Back in rainy Bognor...

The journey back to the hotel was the worst ever - it took an hour and a half!! Laxman used a different route, and the traffic was terrible. When we got back I was totally shattered so we met the boys in the bar and headed for the Japanese restaurant. We didn't really know what to order so the waiter took charge, which was probably a mistake. The starters came out separately, rather than all at once. Danny repulsed veggie Pete with his sushi eating and the "medium" sized prawns were in fact little lobsters and a pain to eat. We took control of the main courses, but my rice was really hot and the others weren't that keen on theirs either. Except Pete, who was happy with his tofu and vegetable noodles. By then they'd downed two bottles of saki (at 16% vol alcohol) so Pete H was a bit rosy, Pete P was getting slushy and wanting to ring his kids, Donna was tipsy and Danny treated us to explanations of the difference between fascism, communism, plutocracy, democracy and meritocracy. Surprisingly, it was both fascinating and hilarious as it turned out!! We did have a laugh and despite the iffy meal it had turned into a fab end to the Indian experience.

At 11 o'clock Donna and I had to dash back to our rooms and pack, ready for the midnight taxi to the airport. It was a really posh car, for India, something like a Rover with leather interior not a scratch on it. It only took us 10 minutes at that time of night to get to the airport so that was good. There was a massive queue for the check-in, but we had loads of time so it didn't matter. We bought a few pressies in the tat shop and the duty free and then went through to departures where we waited on uncomfortable plastic seating for our flight, which was late and we didn't take off until about 3.45am. I couldn't get comfy on the plane so hardly slept at all. After a couple of hours I looked out of a window behind me and could see a mountain! I knew we went over the Himalayas but thought that we'd gone too far for it to be Everest, as we were somewhere over Russia according to the flight plan on the tv. After ten minutes I looked again and it was still there - we didn't seem to have gone past it at all. I tried to get to sleep again and after an hour or so I check the mountain situation as it was getting lighter and it was still there. When I looked out of my own window, now it was light I could see it properly. It was the triangular flap at the end of the wing which was sticking up, and not a mountain at all! Doh!

After a horrible breakfast at 5am (UK time) we prepared for landing, and finally touched down at 7 o'clock. We had to wait for ages for our suitcases; apparantly too many planes had landed at once for them to cope. My taxi was waiting (in the rain!) and we made very good time on the way home and picked Sam up at 9.45. Then it was on to Bognor, and home where a nice warm bath was waiting for me, plus loads of washing :-(

I'm now absolutely knackered, having had less than 2 hours sleep, to top off a week of insomnia, and can't imagine how I'm going to last at the scooter Christmas Do tonight!

It was a great trip, I'm so glad I went. The Sapient staff were very friendly and welcoming and it was a pleasure to work there. Delhi was different and exciting and although I didn't see much of the 'real' India, it gave me a taste, albeit in a very 5-star, insulated way.