Day 13 -- Mumbai and beyond

Today we took it easy! We got up later than we had been (no 6am trains this morning), left our luggage at the hotel and explored the suburbs of Mumbai.

Santacruz (where our hotel is located) is a fun place to hang out with many markets to explore, but today we headed for a coffee shop. We read some local newspapers and had some caffeine. We decided to go see a movie, which was more difficult than one might think, since the newspaper listings didn't match one website with movie times which didn't match a second website. Fairly confident that there'd be a 4:55 movie in English, whatever it may be, we took an autorickshaw north to Juhu beach. We had a nice lunch and ended up seeing a Disney film starring The Rock of wrestling fame. It wasn't the greatest movie ever, but it was in English, and we enjoyed having a nice place to sit and relax. Before the movie, we had to stand as they played the Indian National Anthem.

Then, it was back to the hotel to get our bags and head for the airport. Traffic in Mumbai is awful (yes, even worse than Seattle!), but we eventually made our way to the International terminal. One man offered to help us get around the long line waiting to enter the terminal. He was helpful in getting us in, but then he requested money! We were down to our last 10 rupees, so I handed him that, and he suggested I could pay him in dollars instead when I told him that was the last of my rupees! I explained that my wallet had been stolen, and he went on his way.

The airport check-in process didn't take too long, but it did involve quite a few lines and security stops along the way to the gate. I wasn't feeling too well, but we boarded the plane for our 15 hour ride back to the states!

We got through immigration and customs at Newark, and the flight to Seattle was uneventful.

Thankful to be home, we took a cab home from the airport which cost us more than all of our cab rides in India put together!

I'd say our trip to India was a great experience and quite different from what I expected. It's a beautiful country with very friendly people, and I think we're lucky to have had the chance to visit!