My last long term visit to India was in February-March 2012 for my wedding. Since then, Ashwina and I have travelled to Scotland, Dunwich Heath, Cornwall and Paris. To make a trip to India I really need a perfect timing of decent air fares, long holidays and good weather. Post Christmas 2013 gave us this opportunity. So, we booked our tickets on British Airways, which is pretty much the main airline I use to travel and made our way to Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 on a stormy Friday after a Christmas characterised by strong winds and a small storm. I usually prefer the day flights vs. the red eye because…
Mumbai calling 2011
I booked my tickets to come to Mumbai last month, when my plans for a trip to the USA and Canada fell apart due to my crazy work schedule. My past two trips have been on British Airways, but this time I booked tickets for our very own Jet Airways. I booked a cab to the airport and reached Heathrow Terminal 4 with time to spare. I must admit that I missed the awesomeness of Terminal 5. The flight was very comfortable, though I did feel the service was all over the place. The flight was a good 10 hours with minimal turbulence and I did catch up on some…
Back to Bangalore
At long last my vacation back home draws to a close. This time I had the opportunity of a much longer vacation since I had to take my core leave. Consequently I spent a good 18-19 days home 🙂 One stark difference about Mumbai and Bangalore airport is the security checks. Bangalore airport is a lot stricter (They didn’t allow me to carry my bottle of water past the security point!). For a change, am actually taking a good lot back to Bangalore and so had to improvise by carrying a bigger suitcase which I checked in. At the check-in counter I was told that the flight will be delayed…
First three vacation days
Christmas is the time of the year I’ve always looked out for. This year has been a very fulfilling year, which I shall write about in a future post. I took my core leave from 18 Dec to 3 Jan, which is the longest duration of leave that I have ever taken till date! Had booked the tickets in August itself, so it was only the matter of getting to the airport. Unlike last time, where my cab arrived early and the plane was late, I reached the airport at 10am on Friday. They have become a lot stricter at Bangalore airport. I wasn’t allowed to even take my bottle…
The second half of my vacation
The last few days were spent meeting people. Met Sneha on Wednesday for dinner. Dinner was at the Happy Singh, which is a part of Pop Tates. Decent enough joint, but the long island iced tea was ice tea! I met up with Ramya for tea on Thursday at Crepe Station in Lokhandwala which has recently opened. IMO, while the place is decent and the food too, it is over priced. So, you need to pick and choose what you would like to eat. The conversation resolved around blogging, writing, education and a bit of food. Paid a visit to the Airtel “relationship center” in Bandra. The relationship center is…
Back to Bangalore
Having spent rather exhausting three days in Mumbai, I met up with Sneha, Akshat and Neha for pizzas at the Pizza Hut in Powai. Was surprised to see a whole new menu on offer. There have been several good additions to the menu, but there have been equally bad ones. Going to check if the menu has been updated in Bangalore as well. I headed off home soon after dinner. Friday and Saturday both turned out to be extremely rainy days. However, the newspapers claim that it rained everywhere except the lakes! Began packing for returning to Bangalore this morning. It doesn’t take much time when you have minimal dumping…
Back in Mumbai
I’m back in Mumbai! Had prayed for an uneventful flight and if you can discount the one and half hour delay and the turbulance, it was uneventful. Reached the airport. Was worried about being overweight (not me, my baggage). Dad is a frequent flyer and so I was able to carry some extra baggage 🙂 Found out that the flight was delayed by one whole hour, which turned out to be almost two! Didn’t have to worry about the waiting because I didn’t go to the gate until 1.45am (the flight was originally scheduled for 1.30am). Had good company because along with Dad, Charlin and Prestin also came to see…
