Nepal - Thailand

We arrived at Kathmandu Airport in good time and after being pointed in the right direction we took our place in the queue, avoiding eye contact with the man holding a gun who was obviously security not just some random individual brandishing an automatic weapon and managing not to get irritated by the Indian man who had left the queue, bags and all to get a coffee only to return ten minutes later and demand that he was in front of us and not in a polite way either.

The English in our opinion (and we can say this having experienced queues with many but not all races of people) are the only ones who know how to queue with grace and dignity, that is until someone else tries to jump the queue which is when all hell breaks loose but apart from that complete dignity!

It all went with a breeze. We were organized with the baggage labels, various paperwork and passports and the Nepali check in staff were brilliant and efficient and happy to be doing there job. This is not normal.

We had time to spare so decided we would treat ourselves to breakfast with our left over change. We were soon seated in the VIP lounge not quite knowing how we got there, tucking into bacon and toast. We couldn't believe our luck we had found the one thing we had been craving since leaving home and we enjoyed every last mouthful only just stopping short of licking the plate.

We both commented how this was our lucky day and how everything had gone so well for a change and as soon as the words had left our mouths we were both filled with that heart sinking regret of speaking to soon when we saw the screens flash up DELAYED!!!!

We had come to expect this flying with Air India after all the price reflects the service … Low. This would not usually be a problem but today we had a connection to catch with a very minimal window of opportunity.

After waiting another hour and Delay still taunting us in flashing neon we were approached by a man who looked as concerned as we were, who we presumed worked at the airport, although in civilian clothes with no ID we couldn't be sure but he asked us for our details and we gave them to him and off he went telling us to stay where we were.

Panic arose and then subsided just as quickly as we realised there was absolutely nothing we could do but go with the flow. Even if our flight for Delhi was about to depart we would miss the connection and a random man had told us to stay put but we still weren't one hundred percent that he even worked at the airport or where he had disappeared to if he did. We were either going to be stuck in Nepal or stuck in Delhi but we were sure we would laugh about it in the future even if we couldn't at the time.

…We needed a miracle …

Just as we hoped for one, the man who took our details strode confidently around the corner bathed in a pool of light with the Baywatch theme tune "I'll be ready" suddenly blasting from him, he scooped up our daypacks with incredible ease and beckoned us to follow him for the answers to our prayers.

Ok so maybe it wasn't that dramatic but it should have been.

We were taken into a back room where the check in staff from earlier were having a cigarette while completing their paperwork, it was like a scene from life on mars like we had been transported back in time. We were sat down and prepared for the news that went something like …

"We are very sorry for the inconvenience but you are not going to make your connection if you get on the flight to Delhi"

Tell us something we don't know … we thought.

"As these are unforeseen circumstances and out of your control we have no choice but to upgrade you onto a Thai Airways flight direct to Bangkok if that is ok with you"

If that is ok!!! … It was all we could do to stop ourselves cart wheeling around the room but we played it cool, nodded dejectedly and Rod managed to say first class???

We had looked at this flight when booking originally and had decided against it as it was three times the price of the indirect one … We were back on track with the Lucky Day (which happened to be my mum's birthday)!

Our bags had to be taken off the Delhi flight which thankfully had been delayed for a further two hours and we were shown out of the office and paraded behind the check-in desks to retrieve them. It was like a scene from "Banged up Abroad" as we were lead by the camouflaged gun wielder and flanked by his trusty sniffer dog team.We could see the other passengers nudging each other and staring as they tried to figure out our offence. Well it was two fingers up to them as we were lead straight to the front of the queue, checked in and given priority boarding.

We settled back in our comfy, spacious lounge recliners, smiling at each other with a mixture of contentment and complete disbelief as we pre-ordered the lamb whilst snacking on the aperitif's and refreshing complimentary drinks (we still had no alcohol). We watched Mega mind on big screen (Rod's evil twin) and with our every need tended to we had the best flight ever!