Departure No 1 started on Wednesday 11th January at 8am with a drive to the airport, leaving behind an unusually cold and grey Alicante. Our smooth flight went well and we arrived into a freezing Gatwick Airport early afternoon.

Diane and Graham’s travel adventures began at 7am with a 7 hour hour coach trip from Hull to Heathrow via Nottingham, Milton Keynes and other midland cities to end at Heathrow’s Terminal 3, Virgin Media’s check in desk.

Arrival No 1 at Gatwick, our flight from Alicante to Gatwick went smoothly then our pre-booked taxi transfer driver from Gatwick to Heathrow was a Romanian chap who had a big chip on his shoulder about immigrants coming into the UK (yes, really!!). Thankfully our M25 journey was pre office-turnout time so quick and uneventful and we were at Virgin ‘s check in desk in ample time.

For Departure No 2, Heathrow to New Delhi, our chatty check-in lady Francine ran a sweepstake on who’s bags were heavier, the loser having to buy the first drink in the bar later – if we were buying champagne, she promised to join us…….. Diane, 15kg, Juliet 22.7kg, David 23.3kg, Graham’s 23kg exactly!! 😀 Needless to say a few drinks were quaffed alongside dinner, but sadly Francine never appeared, she seemed so genuine…..

The only downside to being one of the first in the queue was that our bags were first on and last off at the other end but waiting for baggage in Delhi gave us time to change into cooler clothes and freshen up.

The overnight flight from Heathrow to New Delhi was jam packed, lots of students and youngsters heading off to work at schools and missions and lots of Brits “doing the tour” of the tourist sites in Northern India as well as Indians returning home. By the time dinner was served at about 9.30pm, because we were in row 56 (out of 82) the meat option for the hot meal had just about run out. The stewardess said “I have 2 portions of chicken tikka massala left so one of you can have a paneer (tofu like cheese) curry” and duly dished out……one paneer curry, one English breakfast with sausage, bacon, potatoes, tomato and eggs and one lasagne!! Talk about confused and amused, but as we had eaten earlier in the evening so weren’t really starving, just picked at bits. I certainly enjoyed my paneer curry, poppadoms and chutney but rejected the chocolate orange mousse dessert. It just didn’t quite go with curry……🤔

Sleep evaded us, bums became numb, legs and ankles swelled and at 3am body clock time, fast forward to 8.30am Indian time, we were served breakfast – a warmed nan bread filled with curried potato and lentils and side pots of yoghurt and fruit. The cries of “I’m not eating THAT!” came from all the British filled seats, except ours.

Since I had Covid in May 2023, my taste buds have been non-existent and I am constantly craving strong tastes and flavours, a sensation that was well and truly satisfied by this scrummy breakfast snack, yum! I hear you all cringe…..

Arrival no 2 was into New Delhi airport, a hustling bustling airport, and an even busier exit area, where we eventually located our driver. Bags were loaded onto a roof rack and we were bundled into a car before being taken on a whistle-stop tour of a few main sights in the city for the next few hours. (More to come on that!)

Back to New Delhi Airport for Departure No 3, to Goa. Late afternoon departure meant we had seen a sunset and sunrise in one day but on different planes. The last time we exited Goa’s Dabolim airport it was August 2020 and we were shepherded into a tiny hot room, bags scanned, body scanned, paperwork examined and passports quickly stamped by the military before leaving to head to the UK via New Delhi. At Delhi there was more chaos in sweltering heat with airport staff not knowing what to do. BUT that was Covid times.

Arrival no 3, in Dabolim Goa this time, we found a sparkling new cool airport, clear signage, cheerful passport officers, food outlets and a duty free shop and ample taxis outside willing to barter for our business to take us to our accommodation.

Finally, Arrival no 4 on Thursday evening was at our resort accommodation 31 hours later on 8pm Goa time, 3pm uk time! Time for dinner then bed!!