We arrived at the airport about 4 hours before our flight, and the security guard laughed at us when he saw how early we were. Since we were there so early we had plenty of time to look around, and found that there were tons of flights to Mumbai, and most of them left earlier and got there much quicker. So we started to enquire about cancelling our tickets and grabbing another flight. There was a flight on Kingfisher airlines which left in about an hour that was way cheaper than our current flight, but we had to book in in the next 10 mins. So we went over to the Indian airlines counter (where our current ticket was booked), and asked about getting a refund. The lady said it should be possible, but we'd have to go to an office, and before we had a chance to decide she stamped our tickets cancelled! Now panic struck as we ran back to Kingfisher to get our flight, only to find out that we had to pay for the flight in rupees to get that rate. Now we were scrambling to get enough dollars exchanged to rupees to cover the cost, and hoping that we'd be in time to get the tickets. Fortunately it all worked out and we made our flight. Kingfisher is a beer company, and the flight had in-seat TVs, very nice. Apparently the head of Kingfisher is like a Richard Branson type, very flamboyant.
We landed in Mumbai around 5pm and were picked up by Shveta's cousin, Rathan. He drove us to his flat, through what has to been some of the most insane driving I've ever seen. The traffic was just awful, making LA look like a sunday drive. We would pass by a huge corporate building, then by rows of shacks and beggars. Such a huge contrast! A number of children would knock on the car windows asking for money. It was definitely an eye opener. Eventually we reached Rathan's flat, met his kids and wife, and crashed.
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