The day started far too early when I woke at 4am - an hour before the alarm. Off to the airport and for once check in was fairly smooth with the kiosk recognising my passport on first try. For the first of three times I had to find my Visa acknowledgement on the phone (Daryl print yours). Pankaj was a little overweight but I was well under so transferred some of his clothes to my bag. Then off to breakfast. None of the airport cafes had a decent scone so I had a croissant instead.
The first flight to Auckland on an Air New Zealand A320 was totally uneventful. Only down side. I didn't get a green sweet on landing. (My children will understand).
I loved the Boeing 787 on the flight to Singapore. The leg room was really good but for some reason Pankaj and I finished up 14 rows apart. 2 meals and 4 movies (The spy who dumped me, one of the Hobbit movies, Mama Mia and I cant't remember the 4th one) later touch down in Singapore. I did get a 10 minute nap but no decent sleep. I wandered to Pankaj's seat and found him asleep so certainly he had a sleep. The runway at Singapore feels very rough and you could see the overhead bins flexing. I did wonder if the whole carbon fibre fuselage was doing the same to allow the bins to move around like they were.
2 hours in Singapore - the flight had been a little late leaving Auckland. A wander around Terminal 3 and down to Terminal 1 and back to stretch our legs, a calamasi juice and then onto the plane to Mumbai. Although Air New Zealand had sighted the Visa I got asked to find it again on boarding. The moment I sat down on Singapore Airlines A380 it was obvious how much less leg room there was than on the Air New Zealand flight to Singapore. Pankaj and I were either side of the aisle but the seat were slightly offset so we couldn't easily get eye contact. I had a bit of trouble getting the movies working and meal service was chaotic. The person next to me got a meal then the cart vanished and half an hour later I got a meal - minus the main course which turned up 10 minutes later. Singapore Airlines say they one an award for their wines but I wasn't impressed to see they had a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc. After dinner I did manage 2 hours sleep.
Arriving at immigration in Mumbai I couldn't get the phone to connect to airport wifi nor could get a data connection so couldn't download the e-visa receipt, I think it is a crazy system that they ask for a scan of your passport and then want a stupid piece of paper when you arrive as they can't locate the visa from the passport number. Anyway after an hour I worked out that the phone hadn't automatically connected to Vodafone India even though I got the text. Once I completed the manual network registration I could access the Visa and I was away. I spoke to different people at desks. One was hopeless and said just wait in line till you work it out.. The other let me go to the other side of immigration where network reception was better and I got the phone connected.
It was well after midnight when we left the terminal and the traffic was still heavy. I was surprised how well I slept not waking till after 6am - Pankaj was in a different room with my phone and got woken by the alarm.
I went for a stroll around a small bit of Thane including a park with oradsigns and streets for teaching children how to use the road. Was delighted to find this old road roller made in Delhi by Lakhina.
First impressions of Mumbai is that like Bengaluru nothing ever seems quite finished. The footpaths are mostly unusable as they have been dug up in the past and never reinstated because everyone walks on the road anyway. I have just had breakfast of lovely samosas. I think it is going to be very hard work to get on the road by 9am each morning.
Posted in Mumbai 9:25am 39 November 2018
The first flight to Auckland on an Air New Zealand A320 was totally uneventful. Only down side. I didn't get a green sweet on landing. (My children will understand).
I loved the Boeing 787 on the flight to Singapore. The leg room was really good but for some reason Pankaj and I finished up 14 rows apart. 2 meals and 4 movies (The spy who dumped me, one of the Hobbit movies, Mama Mia and I cant't remember the 4th one) later touch down in Singapore. I did get a 10 minute nap but no decent sleep. I wandered to Pankaj's seat and found him asleep so certainly he had a sleep. The runway at Singapore feels very rough and you could see the overhead bins flexing. I did wonder if the whole carbon fibre fuselage was doing the same to allow the bins to move around like they were.
2 hours in Singapore - the flight had been a little late leaving Auckland. A wander around Terminal 3 and down to Terminal 1 and back to stretch our legs, a calamasi juice and then onto the plane to Mumbai. Although Air New Zealand had sighted the Visa I got asked to find it again on boarding. The moment I sat down on Singapore Airlines A380 it was obvious how much less leg room there was than on the Air New Zealand flight to Singapore. Pankaj and I were either side of the aisle but the seat were slightly offset so we couldn't easily get eye contact. I had a bit of trouble getting the movies working and meal service was chaotic. The person next to me got a meal then the cart vanished and half an hour later I got a meal - minus the main course which turned up 10 minutes later. Singapore Airlines say they one an award for their wines but I wasn't impressed to see they had a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc. After dinner I did manage 2 hours sleep.
Arriving at immigration in Mumbai I couldn't get the phone to connect to airport wifi nor could get a data connection so couldn't download the e-visa receipt, I think it is a crazy system that they ask for a scan of your passport and then want a stupid piece of paper when you arrive as they can't locate the visa from the passport number. Anyway after an hour I worked out that the phone hadn't automatically connected to Vodafone India even though I got the text. Once I completed the manual network registration I could access the Visa and I was away. I spoke to different people at desks. One was hopeless and said just wait in line till you work it out.. The other let me go to the other side of immigration where network reception was better and I got the phone connected.
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| Carpet at Mumbai Airport |
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| Mumbai airport |
It was well after midnight when we left the terminal and the traffic was still heavy. I was surprised how well I slept not waking till after 6am - Pankaj was in a different room with my phone and got woken by the alarm.
I went for a stroll around a small bit of Thane including a park with oradsigns and streets for teaching children how to use the road. Was delighted to find this old road roller made in Delhi by Lakhina.
Posted in Mumbai 9:25am 39 November 2018
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