Day one - the journey

Fairly uneventful to the experienced traveller...but an adventure to me. You have to understand that I not a well travelled person, in fact, I have never been outside of Western Europe before today, so I apologise from the beginning if what fascinates me, bores you.

I travelled from Heathrow to Doha intially. A combination of being given less that 24 hours notice to travel, lots to organise, nerves and excitement meant that I ended up only getting 2 hours sleep. No matter, as I hoped to sleep on the plane.

Despite not being an experienced traveller, the various airport terminals I have visited in my life (both as a tourist and in a professional capacity) have taught me one thing.....they are all designed by the same disinterested architect who specialises in featureless designs. Not matter how grandiose the exterior, the interior will always be painted in the same neutral colour they seem to use in NHS hospitals.

Anyway, I digress. No delay at Heathrow, no event in the flight. Qatar airways seem to be fairly hospitable so I was happy. Given that the last flight I took was a Ryanair flight to Mallorca, I guess anything would have been a step up.

Transitting through Doha was an experience. I have never done the transit thing before so I didn't know what to expect. It was pleasent enough, if not a little dreary, but the time passed.

Finally I am off to Hyderabad. A delay in obtaining a take-off slot meant we sat on the taxiway for half an hour, but even that wasn't bad.

Where it became interesting was after I landed. I got off the plane and went to clear customs as you do. The first thing I noticed was the music that greeted me as I entered the terminal. I wasn't expecting music, nor if i had been would I have assumed it to conform to Indian stereotypes, but a panpipes version of "Hark the Herald Angels" would not have been near the top of my list of expectations either!

They had about 10 customs officers on duty at 3:30am. That was actually quite good as I have been at UK airports where they have one or two, even during busy periods! After filling out the customs ford, and having my passport stamped for the first time ever, I joined the huge queue that had developed behind the one available scanning machine. This is the first time I have ever had my hand baggage screened when I am entering a country but I can understand their nervousness given recent events

After waiting an eternity to collect my bag, I proceeded through customs (filled out yet another form), and went through the doors to be greeted by a bizarre sight! Despite it now being around 4:30 am there are row upn row of people held back by crush barriers. I have to say, I did feel a bit like one of the Beatles for a second there!!!

Finally I meet up with one of my colleagues and we go to the car. We have an Indian driver (thankfully). The first thing I noticed is there are no rules. You beep your horn EVERY time you overtake someone, you drive on whatever side of the road takes your fancy, when driving down dual carriageways you straddle both lanes just in case you need to swerve, and the roads are rarely finished. This is the early hours of Sunday morning, what on earth is Monday rush going to be like?!!!

At last I arrive at the hotel. We passed through 3 checkpoints and were screened for weapons before we entered the hotel itself. Again, I am happy to undergo these checks of course for obvious reason. Having checked in and tipped the porter who took my bags for me (not that i had a choice as he practically wrestled them from me), it is time for bed......zzzzzzzzzz