We are now on the downhill leg. A day to savour as we have a lie in, I get my laptop fixed, we find an elusive thali set and breakfast with a bunch of cricketing mercenaries! While it’s a team game, the IPL teams are drafted, not one lives in the city they reside in for six weeks, get paid a large sum and get treated like kings, expected to deliver.
We are flying from Hyderabad to Mumbai to pick up our flight to The Seychelles. We’ve booked an airside hotel without realising that there are two terminals, we are currently domestic and the check in for our 5.30am flight, won’t open for hours. Our concerns evaporate when we get to the right terminal, speak to a lady on information who laughs at us, it happens all the time.
The intended beer in the bar while watching tonight’s IPL game dissipates gradually, no bar, no beer, no IPL premium tv! Bed at 11.45 with a 3.00am alarm call.
Travelling intercontinental, like this, really works. A little like going to Chicago via Iceland, it’s just over 4 hours for each leg and by the time you’ve slept, eaten, slept it’s “please take your seats for the landing!
One very random moment; when we do these multi leg trips I become statto! I always ask the cabin manager to enquire of the captain the miles, or kms, for the trip. They either forget or, in the case of a BA captain draw the curvature of the earth, explain the physics and maths, and delight in telling you it’s a mile more than it says in the manual. On this flight the cabin manager comes to get me and insists I ask him
myself! Up front she writes it all down, to give to the Captain while asking me if I smoke, had I been to The Seychelles etc, add in, 100 cabin crew have been laid off... it turns out, apart from my stats, she wants me/us to carry through our cigarette allocation for her! I don’t mind however, AD, doesn’t like it at all, you don’t know it’s cigarettes. She’s right, however, I’d said I would and we’ve arranged to meet at the ATM on the other side. Needless to say I get pulled over! “What’s this? Our cigarette allocation! OK”, and off we go where we hand over her booty in black plastic bags as it’s the most natural thing in the world. My first experience of being a mule, instead of an ass!
We are spending three days on Praslin Island and two, on the main island, Mahe. It’s my third visit, eighties, nineties and, now, 20+ years later. To be honest, nothing much has changed. Ross, the hotel General Manager, likes a chat. He’s from Johannesburg, and he latched on to us a couple of times on our first day. It’s a nice resort, right on the beach, nice rooms and the food, for an inclusive operation, is very good. I’ve just been for an early morning walk, 7.30, to take some pictures, only two towels out to secure loungers, yep, and they had German magazines on them, some things are just timeless!
Cocktails hit the spot, the Marquerita could become a problem! We dine between IPL games, we’re addicted and it’s going to be eat, drink, sunbathe, read, watch IPL.... repeat! See you for a trip summary at the end of the week!