Kancheepuram

Our driver arrived on time at 10am. Our flight is not till 1.45pm but with check in at 10.45am we were best off being early. No major hitches, we thanked our driver and gave him a tip. Wasn’t perfect but he was a good guy and did try his best to help us.

All was well until we realised there was no plane at gate 14 where we were waiting and the people had kind of disappeared without us noticing. We have been waiting there for nearly 2 hours and without warning we got the idea there must have been a gate change. 14 was as far away as you could go in the airport so getting to gate R5 with the ‘Final Call’ warning flashing did induce a bit of panic but we made it!

We’re on our way back to India 😊

The Hotel package had a pick up service so we found our driver at the airport. Coming outside we had our first ‘can we have a photo with you moment’. Had to get a photo back with them! Nice moment to get us back in India mode and we reflected absolutely nobody asked us for a photo in Sri Lanka – I think we missed that!

The Pilot told us when we landed that it was clear and 31 degrees. So happy to be free from rain except the moment we left the airport the first drops of rain fell and by the time the driver brought the car around it was pissing down! We just could not believe it, it hadn’t rained for days – cursed travelling Potters!

We had seen no phone stand at the airport so we asked the driver to stop somewhere where we could get some Indian SIM cards. We didn’t get a picture but it was an hour and 20 minutes huddled under a tin roof at a side of the road shop while we provided every form of identification and personal information from both us and the Driver as our sponsor. Lots of rules, couldn’t get SIMs for the kids as they were under 18, as adults we were only allowed to get 2, we needed passport photos and visa documents as well as where we were staying in India and our Driver had to provide all these things too. Thank goodness he had the patience of a saint and even helped us out by paying! The Hotel had called him twice to ask where he was, gosh what an ordeal!

We are staying at the Taj Connemara in Chennai. We chose this one as it was really nice and we didn’t have high hopes for Chennai as a destination. If that was the case at least we would be staying somewhere nice. And nice it is!

Staying in an executive suite comes with breakfast and high tea, very much looking forward to indulging those tomorrow. The rooms are top class and the Hotel itself is very heritage and got the feel of very opulent past times.

There was a shopping mall next door so Mum and Lara were very keen to check it out. We figured there had to be a food court so we would eat there. Navigating three floors of shops with every shop keeper racing out to greet us and insist we come in and buy something we were exhausted by the time we got back to the bottom floor with what seemed only Domino’s, McDonalds and a particularly dodgy looking ice cream vender with his snacks. McDonalds it was.

We all had different Chicken Burgers and it is fair to say everyone was surprised with the spice but none more so than Lara! She was so gutted to be let down by McDonalds that it became apparent this would be our one and only time for McDonalds in South India! Mum and Dad not hugely upset by that!

Deciding we didn’t want to go back through the mall we thought we would try those ice creams. He showed us some funny looking bottles and insisted we try them, they were 35 rupees (about 70 cents) so we thought what the heck! They were the most delicious drinks we have ever tasted in the world ever! They were called Goli drinks, and had those balls you had to release like the Japanese drinks. The flavour we had was Mango. Just too good! Oh and the ice creams were pretty good too!

Back to the Hotel to enjoy some more of that luxury. Was 8 hours of travel for a 1 hour and 20 minute flight but we are happy to be here!Read more