- Up at 7:30 or so, getting some final blogging, emptying the dishwasher (and refilling it), showering and all that. Leave at 9:30 or so to be at the airport a good two hours before the plane leaves.
- Almost forgot my hat. Eek!
- Did forget (dagnabbit) the camera battery and charger. Not the camera, mind you — but the battery, plugged into the charger, plugged into the kitchen peninsula outlet. Dagnabbit.
- Check-in goes fine. Alas, Continental is not doing Frequent Flier exchange with United yet. Would have been nice.
- The TSA have, as earlier noted, exchanged their white uniform shirts for more police-like blue ones. Still (as Denver always is) professional and cordial.
- Chef Jimmy’s does a good Denver omelet.
- Flight to Newark was uneventful. The in-flight movie was Get Smart, which was on my “target of opportunity” list. Review to follow.
- Flew into Newark, lovely sunset view of Manhattan. Lovely.
- Nice airport. Lots of restaurants and shops. There was a camera store right outside my gate (!), but no indication they had a replacement battery/charger, and any temptation I had to buy a camera with a decent zoom lens (if the cost were reasonable, itself a dubious proposition) was foiled by a sales attendant who couldn’t be bothered.
- Finally decided on a not-very-Indian all-American dinner at McDonald’s. A planned dessert at Ben & Jerry’s was aborted by a phone report from a fellow traveler that they were requiring a second check-in and passport check at the gate. Ah, well.
- Boarded our nice 777. I was on an outside 3-seat on the aisle. Someone was at the window — but shifted to an empty center row, leaving me with a trio of seats all to my lonesome. Yay!
- And though I didn’t initially find a power jack — I eventually did. Yay!
- And … a real metal knife for dinner? The terrorists have won!
- The flight path goes over Newfoundland, curves back around at Finland/Murmansk, crosses Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan — all the cool places in the world.
- It’s 8,302 miles (per the navigational display). Or 7,806 miles according to the ticket (and, likely, the frequent flier statement).
- Movies-on-demand system. Watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Speed Racer. Disappointing and fascinating, respectively.
- Napped for about three hours. I’m losing time traveling there, and I get in at 9 p.m. or so local, so I didn’t want to oversleep and not be able to sleep at the hotel.
- Got up, ate some of the snack kit provided. Watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and High Noon.
- Breakfast, coffee, juice. Already getting all sorts of bits of Indian airline food — yogurt, a weird curry nut roll in my snack bag. Best part so far is after each meal, a nutty breath freshener thing — fennel, coriander and sesame seeds, peppermint, tamarind leaves, etc.
- Plane got in and landed early, and immigration and customs were relatively easy (if inordinately hot — mid-80s at 9 p.m. at night). The earliness was countered by our having to wait for the driver the company had sent for us to take us to the hotel. (One does not rent a car in Mumbai.)
- The trip to the hotel was over an hour, as traffic was zany and we took a circuitous route. I’m staying at the fabulous Trident Nariman Point, which overlooks the Arabian Sea — and I have a sea-facing room, which is also nice. The room is well-appointed, very Euro-style.
- We meet tomorrow to go to the office at 9. Time to start posting and then getting to sleep!
80 view(s)
First Impressions of Mumbai
Or, rather, driving from the airport to the hotel. Or, rather, being driven from the airport to the hotel (as you could not pay me enough to take the wheel…