Getting here

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The trip to Mumbai was endless but uneventful. We arrived at 12.30 am, Tuesday, January 11th. Somewhere along the way we missed out on half a day as we crossed time zones.

Clearing the airport in Mumbai was hassle free and the promised taxi driver, complete with a ”Penelope and Vernon Eccles’ sign was waiting for us, amid a sea of name signs. We felt great relief at seeing him.

During the drive to the hotel, our taxi driver gave us a running commentary on the upcoming visit to Mumbai by the President of the Congress Party, interspersed with identifications of various tourist spots we were passing. All of this in a deep Indian accent. Our ears have yet to become attuned to the cadence of Mumbai speech so much was probably missed.

An hour later we arrived at our hotel, to be greeted by a front desk person who clearly had been sleeping while waiting for us to arrive. We were quickly checked in, whisked up in a small elevator which came with an elevator operator. My fingers were crossed… were we going to get the sea facing room I had asked for… yep…we were in luck. Our room was large, spacious and somewhat spartan, just as described in the Lonely Planet. But it has a balcony, and overlooks Marine Drive and the Arabian Sea. We opened the French doors to the balcony, stepped out to a warm tropical night, an almost full moon and knew this trip was off to a great start.

Penny

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