Planes, trains and rickshaws

I did not really want to leave Varkala but my time was up and after 16 hours of travel I arrived in Delhi hot, sweaty and dirty. Travelling in India is not the easiest but it is half the fun. I started the day with a short 10 minute rickshaw ride to the train and then travelled first class for five hours to Cochin to catch my flight. First class on the luggage racks that is! Where else can you capture pictures of women from overhead?? In an area that is supposed to seat 8 there were 17 of us...


The train arrived an hour late and the only reason I booked a flight out of Cochin was so I could purchase some essential oils from a shop in Jewtown near Cochin - it is all about priorities in life non? Last year I bought oils from Shanti and she remembered me as soon as I walked into her shop and gave me a great big hug. I was after the Vanilla oil and bought all she had at her shop. She told me she could get more - of course she could - in India anything is possible but at this stage I was worried I was going to miss my flight. As I left and put my hands together and said “Namaste” she did the same and said “next year you come to my house.”

I hopped in a cab and off I went to the airport - late, very late, all for vanilla oil bought specially from Shanti. It smells better from India, trust me. Thankfully, the plane was delayed by 30 minutes so I had time to scoff down a samosa, a Bounty chocolate bar and Masala potato chips with a bottle of water and a cup of chai! Healthy healthy.



Spice jet is a budget airline in India and it is cheap as chips to fly around the country. Budget airline means no food, seats that don’t recline and washrooms that smell but for $70 cdn who can complain!!


I always stay at Anoop Hotel in Delhi but decided to give Rak International a go this time around from a recommendation I was given. I am not meant to stay anywhere but the Anoop because when I arrived at Rak International there was no one at the reception. I had a reservation and waited for 10 minutes but after 16 hrs I could hardly keep my eyes open so I am staying at the ultra glamourous Anoop Hotel in their “new concept” rooms. New concept means renovated last year with tacky tile in the washroom, a flat screen tv and gawdy curtains. The advantage to 'new concept' is that there is only one years worth of dirt and grime so far!