I would leave Tiruvannamalai today. I started packing my suitcase at 05:00 in the morning: my clothes, all the chargers and cables, and a few things from the kitchen and bathroom. I had the feeling my suitcase would be more than 23 kg now. At 10:00, I walked over to Da Mantra Garden Cafe. I met Florence, and we had breakfast there. It was a gift to spend so much time with Florence over the last two weeks. We had many things to share. Before 12:00, we said goodbye, the last hug…
I had a shower and put the rest of the small items in my suitcase and backpack. At 12:00, Sampath, my driver, was calling me. I gave the key to the housecleaning and gave her 100 Rupees. It is common in India that people ask for money, regardless of whether they have done something for you or not. I stored my suitcase in Sampath’s car, and then we started. I was driving his scooter to his garage, then I took place in his car. We started towards Chennai airport.
The trip took three and a half hours, and we safely reached the airport. I gave Sampath the money, and we hugged goodbye. I like this guy; he is honest and reliable.
At the airport, I first had a coffee, and I still had more than 2000 rupees cash, which I would spend. I had to wait before the check-in from SpiceJet opened. When it opened around three hours before the flight, I went there and checked in my baggage. It was time for the security check. It was easy this time; my backpack passed without further checks. My knife was in the checked-in baggage; I tend to forget this several times already, and lost my knife this way. It was a domestic flight, so there was no immigration this time. In the food area, I had a Tandoori Burger and was waiting for boarding. I couldn’t access WiFi at the airport, it was not available, and my SIM card was already deactivated the day before. When the gate opened for boarding, they drove us in a bus to the plane. This flight was on time without delay.
The flight took two hours and was on time. I landed safely in Mumbai and left the airport. I needed to go to the International airport. There was a shuttle bus between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, the domestic and the international airport. A guy stored my baggage in the back of the bus, and I entered the bus and sat. It took 30 minutes to reach the International airport. I had to show my boarding pass and passport before entering the airport. I had plenty of time. My flight would be at 02:50 in the morning, and it was delayed until 04:00. There was WiFi, but I had to go to the information desk to scan my passport and boarding pass for a code to access the WiFi. It worked well. I had WiFi everywhere in the airport now. When the check-in opened for EGYPTAIR, I queued up and checked in my baggage. I got a printed boarding pass and walked towards the security check. I passed easily and walked over towards the gates. There was a food hall where I spent my last 320 Rupees. It was time for boarding, but there was even more delay. I still would have enough time in Cairo to change the plane. A bus drove us to the plane, and after a while we took off in the plane. The aircraft was pretty old, and there were even ashtrays which I could open. It was a Boeing with 2-4-2 seats in a row. There was no entertainment system. Anyway, I was downloading some Netflix movies on my phone.
No responses yet