It was bound to happen , but I finally hit the wall today. Awake early and had breakfast while Heidi slept bit more and then just realized I could hardly put one foot in front of the other. Heidi decided to do some shopping in Kathmandu as we were leaving by one to catch our flights to Mumbai . I crawled back into bed, still hacking and coughing and just rested for a while. I just felt like I had been drugged, no energy at all. Felt slightly better by the time we went to leave for airport but not much.
I wish I could say our flights were smooth and easy but I'm not sure I have ever been able to say that about any flight in Asia. It started out with them telling us as we checked in our bags that we were way over weight limit and that we would have to pay over 300 US for this! We were able to talk them down to 100 US. Kara, you better like your Christmas present .The airport was plugged solid and things moved very slowly. The flight left half an hour late and we already had a tight switch between flights in Delhi. On top of that, they do this weird thing in India that if you are transferring flights you must go to baggage and pick up all your bags instead of them sending them on through. Then you have to rush to the next area with your bags, re-check them once again through security and then find your gate again, meanwhile going through countless security checks . I have never been patted down and frisked so much in my life.
So we literally almost ran through the Delhi airport trying to get this all accomplished . Finally got through all checkpoints and to the gate with 15 minutes to spare. Both of us feeling relieved . For a few seconds . Then I proceeded through final gate, turned to wait for Heidi, noticed she wasn't moving. Somehow, even though we had checked in together in Kathmandu, they had changed her flight number and she wasn't booked for this flight . Despite protests by the military standing at the gate I went back through. At first we were told she would have to go on later flight regardless and that I couldn't change, and that current flight was full. Finally they found her a seat (in first class,no less) and we got in just before they closed the doors .
Got to Mumbai, both of us exhausted . Not sure if news of prominent political leader, Bal Thackeray's death , made it to Canada , but his funeral had closed streets down in Mumbai in the afternoon and we were unsure what we were going to find. What we found was that the taxis were all on strike (still not really sure why) so there was limited vehicles to drive us to hotel . We thought we had booked a hotel near the airport and after much dickering and arguing with a bunch of men we settled on a price and set off. And drove . And drove. And drove. Then we seemed to be going outside the city. And still we drove. Our driver spoke very little English so difficult to get anything from him. The road we ended up on was dark and all we could see were men walking on it. Finally I saw a sign that said the name of our hotel and minutes later we arrived through the gates . Much security upon arrival, I am assuming because of trouble Mumbai has had in the past with terrorists. Even had to put all of our bags through airport-like security . We will stay here two nights and will make plans today about where to go next. Both of us are knocked flat a bit with this cold so hopefully a good down day will help that some. Temperatures are in high 20's or 30-ish so that should help some . Safe and sound in Mumbai, Mom!
I wish I could say our flights were smooth and easy but I'm not sure I have ever been able to say that about any flight in Asia. It started out with them telling us as we checked in our bags that we were way over weight limit and that we would have to pay over 300 US for this! We were able to talk them down to 100 US. Kara, you better like your Christmas present .The airport was plugged solid and things moved very slowly. The flight left half an hour late and we already had a tight switch between flights in Delhi. On top of that, they do this weird thing in India that if you are transferring flights you must go to baggage and pick up all your bags instead of them sending them on through. Then you have to rush to the next area with your bags, re-check them once again through security and then find your gate again, meanwhile going through countless security checks . I have never been patted down and frisked so much in my life.
So we literally almost ran through the Delhi airport trying to get this all accomplished . Finally got through all checkpoints and to the gate with 15 minutes to spare. Both of us feeling relieved . For a few seconds . Then I proceeded through final gate, turned to wait for Heidi, noticed she wasn't moving. Somehow, even though we had checked in together in Kathmandu, they had changed her flight number and she wasn't booked for this flight . Despite protests by the military standing at the gate I went back through. At first we were told she would have to go on later flight regardless and that I couldn't change, and that current flight was full. Finally they found her a seat (in first class,no less) and we got in just before they closed the doors .
Got to Mumbai, both of us exhausted . Not sure if news of prominent political leader, Bal Thackeray's death , made it to Canada , but his funeral had closed streets down in Mumbai in the afternoon and we were unsure what we were going to find. What we found was that the taxis were all on strike (still not really sure why) so there was limited vehicles to drive us to hotel . We thought we had booked a hotel near the airport and after much dickering and arguing with a bunch of men we settled on a price and set off. And drove . And drove. And drove. Then we seemed to be going outside the city. And still we drove. Our driver spoke very little English so difficult to get anything from him. The road we ended up on was dark and all we could see were men walking on it. Finally I saw a sign that said the name of our hotel and minutes later we arrived through the gates . Much security upon arrival, I am assuming because of trouble Mumbai has had in the past with terrorists. Even had to put all of our bags through airport-like security . We will stay here two nights and will make plans today about where to go next. Both of us are knocked flat a bit with this cold so hopefully a good down day will help that some. Temperatures are in high 20's or 30-ish so that should help some . Safe and sound in Mumbai, Mom!
Do you really think that last sentence is going to put Mom's mind at ease? Glad you were able to jump through all the hoops!
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