Kerala might be God's own country, but He lives in Seychelles: Day 1

ON Christmas afternoon M and I landed in the Seychelles International Airport situated on Mahé island, on the Emirates flight from Dubai. The flight was as uneventful as possible except for the ocean that was right beside the runway which made for one of the most wondrous landing that M & I ever experienced.

We finished the immigration formalities and came out of the airport. The feast for the eyes that awaited us was simply breathtaking - A green carpeted hill with the top covered by clouds. Smell of the warm sea wafted across the airport with the warm breeze swaying the leaves of the trees surrounding the airport. I could almost taste the salt in the air.

5 minutes later, the heavens opened up for a quick shower. We waited, impatiently, for the shuttle to arrive to take us to the pier where we were to take a fast catamaran ferry (Cat Cocos: www.catcocos.com) to the Praslin island (pronounced as Pra-lin island).

A new awareness and a deep respect for sailors emerged in my mind.

The catamaran ride from Mahé island to Praslin is a 45 minute ride. The day was windy and therefore the waters choppy. It was like a combination of being on a roller-coaster and the desert safari that we had done a year back in Dubai. The first fifteen minutes were spent in pure exuberance and thrill of being on a fast catamaran for the first time coupled with the fact that we were in deep sea waters. It was after the fifteen minutes that the mind opened up to new possibilities. The waters were very choppy, and the catamaran moving up and down on the waves, coupled with the fact that there were a lot of people throwing up due to motion/sea sickness, the mind started to wander. Being on a shore and watching the waves and the sea until the horizon, just does not cut it. In the middle of the ocean surrounded by the immense volume of water from all sides, until the eyes can see – a full panoramic 360 degree view, where the waves, are really large, is a completely humbling experience, therefore the new respect for sailors. The waves, when I sit on a shore, given that my feet are planted firmly on terra firma, are not relatively scary. Sitting on a boat, over which I have no control, the sheer size of the ocean and its waves which are so large coupled with it's movement akin to a terrifying monster's body undulating slowly as it breathes in and out, wave after wave, scared the living daylights out of me. The sound of the water splashing as the catamaran scythed through the sea was terrifying. The catamaran that we were sitting on was a big boat and it was being tossed about like it was made of paper, spraying cold water on us sitting on the upper deck, with an impunity that is chilling. Winds blowing hard, waves getting bigger and more powerful didn’t help my rather disturbing thoughts. The remainder of the 30 minutes was spent in silence. I could hear my heart pound in my chest and adrenalin pumping very hard. It was a wonder that neither M nor I threw up. I could feel the rumbling and the churn in my stomach and was beginning to regret eating the French Fries just prior to the ride!

This is an experience neither of us will ever forget and it is a check on one of the few things I had wanted to do in my life – Catamaran ride in deep sea waters.

Day 5: Harrowed in Harrow!

Stayed put at home in Harrow as M was badly unwell! Got chills and was shivering the whole day.. Chilled out, watched TV, chatted up as much as i could with my sis when she had the time! The damn woman was working and claimed that she was on vacation!!! She is the very definition of a workoholic! Anyways my Brother-in-law did come home early and caught up on drinks later in the eve.. Ordered yummy Turkish food at home and ate..

Rest tomorrow or maybe later today! ;-) Heading out now! Ciao!

So many wishes!

So many wishes from all of our friends.. Thanks one and all.. Never had so many people read my blog! Guess I have Facebook to thanks! :-)

Day 4: London!

We finally make it to London! Oh and no luggage! Remember all of it is still on the Kingfisher flight! M and me had to shop for undergarments and socks and the most important stuff!
Got up late - bugged my sis no end (so much fun to bug her after so long) and had a lazy morning! Brrrrrrrrr.. is it cold or what here! So much fun! Left for London at about 2:30 in the afternoon.. Went to a mall in Brent Cross, my sis wanted a MicroWave and in any case we did not get one because the one she liked was out of stock! Sis wanted o go to Wagamama, but there was a queue and Ijust refused to stand in a queue as I had to stand in a queue everytime we wanted food in Brussels! So went to a sandwich joint had sandwiches and left! By the time we reached Central London (well my sis is in Harrow) was already 4:30PM and getting dark really fast! Started hunting for parking and that was a pain in the butt! Finally found some parking in Soho and she could not parallel park so parked the car for her and started walking around London! Got into the Original Tour. Went around London in cold pouring December rain.. was a lot of fun! Went for dinner at a small Greek joint in Hampstead.. had fabolous food and came back home for a whiskey which was a godsend! :-) Whiskey in this cold is so much more fun! Oh and we got to know that the Kingfisher passengers were ferried across the English Channel by boat.. Shudder to think how cold it must have been! Bloody cold it muct have been!
So much for Day 4.. the walk in London had its own horror which shall be told later! ;-)

Day 3: Afternoon at Brussels!

So, as expected - no news from Kingfisher. So booked yet another flight, actually my sweet lil sis did on flybe.com, and we yet again waited for the flight. Went to the gate and the flight was late by 40 minutes. Meanwhile my sis got extremely antsy and started looking for other flights. Meanwhile, flybe called an announcement that teh flight will finally take off at 2:40 PM. So ran back to the gate and finally boarded the bus that will take us to the flight. Long drive to the aircraft and waited for the driver to open the door. He finally does after 20 mins waiting and tthen we board!!! The flight finally takes off and we land in Southampton at 5PM local time! Finally UK!!!! We de-plane, finish immigration and my sis just parks outside the arrival in her Audi A6 and we are off! Hit a small pub have a Guinness and head to a small restarant have dinner and hit home! What a lovely home my sis has.. Have to post pics of her place! Lovely backyard snowed in! :-) Another day!