The beginning of the mammoth journey begins in Heathrow. After a long day of waiting we arrive at the airport and check in full of excitement. Flight was on time for 9.05pm, managed to get some food at a bar there. People watching gems included careless mothers, wandering children, men who thought they were clearly jumper models and messy posh toffs!!

I end up getting the window seat so I'm happy. Flight was uncomfortably warm which resulted in no sleep. Arrive in Mumbai Sunday 11.25 am their time (5.25 am ours), waiting for our luggage nervously, hoping my dreams of lost luggage weren't a premonition. It takes a painfully long time but finally the suitcases shuffle their way around the carousel. We pass through a stern customs official to another stern security check to another stern search officer. Finding it hard not to chuckle as it seems the moustache is part of the uniform which makes them all look like Saddam Hussein. The airport is growing with the branding "The New Hub of India", with the introduction of marble western toilets and modern interior bars it certainly looks like its moving in the right direction.

I can't deny that it was busy, the place was heaving but the organisation to the eyes of an outsider was non-existent. A lot of hustle & bustle and herding from a mad matriarch of a supervisor who enjoyed highlighting the flaws of her subordinates from incorrect addition to the wrong positioning of some tensa barrier. To be fair though I had more faith in her getting us to the plane in time than anyone else. A crazy high speed coach ride across the airport to the domestic terminal where the whole thing nearly toppled from the speed the driver took the corners. Got off bus, got on plane, got off plane.