So there we were in Delhi, sat in our hotel, the car was coming to pick us up at half twelve, we were primed and ready to go at 12, sat in the lobby, bags at our feet. The receptionist wanted us to wait in the room, we were not having it, we were going to be visible so they couldn't forget about us. Trust me if I had a high visibility vest, I would have had it on!
Twelve thirty two, no car, I was at that desk asking where it was, to be told plenty of time it would be there. Time ticked on, I kept looking at the clock, eventually the receptionist made a phone call, not sure what was said, but the name of our airline was mentioned as was car, he hung up and told us the car was on the way.
Relieved we climbed in, the driver muttered a"domestic or international," "domestic" we replied and he drove us to this huge terminal. We clambered out walked up to the doorway, in India there are security guards or soldiers at the doors who check that you have a ticket, the guard looked at it and said "Wrong terminal, you need to catch a bus to another terminal." We couldn't believe it.
After getting directions we headed off to a lift, to be followed by a taxi driver, who kept harassing us telling us we would get to terminal quicker with him. " Good price, only five dollars" he kept shouting at us. We were so pleased when the elevator doors opened and we could step inside. So many of the Indians do not seem to respect your personal space and seem to get in your face a lot. Some of them also do nothing, and expect a tip for doing it. I opened the car door and was away to get in when the doorman at the hotel , grabbed the door and said " Tip madam, tip", well one I had no money and two, you are suppose to do something to earn a tip.
So we went in the lift, went down the stairs and headed for the shuttle bus, we went to get our complimentary ticket to travel, as we were told we could, to be charged 25 rupees each! We didn't have any Indian money! We had to explain our situation to the girl who thankfully was linked to the airline who suspended our flight, but we had to prove we were in transit by showing her our boarding tickets from the day before. Well, thankfully I didn't chuck them out as I was going to, but had to go raking for them in our bags. All the time conscious of time trickling on.
What a relief, it was to get seated on the shuttle bus and thankfully there was a nice Indian man who helped us to get off at the right stop and he didn't ask for a tip for doing it. Once inside the right building we quickly got our bags checked in and headed to the gates, no dilly dallying. Flight went alright and we set off for Kolkata, what we call Calcutta.
At Calcutta we had to pick up our bags, so headed for the baggage reclaim belt, we stood there the bags went round, I got my rucksack, the crowds started to disappear, the bags got lifted, the belt stopped, no more bags. David's wasn't there! Was this nightmare never going to end. An airline representative walked up and asked how many bags we should have, when we said we were missing one, she radioed through to someone who said it was getting carried through, goodness knows why. It was then put on the belt and chugged towards us.
We then had to check in again and go through security with our bags, which basically involves a lot of pushing and shoving, no orderly queue, especially as there was only one machine for all the bags to go through. At the check in desk, the man booking us in said " Did you not get our phone call about your flight getting cancelled" WHAT!!! We basically told them not to do that, they had already done it the day before etc etc etc, when the man said " That's what I am talking about, your flights yesterday. " I could have hugged him but we apologised for jumping the gun , we honestly thought we were going to be stuck in Kolkata for the night.
We got on our next flight and arrived in Bangkok at half 12 , hooray, by half one we were in our hotel, which was fantastic, it was like walking into a palace. The foyer was absolutely beautiful and massive, we got lost in the foyer, yup only we could do that, we had to be shown the way twice! The room was lovely with three beds to choose from, there was even a bath. Exhausted, we collapsed in our beds.
Twelve thirty two, no car, I was at that desk asking where it was, to be told plenty of time it would be there. Time ticked on, I kept looking at the clock, eventually the receptionist made a phone call, not sure what was said, but the name of our airline was mentioned as was car, he hung up and told us the car was on the way.
Relieved we climbed in, the driver muttered a"domestic or international," "domestic" we replied and he drove us to this huge terminal. We clambered out walked up to the doorway, in India there are security guards or soldiers at the doors who check that you have a ticket, the guard looked at it and said "Wrong terminal, you need to catch a bus to another terminal." We couldn't believe it.
After getting directions we headed off to a lift, to be followed by a taxi driver, who kept harassing us telling us we would get to terminal quicker with him. " Good price, only five dollars" he kept shouting at us. We were so pleased when the elevator doors opened and we could step inside. So many of the Indians do not seem to respect your personal space and seem to get in your face a lot. Some of them also do nothing, and expect a tip for doing it. I opened the car door and was away to get in when the doorman at the hotel , grabbed the door and said " Tip madam, tip", well one I had no money and two, you are suppose to do something to earn a tip.
So we went in the lift, went down the stairs and headed for the shuttle bus, we went to get our complimentary ticket to travel, as we were told we could, to be charged 25 rupees each! We didn't have any Indian money! We had to explain our situation to the girl who thankfully was linked to the airline who suspended our flight, but we had to prove we were in transit by showing her our boarding tickets from the day before. Well, thankfully I didn't chuck them out as I was going to, but had to go raking for them in our bags. All the time conscious of time trickling on.
What a relief, it was to get seated on the shuttle bus and thankfully there was a nice Indian man who helped us to get off at the right stop and he didn't ask for a tip for doing it. Once inside the right building we quickly got our bags checked in and headed to the gates, no dilly dallying. Flight went alright and we set off for Kolkata, what we call Calcutta.
At Calcutta we had to pick up our bags, so headed for the baggage reclaim belt, we stood there the bags went round, I got my rucksack, the crowds started to disappear, the bags got lifted, the belt stopped, no more bags. David's wasn't there! Was this nightmare never going to end. An airline representative walked up and asked how many bags we should have, when we said we were missing one, she radioed through to someone who said it was getting carried through, goodness knows why. It was then put on the belt and chugged towards us.
We then had to check in again and go through security with our bags, which basically involves a lot of pushing and shoving, no orderly queue, especially as there was only one machine for all the bags to go through. At the check in desk, the man booking us in said " Did you not get our phone call about your flight getting cancelled" WHAT!!! We basically told them not to do that, they had already done it the day before etc etc etc, when the man said " That's what I am talking about, your flights yesterday. " I could have hugged him but we apologised for jumping the gun , we honestly thought we were going to be stuck in Kolkata for the night.
We got on our next flight and arrived in Bangkok at half 12 , hooray, by half one we were in our hotel, which was fantastic, it was like walking into a palace. The foyer was absolutely beautiful and massive, we got lost in the foyer, yup only we could do that, we had to be shown the way twice! The room was lovely with three beds to choose from, there was even a bath. Exhausted, we collapsed in our beds.
Bagpuss getting ready for a bath, he took the third bed.
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