-from “Passage to India”

The early morning flight I took from Colombo to Mumbai had a nice surprise of a pink and purple sunrise😃

The Mumbai Airport is beautiful – it’s like walking through a museum, with the artwork installations on the walls, and the architecture is amazing.

I had no issues getting through customs, got through the lines, and then out to get a taxi to my hotel. The hotel was right beside the airport, a Hyatt I booked with points. Beautiful, fancy hotel, mostly used by international business travelers, and the service was excellent👍🏼

I used Uber again in Mumbai! So fun to use in different countries😏 It was much cheaper than a taxi. I went into the city, which ended up taking almost 1.5 hours because it was far away, but more because of the traffic. I wanted to see two things in Mumbai…

1. Gateway of India
2. Starbucks 😂

Smoke in the forecast? I don’t think I’ve seen that before from the weather.com app…

Mumbai reminds me of NYC a little.

They have this ‘Make in India’ week thing going on now, and it must be a big deal because I saw billboards everywhere I looked advertising it.

The area around the Gateway was blocked off, I think because they were doing construction to build what looked like a seating area out in front. I dont know if it’s usually blocked off?

Being in a Starbucks made me feel like I was home… somewhere familiar😊 It was really nice… amongst all of the exciting newness every day brings, something familiar is a nice change every now and then.

People line the waterside for miles and miles to watch the sunset. Beautiful.

I started the day over Mumbai seeing the sunrise and finished it seeing the sunset❤️

When I was walking around a few blocks away from the Starbucks, a guy came over and asked me if I wanted to be an extra in a Bollywood movie (ummm, OF COURSE I DO). I asked him if I could have the lead role instead, and he said that it was already filled. Damn, timing is everything:/ Then I said ‘Okay, I guess I’ll settle for being an extra.’ Buuuut, they were filming the next afternoon, and I was flying out of Mumbai😩 My one shot to be famous in Bollywood😥 Alas, was not meant to be. But maybe there will be movies filming in another city I visit in India. I’m keeping my eyes peeled🙆🏼

On the way back to my hotel, which took 1.5 hours, I unfortunately was paired with a cab driver who was the craziest person (not craziest cab driver… CRAZIEST PERSON) I’ve ever met. I think he was hopped up on some sort of substance. Because he was sweating and screaming and singing and buying ice cream cones and getting stuff out of his trunk and arguing with me about taking the toll road….

This was him breaking out into some sort of song… I recorded just the tail-end, when he had gotten bored of it. But, initially he was singing, laughing hysterically, looking at me and saying, “Yeah?!?”, then singing more.😧 Anyway, hoping that guy gets help (and even more so, that I never see him again)😁.

Next up: Goa – Beaches and Riverboats