In the mean time, I left work early on Tuesday, and took Wednesday off, to meet them in Mumbai. I took the bus there, which was a bit of a disaster. I bought a ticket for the 11am bus to the airport that was supposed to get in at the same time as Charlotte and Ian, at about 3pm; when I showed up there was no 11am bus! I got on the 11:30 bus instead, and because of traffic in Mumbai we didn’t get to the airport till 4:45. While we were stuck in traffic, I had no idea where we were or how long it would take, so Charlotte and Ian went ahead and took a pre-paid taxi to the hotel. When I finally arrived, I took a rickshaw to the nearest train station, a train to Mumbai CST, and then a taxi to the hotel. I beat them there in the end because they got stuck in the same traffic that I was stuck in and their driver couldn’t find the hotel.
When we met up in the end we had a really nice evening together. In the morning we got them train tickets for the first leg of their journey to Udaipur, and had a little look around the Gateway of India.
We had lunch together and then they had to leave to get to their overnight train at 3:45. I had a little time to myself, so I walked around, got some post cards printed, took some photos, sat in a café, and still got to my train an hour early. The train back to Pune went without any problems. I bought a ticket online, my name was on the reservation list when I got on the train (in English and in Hindi!) and I showed my ticket and ID to the conductor without any troubles.
It was really nice to meet Charlotte and Ian when they arrived in India, and I learned some very useful information about traveling to Mumbai and to the airport. Trains to Mumbai are much more reliable than buses! I get to try the whole thing again a week from Sunday (9 Aug) when Euan arrives.
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