View From Our Room: Water buffalo cross lake Powai

We’re here! We arrived yesterday and what a long day it was! Who knew domestic travel could be so exhausting? Oh right, parents everywhere. Of course.

The flight was fine… except for the ever decreasing space available in economy made even smaller by the people that insist on reclining their seats. It starts with one inconsiderate bastard reclining his seat which encroaches on the space of the person behind. They are left with no choice but to recline their seat also. This sucks enough if you are the only one using your space, but is made worse if there is a toddler on your lap. It’s a 90 minute flight. Can everyone just sit up please? There is not enough room for naps!

Arriving in Mumbai was a breath of fresh air. The airport was fantastic; much nicer than the airport in Chennai. The building looks new and modern. While still on the tarmac, I noticed the perimeter of the airport surrounded by slums. Right up to the fence line.

The temperature was a nice 29°C. We had left the unbearable 37°C Chennai behind.

On the drive between the airport and our hotel, the slums seemed to stretch on forever. I wondered if the population living in the slums in Mumbai was greater than the entire population of New Zealand. I will try to find out.

Our hotel is inside a large compound comprising of two hotels one of which has several restaurants and little shops and the other has a playground and indoor playroom!

After checking in we found our hotel room on the 9^th floor which gave us some great views, but the apartment had only one double bed, and a small couch. It was a small apartment that would be great for a couple… but not at all good for a family of four. Especially when three of those people would be spending most of their time there.

The small apartment. Not bad for weekend - but seven weeks? No.

There was a welcome hamper with some food in it, including microwave popcorn which Millar wanted. I couldn’t find the microwave. There was a wall oven, and the manual said it had a microwave function. I followed the instructions and burnt a hole in the popcorn bag. Snack Fail.

Husband queried the staff on the size of our room. They tried to tell him that’s where they put all the families. Sure you do… that’s why there is only 2 cups, 2 bowls, 2 plates… etc…

So, we got moved to the other hotel. We now have interconnecting rooms but no kitchen.  The bed in our room is a king and the two beds in the kids room are king singles, or possibly even doubles. They seem to be as big as the bed in the first apartment.

We also have no washing machine. So it looks like food and laundry are about to become really expensive. I may end up doing a lot of handwashing in the bath, but there is nowhere to hang them out to dry. No balcony. No over the bath washing line. You pretty much have to use the hotel laundry service at their premium charges.

We had been in our rooms for about ten minutes when we managed to lock ourselves out of one of them. How? Well, I locked the door in the kids room from the inside, so they can’t run away or be kidnapped. Then Husband closed the interconnecting door without realising that there was no door handle on our side. There was no way in.

We called the hotel “guest services” twice, but after two hours it was apparent that no one was going to come and help us.

I took a closer look at the door and managed to break in with the old credit card trick that I learnt from 80′s movies and cop shows. I used my Spotlight VIP card and a piece of cardboard. I was pretty impressed with myself but mostly just overjoyed that we had regained access to the kids room. We would not be co-sleeping tonight!

Well, that was yesterday… I really have babbled on long enough. I just wanted to tell you all that we had made it here.

I’ll share some photos tomorrow.