Tuesday 5th March - Coming Home

Our early check out goes smoothly and the lift to the airport is prompt and efficient. Kochi International Airport has been totally rebuilt since we last visited in 2015. It is also rather quiet, so queuing to have our passports and boarding cards checked five times on the way through doesn't take up too much time. The fact that we arrived by train from Bangladesh causes a bit of interest at immigration. They obviously don't see a Kolkata Chitpur stamp very often.

The large and very empty food court takes about forty minutes to complete a straightforward breakfast order, delivering it in dribs and drabs. They need a bit of Sajhome efficiency here. There is a delay announcement for the flight but things soon get moving. In a break with tradition the meal on the flight to Dubai is breakfast rather than lunch, and not one of Emirates' better efforts.

In Dubai D manages to leave our boarding passes at the duty free checkout but realises before any harm is done. R then discovers that she has left her fancy stepcounter/watch at the security check. She is allowed to go back but all they have found is the strap without the gizmo. This helps pass the time until the gate opens for our flight. We have just checked in when she realises that she has left her new hat somewhere. A quick reverse to the last place reveals nothing. No more time. 

The flight is occupied with lunch, afternoon tea, bar service and Gandhi, the movie. The flight takes a very unusual route, flying north over the snow capped mountains of Iran and then most of the way up the western shore of the Caspian Sea. We then fly close by Volgograd (previously Stalingrad) and across the snow covered steppes, before flying across the Baltic and Denmark on the run in. We landed at Glasgow in 4°C and were met by our wonderful daughters, who gave us the glad tidings that our central heating boiler was not functioning.

As is the norm on this blog we don't have many photos of the trip home so here are a few signs that made us smile.