When we climbed Snowdon on Jack's birthday, I got up at 3.30am, earlier than I could ever remember. This morning, the Big Ben bongs on my phone alarm rang out at 2.15am, and I was instantly awake. All the lights were on, and I'd guessed right that Nathan and Sam would just stay up, pack, and get on their phones. They'd had a great evening. With Ram they'd circuited some central shops by Auto(rickshaw), and bought Sam's missus a sari. Nathan was still sitting in his djipan and bare footed when the taxi arrived. Steve got up for moral support. You'd hardly call it springing into action, but we jammed our cases in the boot and were soon speeding through the night (and red traffic lights) the 30km to the airport. At quarter to four we saw Bangalore terminal building. And then, "Oh no, I've left my laptop under the bed," burst from the back seat.
Our driver shook his head. "Not enough time to go back." "How about if we get a taxi to bring it over?" I asked. Nathan was already on the phone to Steve, explaining the dilemma, while Sam rang the Noah's Inn reception, our driver contacted his Control. "We can can pick it up and get it to Departures in an hour," he smiled. "They'll give me the taxi number, and I'll ring you." "Hang on, hang on," Nathan was urging Steve, who'd already located the laptop and was about to take it downstairs for collection. "Sometimes it's hard being me," wailed Nathan. "Join the new adventure," Sam added.
This blew any anxieties about baggage allowance clean out of my mind. We negotiated our way past the customary door police and headed for the indicated check-in. Wrong counters. Bewildered we tried again further along. I sent Nathan and Sam to meet the taxi, and stood guard over our trolley. The door security sent them to find an airline official to vouch for their errand. They reappeared with the laptop, then Nathan dashed off, extension lead in hand, to try to find some precious phone charge. Sam had to pay the 5kg excess charge at another counter. More time taken up. As we were presented with two sets of boarding passes - for the flight to Kolkata and then quickly on to Aizawl, I caught Sam's eye. "Three o'clock wasn't too early."
We joined a "Gentlemen's" queue at Security. I was fine, but noticed that both Sam and Nathan were getting a grilling. Everything had to come out of their luggage and was being carefully picked over. I wondered if this equated to the kind of stop-and-search discrimination reputed on the UK's streets. We just had time to grab a bottle of mango and a chocolate browny before the plane filled up for 6.40am departure. "You can't allow too much time," Nathan shook his head.
We sat and waited, while banging and bumping suggested luggage was still being loaded. Well over 20 minutes late, we took of into a cloudy morning. With no evening meal last night, I was hungry. But this was an economy flight, so no joy. After about an hour we started the descent to lay over at Vishakhapatnam. Again the take off was delayed. For some reason I mused, "I wonder if this will mean we're too late for our second flight?"
We were. In fact the take-of time had passed before we even taxi'd up to the terminal. "This means a whole new game-plan," I stated to Nathan. "Exciting!" He beamed back. "I'm thinking of retiring to an armchair to write my memoirs," I grunted. "You can't do that - your blog's 'Not Rusting Away'."
The lady at the Jet desk was helpful. I can transfer you to the same flight tomorrow. We conceded. She loaned me her phone to call Colney and break the news. He was upset. "Do you have somewhere you can go?" our helpful lady pressed. She arranged a choice of two hotels, and we suggested that we grabbed a SubWay to work out some ideas. It clicked. "The travel insurance should pay for it all!" A dapper little man in a dark suit offered his card: Hotel Hindusthan International. He guided us out to the Pre-Paid taxi office, and soon we were bumping and honking our way the hectic 25km into Kolkata centre.
The creaky yellow taxi seemed to take ages. The level of sweltering heat and fumes rose inexorably. Then it became apparent why - a visiting top politician meant that Police were everywhere and restricting traffic.
The smart staff at the hotel took our baggage. We were a pretty travel-stained offering, but we secured a shared room at a knock-down price including breakfast. Nathan has it all on video for posterity, and dreams of the swimming pool. I fancy a look at the gym. Sam loves the spacious air-conditioning. We're all glad of the wifi: our costly EE data package hasn't delivered anything the whole time - Bangalore or here.
So here we sit in a lay-by, until tomorrow's 7.00am taxi resumes the adventure. I wonder how Steve and Daniel are getting on?
Our driver shook his head. "Not enough time to go back." "How about if we get a taxi to bring it over?" I asked. Nathan was already on the phone to Steve, explaining the dilemma, while Sam rang the Noah's Inn reception, our driver contacted his Control. "We can can pick it up and get it to Departures in an hour," he smiled. "They'll give me the taxi number, and I'll ring you." "Hang on, hang on," Nathan was urging Steve, who'd already located the laptop and was about to take it downstairs for collection. "Sometimes it's hard being me," wailed Nathan. "Join the new adventure," Sam added.
This blew any anxieties about baggage allowance clean out of my mind. We negotiated our way past the customary door police and headed for the indicated check-in. Wrong counters. Bewildered we tried again further along. I sent Nathan and Sam to meet the taxi, and stood guard over our trolley. The door security sent them to find an airline official to vouch for their errand. They reappeared with the laptop, then Nathan dashed off, extension lead in hand, to try to find some precious phone charge. Sam had to pay the 5kg excess charge at another counter. More time taken up. As we were presented with two sets of boarding passes - for the flight to Kolkata and then quickly on to Aizawl, I caught Sam's eye. "Three o'clock wasn't too early."
We joined a "Gentlemen's" queue at Security. I was fine, but noticed that both Sam and Nathan were getting a grilling. Everything had to come out of their luggage and was being carefully picked over. I wondered if this equated to the kind of stop-and-search discrimination reputed on the UK's streets. We just had time to grab a bottle of mango and a chocolate browny before the plane filled up for 6.40am departure. "You can't allow too much time," Nathan shook his head.
We sat and waited, while banging and bumping suggested luggage was still being loaded. Well over 20 minutes late, we took of into a cloudy morning. With no evening meal last night, I was hungry. But this was an economy flight, so no joy. After about an hour we started the descent to lay over at Vishakhapatnam. Again the take off was delayed. For some reason I mused, "I wonder if this will mean we're too late for our second flight?"
We were. In fact the take-of time had passed before we even taxi'd up to the terminal. "This means a whole new game-plan," I stated to Nathan. "Exciting!" He beamed back. "I'm thinking of retiring to an armchair to write my memoirs," I grunted. "You can't do that - your blog's 'Not Rusting Away'."
The lady at the Jet desk was helpful. I can transfer you to the same flight tomorrow. We conceded. She loaned me her phone to call Colney and break the news. He was upset. "Do you have somewhere you can go?" our helpful lady pressed. She arranged a choice of two hotels, and we suggested that we grabbed a SubWay to work out some ideas. It clicked. "The travel insurance should pay for it all!" A dapper little man in a dark suit offered his card: Hotel Hindusthan International. He guided us out to the Pre-Paid taxi office, and soon we were bumping and honking our way the hectic 25km into Kolkata centre. The creaky yellow taxi seemed to take ages. The level of sweltering heat and fumes rose inexorably. Then it became apparent why - a visiting top politician meant that Police were everywhere and restricting traffic.
The smart staff at the hotel took our baggage. We were a pretty travel-stained offering, but we secured a shared room at a knock-down price including breakfast. Nathan has it all on video for posterity, and dreams of the swimming pool. I fancy a look at the gym. Sam loves the spacious air-conditioning. We're all glad of the wifi: our costly EE data package hasn't delivered anything the whole time - Bangalore or here.
So here we sit in a lay-by, until tomorrow's 7.00am taxi resumes the adventure. I wonder how Steve and Daniel are getting on?
1 comment:
Hiya guys... Glad the conferences are going well... Looking forward to finding out how you spent the extra unexpected day in Calcutta
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