chai, sat down and drank it and decided that was what I would do. I guess I came to do the run, and the run was done, so travelling off down south, whilst a good plan, felt a bit aimless particularly as Dawn and the kids were all off work and off school.
All the travel agents were still closed as it was only 8.30am or so. I went to the Swiss cafe and had a banana lassi (that was on Dawn’s recommendation) and a honey lemon ginger as I still couldn’t bear the thought of any food. Then I found a travel agent that was open so bought a ticket for later today to Mumbai (2.30pm flight). I went back to the hotel for a bit of a rest and pack and txt Dawn again, then checked out and got a taxi to the airport. The domestic airport was pretty new. I had a bit of time so bought a magazine and took some selfies. I was looking for a barbers to shave it off but couldn’t find one. I didn’t even feel like a coffee.
The flight to Mumbai was fine. I then caught the transfer bus to the International Terminal. I was surprised to see the slums/chawls go right up to the very wall of the airport. I half expected to see a “Beautiful Forevers” billboard there as in the book “Behind the Beautiful Forevers“. That is a great book and worth reading!
My plan to change tickets almost came undone as I wanted to change the ticket at the Singapore Airlines desk but you can’t get into the terminal buildings in India without a valid ticket. I figured I could just blag my way in. I couldn’t (am guessing it happens a lot) and they sent someone out to negotiate with me. We got it sorted in the end, after some hours. I fly out at 0015 Monday morning and arrive Monday night in Sydney. I then spent a while just hanging around the airport.
Final photo in India:
