Day 2 - Melbourne to Kochi

A quick breakfast at the hotel and we were off across Spencer St to the Skybus. We'd purchased our return tickets online the night before. Kerry's first purchase as a Victorian Senior!! The bus goes every 15 minutes so we were on the road pretty much straight away and out at Tullamarine 30 minutes later.

The first port of call was to the Malaysia Airlines desk to complete check-in. They weren't open yet so we grabbed a coffee and waited a short time. As I had anticipated, there were problems with the records they had in their computer system about the check-in baggage we were going to load in the plane. Their computer system said that we had no allowance for any at all. Expecting this to happen was why we dropped into Travelcentre Bendigo yesterday on the way to the station. To cut t along story very short, after much delay, the engagement of the senior on-duty check-in manager and the production of evidence provided by Bendigo Travelcentre our bags finally disappeared down the conveyor belt into the bowels of Melbourne Airport. Fingers crossed ,they'll appear from the bowels for Kochi Airport in about 15 hours time! Made it through customs – they were concerned mostly about the handkerchief in my pocket and a roll of sports-tape in Kerry's backpack – and then waited for out 14:10 flight, all done with lots of spare time. When you're anticipating battles with humans and machines the last thing you want is to have time fighting against you too.

The flight left on time and we were soon winging our way across our great red land on flight MH148 bound for Kuala Lumpur. The flight was uneventful and long. I normally don't worry about the uber-long flights from Australia to anywhere but this time I was very glad to touchdown in KL and get off the plane.

KL airport is very big but we easily found information about our next flight (a hundred people gazing up at a little screen in the arrivals areas helped) and headed off in the direction of the next terminal. The signage at KL is very clear and very good. Our journey to Terminal M/Gate G10 involved a short internal rail ride and a long walk to the far end of the terminal. Once again, no drama with plenty of time up your sleeve. Grabbed a coffee and then soon after boarding of MH108 started. I failed to follow most of the instructions relating to electronic equipment in carry on baggage, but got through anyway – except for that pesky handkerchief again. So far my titanium collarbone hasn't gone off – yet.

About four hours later we touched down in Kochi – the ride was a bit bumpy, but nothing to cause any concern. So, we readied ourselves for the fun to begin! Getting through Customs for foreigners was a slow process but at least one a had a comfy chair to sit in. The Customs Officers were very patient with all of the tired travelers. We'd had the chance to see a few groups go through ahead of us so when our turn came we were well schooled and breezed through. On to the baggage carousel we went, with some trepidation. You can't believed how happy and relieved we were when we spied our three bags  amongst a lonely dozen or so circling to carousel. Passed by the final pair of Customs officials, who seemed more intent on their private conversation rather than finding dodgy looking travelers (but I suppose they're highly trained professional who can do both things at the same time), and out of the terminal building we went. At just after mid-night there were hundreds of people there waiting to collect their friends, loved-ones and clients. We were the latter, in this case, Travelcentre Bendigo has arranged our transfers for us. Kerry spied a chap holding a card with my name on it (I'd walked straight past him) and soon we were in his car headed for our hotel – the Spice Heritage Hotel in Mattancherry.

Even at that time of night there were people and traffic everywhere. The night was very warm and close and the air was thick with fumes from that traffic  and a whole bunch of other smells I won't even guess at. The driver was very adept at his craft, finding gaps in the traffic that were not open to a mere mortal like myself. Sticking to one's lane of traffic seems to be optional, using one's horn and flashing one's headlights seems to be mandatory. But for good reason. As long as everyone subscribes to the same method of driving, while remaining patient and courteous, it all just works. For my own sense of peace I had the app MAPS.ME running on my phone (it just needs a GPS signal as I'd already downloaded the map of Kochi some time ago). It was comforting to know the driver was going were I expected him to go at each twist and turn of the 45 minute journey.

We arrived at the hotel just after 1:00am to find it's front gate securely locked! My first thought was – now what do we do! Before long, a young chap came down the short driveway and opened up. We checked in and then crashed in bed, exhausted but with our brains still reeling from what we'd seen in the last 60 minutes!