30th April We made our way to Heathrow via the tube. It couldn’t have been easier. Once at the airport, we grabbed a tasty lunch and before we knew it, we were flying over Scotland and heading the furthest North either of us have been. Once we had got our bags back, we headed outside to catch a 50km bus ride to Reykjavik. It was so cold that our exhalation was visible; it went right to my bones and to think that summer is nearly here. Weirdly, the bus station in Reykjavik was in the middle of nowhere and there was [View Full Entry]

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Friday April 24th BUS VS. TRAIN Transportation in London always holds surprises. Yesterday, we tried booking a bus from Corsham to London, only to discover that we'd pay £38 for the pleasure of sitting on a bus for 3 1/2 hours on what should be a 1 1/2 hour car ride. The train, on the other hand, cost a whopping £1 more. Trains in England are more than two worlds away from the ones taking millions across India. For starters, everyone is allotted a whole seat. Additionally, the train moves along at about 600 miles an hour, causing the English country [View Full Entry]

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March 30th George insists on going as early as humanly possible to catch flights (which, I guess, is why we didn't miss one) so we were first in line at Etihad. Although first class wasn't an option (it doesn't hurt to ask!) we managed to score ourselves some emergency exit row seats! We were right behind the bathroom though, so people kept disturbing us by cutting through and there was a 3 year old next to George. Going to make a mental note about that to try to avoid it in the future. Once we landed in Heathrow and braved the [View Full Entry]

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March 23rd Arrived late in Abu Dhabi, and after a bit of kerfuffle with Jet Airways who had jammed Kath’s bag, we hopped on a complimentary bus to Dubai. We had asked at the airport information about hotels and it was the same same; all hotels in Abu Dhabi were full, (unless we wanted to pay US$500 for a suite). The man had a pristine gown, Kath asked how he got it so white, he mentioned that he doesn’t use bleach and does it himself. He allowed us to use his phone and do the rounds of most of the lesser [View Full Entry]

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March 19th We woke at 0630 and grabbed a masala dosa by the bus station and hopped aboard a bus for a three hour journey from Kumily to Kottayam. It started with predictability. The driver was driving way to fast and missing absolutely everything by between one and five centimetres. It was a roller coaster ride and better than anything Universal Studios had ever thrown at us. We drove through tea plantations as we climbed a bit further into the cloud-covered hills. The plantations own everything. There was a noticeable Christian church that wasn’t just a blank four-walled box; [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday March 4th Squashed ourselves into a van full of backpackers, like ourselves, and headed to the airport. One kid, who looked a little green and carried a freshly cut suit, admitted he’d been up all night and we were glad we hadn’t. Obviously, Thai Airways experiences technical difficulties and we all have to get off the plane we’d been sitting on for an hour. We arrived in Bangalore late, and were hustled into a cab. Apparently, a new airport had been built in the last six months and it was miles away from anything. The air smelled noticeably and distinctively [View Full Entry]

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March 7th 2009 The tuk-tuk ride back to the station was totally in the dark, as the sun rises at a lazy 6am. We left with the night watchmen getting ready for bed. On the way, we had to veer many times to avoid stray dogs sleeping in the middle of the road (it’s a wonder they don’t wake up). One man chose to use the main highway as his loo. People were sleeping covered head-to-toe in blankets in the outskirts of Hospet. When we got to the train station, we could hardly enter there were so many people sleeping on [View Full Entry]

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March 10th Right now, I’m sitting at the Margao railway station, slightly drunk on 8% Kingfisher beer (for sale in Goa only). Everyone is staring at me, because I’m drinking and playing cards and wearing shorts, and I’m the only female here. I am afflicted with some weird cold - my nose is running like a tap and my eyes are watering, but I’m nigh on heaven here. Goa is full of colours, all royal greens and blues and purples, and there are no rules here on how to wear them. The coco huts were immaculate, and I’ll grant that we [View Full Entry]

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March 13th The Rough Guide doesn’t really have a lot to say about Udupi, and when cross-examined by George I couldn’t really remembered why I had wanted to come here in the first place. It was probably something to do with their reputation for good value hotels, excellent cuisine and fine hospitality. Having been sufficiently watered and fed, we went back to our room to watch Kevin Spacey be creepy in “21”. Afterwards, we felt we should get at least a taste of the town so we wandered around trying to find a map. For some reason people kept giving us [View Full Entry]

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March 16th We woke in Ernakulam, the adjacent town of Kochi. We were greeted with the usual hustle of, “taxi, sir?” We assessed the town and realised we wanted to stay in Fort Cochin. This was where most tourists stayed and for good reason. This area was a hub of trade to and from Europe from the sixteenth century onwards. The Portuguese mainly controlled it and there are a few relics left but they are crumbling into the sea. We, lazily, took a tuk-tuk to Fort Cochin, (the other alternatives were a bus and a ferry, but the ferry was quite [View Full Entry]

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