The day had arrived…we were leaving Goa a month after we arrived (give or take 5 days in Hampi!). We felt ready to move on, although this was probably more excitement about a hot shower and staying in the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai - not sure if you've heard of it??

First we had to dispose of the boxes of pressies…of course, even that wasn't simple! We thought we'd done a great job of packaging up the boxes and clearly labelling the addresses, but apparently it was not sufficient. We had to go to one of those case wrapping machines and get the boxes wrapped up with new signs of who the parcel is to and who it was from (not so easy, when our 'from' address is moving all the time!). Anyway, after to-ing and fro-ing triying to find someone to wrap these blasted things, we finally managed - although in order to save on the pennies, we had both wrapped up together to create one parcel (it was 300 rupees a pop!). This, however, meant that we could not send the parcels as a 'letter' (although I'm sceptical about how a big box usually used for beer can be classed as letter sized - I don't think we'll ever understand this place!). So, we had to send the parcel by 2nd class post - I hope you guys appreciate the effort required in getting these sent home!

So, off to Mumbai - we were due in early afternoon, so counting on the traffic not being too bad, we'd be at the hotel by 4. Plenty of time for a long hot shower and bath!....Ah, yes. Mumbai…traffic. Well, it took slightly longer to get there than anticipated and both of us were seeing valuable hot water time draining away rapidly (excuse the pun).

Walking into one of the most iconic hotels in the world with a massive backpack on and 'travelling' clothes was an experience, although to be honest, nobody really gave us a second glance. We did cause the bell boys some worry though by proceeding to carry our own bags! We were swiftly directed to a lounge where we were told it was high tea time - and it was complimentary. Well, ok then! A little while later, we still hadn't had any news about our room which was slightly disconcerting, so we went to find out some more. A very apologetic young chap kindly informed us that he was trying to secure us an upgrade, so to sit tight and he'd be with us very soon….

…and upgrade us they did! We were meant to be in the newer Tower wing with a city view. Instead we were paced in the Palace tower (the old part) with a sea view - it was palatial and we were both grinning from ear to ear like little kids at Christmas! AS we walked into our room, there were 2 navy helicopters doing a demo out in the bay for Navy day, we had a front seat ticket to the whole thing! This was going to be a very, very good stay.

After a hot bath (with probably more bubbles that we needed - James slightly overdid it with the bath stuff!) AND a hot shower we were feeling much cleaner (sorry, have we mentioned just how soft and fluffy the towels were?!) and ready to explore the free delights that the Taj were offering us; so, we'd already made the most of the High Tea served until 5.30pm. Next up was complimentary cockails from 6.30pm - 8pm and then Cognac and chocolates from 10pm! Wonderful….

Well, it was looking wonderful until we blew the power sockets in our room by trying to use our adapter….how did we know that we could use our English plug in the wall?! We managed to get it sorted in time to have half an hour of free cocktails though, so all was not lost. Making the most of where we were, we sat out by the pool and (without looking too closely at the prices) settled down to a few gins and some cards before we met up with my cousin for dinner. It all ended up being rather a late night to be honest and by the time we got back to the room, made a few skype and facetime calls, it was gone 1am! Our latest evening in so long…once we'd selected the pillows we wanted to use, we settled in for our night in the Taj.

Oh wow, how nice it was to sleep in such a big comfy bed, with no bugs, no ill-fitting mosquito nets, more pillows than you can shake a stick at and a fluffy duvet! We decided to have breakfast on the 21st floor of the Tower wing - what a view! (Well, I don't think it was much as it was so smoggy, but James thought it was spectacular!)…and the breakfast was of course, amazing.

We had initially thought we'd go off and do some exploring when we checked out of the room at 2pm, however neither of us were feeling great, so we ended up asking for another hour in the room before we checked out. After sadly packing up our bags (including our fresh clean Taj laundered washing - clean clothes!!!) we settled the bill and sat out by the pool for the rest of the afternoon drinking tea and playing cards. Thankfully, the Taj don't charge you for tea that's just mint and ginger in water…just as well really! Finally at about 6pm, 25 hours after we arrived, we left.

Our flight to Bangkok was at 1am the next morning, so on the way to the airport, we stopped into see some of my family for dinner. It broke up the journey to the airport nicely - blooming traffic!!

2 months have flown by. We've met some great people and seen some wonderful sights and generally just had a really great time. India has been fun and stressful and hectic and there have been times when we've just been so frustrated with the place! But it's been a great start to the trip and I have a feeling that we'll be back again one day - even if it's just to explore Mumbai!!

But now, onto a new country…let's see what Thailand has in store!