Bombay the hard way...

Phenomenally beautiful architecture graces this city. From the airport for an entire hour to Collaba I was swinging my head back and forth to capture the sights of buildings hurdling past.

Sitting in a cafe in Delhi waiting out a couple hours before my flight my mobile rang out with a text message. SpiceJet, the airline I was travelling with, gave me a text message to let me know that my flight was delayed an hour. Then my phone rang with a prerecorded Indian accent telling me my flight is delayed and witll be departing at nineteen hours ;) So I thought it best to be there an hour before my flight, so I finished my beverage and found my way to the airport. Along the way I get a call on the mobile, it's the familiar Indian accent telling me that my flight is delayed and will be leaving at twenty hours. I was already on my way, nothing I can do...

I go through the airline's security, got my boarding pass and on to the next security check. Travelling currently with a backpack and a big metal tin, I checked the backpack with the airline and was carrying the metal tin with me. This was my first flight in India and completely forgot about some of the rules and regulations that they have in place. They asked me to open up the tin and they started going through everything and asking a lot of questions. Then they pull out a knife... oops... I completely forgot that was in there, it was a gift. Then they pull out a five foot chain and then a Leatherman set with pliers in plain view. The next thing they asked me was for my passport and boarding pass. They stamped my boarding pass as "CANCELLED" and told me to check my tin under the plane.

So I went back to the airline desk and they tell me that my luggage is 6kg over the maximum weight that I can check. So usually something like this means it costs you some extra money, exactly the case here. The gent and lady were sympathetic to my story and decided to waive any additional costs and sent me on my way. What I found was funny was that the girl's name was Khushboo, which translates to "great smell" or "beautiful fragrance". The girl's name wasn't funny, it was funny because of my love of flowers and just needed to be reminded at that particular moment.

The flight was quick and painless. The airport was not so intrusively armed with taxi drivers awaiting their victims. I had to find a taxi which struck me as very odd. An hour later I'm in Colaba and reuniting with Akshay. We immediately left and started wandering the harbour and the architectural masterpieces along the way. I've gone from one extreme to the other extreme. I'm lavished with pampering and relaxation with thanks due to Akshay and the Taj Properties that surpass there commitment to keeping their customers content. I am fully enjoying the moment.