July 4th, 3:20 a.m. Mumbai
Our flights from Chicago to Frankfurt and Frankfurt to Mumbai went splendidly. Very fine accommodations on Air India. Of course Steve and Jo slept, and I had trouble settling in, but got to watch Invictus with Matt Damon, which I wanted to see for some time now.
Mumbai airport is a trip. Right now, I am wearing my sunglasses as we await our flight to Kerala. My shades are not because it is sunny, but because I am jet-lagged to the max, and there is a Bollywood movie being filmed about 25 ft from us in the terminal, and the spotlight is blinding me. Seriously, could this me more of a prime time comedy? I feel like I’m in an episode of Seinfeld –India style. And, to make it more classic, Steve and Jolena are walking around, with the hopes of being in the background of the Bollywood blockbuster which we will never see. If they do one more take, I think I’m going to lose it. I swear, I’ve had all the vitamin D I can handle from the spot. Yikes!
We met a very kind man who has been helping us through the maze of theMumbai airport. He is a pediatrician from Cleveland, OH, but was born and raised in Thiravananthapuram. We had to deplane from our Frankfurt flight on the runway, wait for a bus, get on the bus, ride to the terminal. Then we went through customs. Then, we waited about 45 min for another bus to get us to the domestic terminal. Now we are watching Bollywood in the making…can’t wait to get to our hotel in Kerala. Our Dr. friend said Kerala is the best place to go in India, and will remind us of resort areas in Mexico. Beaches, sand, beauty…and 100% literacy rate So far our journey has been absolutely incredible!