The flight was in 2 stages - from Manchester to Brussels and then from Brussels to Mumbai. This was pretty uneventful all in all, although the security process is a bit dull (having to unpack laptops from the bags before they go through the X-Ray machine, not sure I understand that). Then we had to go through exactly the same security checks again when transferring at Brussels.
I managed to sleep a bit on the plane, and the good news was that we managed to land more than an hour early (10:10 pm rather than the 11:25 that was expected). Immigration was surprisingly quick - I snuck through the business class line, but standard lines didn't look too bad either. Certainly it was much faster than I've experienced in many other countries. I was a bit nervous that, with only 1 hour at Brussels, my luggage might not manage to make the transfer, but actually they were pretty much first off. The only confusion was that there are two distinct baggage areas and you need to know whether to go left or right after immigration. There are great big signs at the bag which tell you , but I didn't see them (the business class line is right down at one end so I didn't see the sign). Thus, obviously, I went into the wrong area and had to retrace my steps after asking one of the very helpful staff.
So, all in all I got out of the airport very quickly - well in advance of when I'd been expected to land. Coming out there is a largish square which is where all the drivers stand with boards of who they're waiting for. This is, of course, the same as at any airport, but there did seem to be a much larger number than I've seen before (although that might be because this was the first time I've really been waiting for a driver). Unfortunately, my driver wasn't there. I wasn't too concerned (it was early, as I say) but was obviously looking a little lost. One of the many people around asked me which hotel I was staying at and directed me to the area where somebody from the hotel was waiting. I told him that my driver wasn't there yet. He asked me if I had a contact number for the driver (which I did after I'd booted up my work laptop), then told me to sit down while he sorted things out. He phoned the driver and then kept me up to date with how far out he was, and then took me to him once he had arrived. I assumed that he should be given a tip for all this, although obviously had no idea about how much was appropriate, but he didn't seem to be hanging around for one and wished me a good trip.
In many ways the car trip to the hotel was uneventful, but it was an introduction to the apparent chaos that is Indian driving. Cars drive exceedingly close together, and make plentiful use of the horn in order to let other drivers / pedestrians know. It isn't always clear whether they're saying 'I can see what you're doing, please go ahead' or 'I can see what you're doing, you'd better stop as I'm about to be where you want to be'. It may be a whole separate language that I haven't yet got the hang of - it might be Morse Code for all I can tell.
And so we got to the hotel and to the first instance of the remarkable security consciousness in India. Every trip, the taxi stops just inside the gates and the driver opens the bonnet. One security guard, with a dog, looks at the engine while another opens the boot and has a look there. When they're satisfied the driver starts up again and drives the few yards to the door. If arriving with luggage the porters whisk it away while you take your hand luggage to the metal detector outside the main entrance. The guard there takes the hand luggage and has a look at it while you step through the metal detector and are then wanded by another security guard with a mobile detector. You then get into the hotel proper.
No messy check-in procedures for me - the concierge met me and took me straight up to my room (the key card for the room is used in the lift and only allows you to go to your own floor), where he dealt with the signing in, checking of the passport and (importantly) the taking of the credit card details. It turned out I've been given an upgraded room, with a sea view, not that I could tell as it was now well after midnight in India. My luggage arrived at the same time and with that it was time to try to sleep.
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