The former District head nurse of Kerala and her ex CEO husband got off on the last stop before before Trivandrum and Vindeep as usual was the perfect gentleman, he helped them with their bags and made sure they were all sorted, we said goodbye to them and they also wished us a safe journey. I'm afraid I hadn't made much of an impression with them as I'd become quite withdrawn and at times bitter about this ride. The last few hours were probably not the hardest but they were the most tedious. We spoke to Vindeep and asked some questions about Trivandrum and he asked us where we were staying....and what with all the excitement of the last 16 hours I hadnt even given it a thought. Vindeep suggested Kovalam
Beach as that was where most foreigners went. One of Mrs. Gibbs' colleagues back at Moonbase Alpha had given us a piece of paper and indeed there was the same place written on it.

We got into Trivandrum and a lot of people got off and it was a right shoving match getting the bags up those stairs. We then got into the station and Vindeep told us we should go and get a refund. We'd been given a note from the conductor and that was the refund slip. The office was closed and so we thought we'd battle the might of Indian Beureaucracy tomorrow. We were shattered and got one of the old Ambassador (Morris Cowley's) to take us to Kovalam. We went to the first decent hotel and took a look at the room. I could develop aggrophobia in there and so checked in. Finally we were off that train.

The first thing we did was throw our clothes into a plastic bag and threw them in the bin outside.

It's taken a while to write about that train trip and this is only about the half of it.