I arrived in Mumbai after a long trip from Munich, Germany. I bought the flight when in Sarajevo for only $400 one-way. The British Airways flight to London was rough; we had strong headwinds that slowed down the trip on top of leaving the gate 35 minutes late. The plane circled London for a good hour through major turbulence that just tossed the planed like a roller-coster.
Heathrow international airport sucks—the designers for this airport had their head on backwards. Yet, once into terminal 4 from 5 that is a twenty minute bus trip, I had dinner and waited for five hours for the fight to Mumbai.
The Travel Path for Germany and Salzburg
I flew India’s Kingfisher Airline and it was awesome. Great service, individual entertainment screens, good Indian food, and pretty girls serving the customers. Even though we left Heathrow an hour late, we still arrived in Mumbai on time at 1100 on November 12. I reserved a room and they picked me up from the airport—I did not want to deal with any navigation on arrival after 24 hour + trip.
First Impressions of Mumbai:
The infrastructure, the driving habits, the lack of road rules, the crowds of people on the street, the semi-trashy streets, the beeping of horns, and such are very similar to Egypt, yet my level of perception and tolerance is used to this type of environment. I have to admit I am happy to be here in India and away from the Euro Zone and the western world. I found northern and western Europe stressful and is not a first choice of travel.
The food, spices, herbs, and tea here in India will be an excellent experience. I do foresee myself staying the entire visa length, but that could always change. I will stay in Mumbai for four nights and travel Southern India for the next couple of months
Chapter one closed—Chapter two opened:
The last three years from November 11 2007 to November 11 2010 I traveled/nested from Egypt to Germany. The other time I flew was from Athens to Israel. Chapter one is closed and I am very happy with my path, the time spent, and all the locations and countries I experienced. Chapter two is opened within a very inexpensive region. 2011 is the year of tourism in Nepal and all visas are free from what I heard, there is a good chance Nepal will be next, but India is the current moment.
New time zone after traveling three years—from Central Standard Time Zone, Mumbai is 11.5 hours ahead.