Back at the lodge at 10am we were a little surprised to be told brunch was being served at 11am (we had been told 12)… this meant we only had 1 hour to shower and pack our camera gear. We’re pretty well rehearsed at this so we managed to get it all done and be ready for 11am.

We left the lodge at 12pm and started our drive towards Bhopal. This was not an uneventful drive with Liz & Malcom’s car getting a puncture and witnessing a person being knocked over by another car!

We arrived at the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters and had a walk around the rock paintings. On the UNESCO World Heritage List, Bhimbetka is a natural art gallery. The caves have rock paintings created by man from about 15,000 years ago. The rock paintings have numerous layers belonging to various time periods, ranging from the Upper Palaeolithic, Mesolithic Age to the protohistoric, early historic and medieval periods.

Then we continued with our journey to Bhopal to Jehan Numa Palace Hotel for dinner. We spent around an hour sat in the reception area (where we had to demand access to the WiFi from Yusuf because reception wouldn’t give it to us as we didn’t have a room). Concierge did help us print off our boarding passes for the Jet Airways flight to Mumbai. At 6:15pm we had dinner in the hotel restaurant (a great buffet with lots of choice).

At 7pm we left the hotel and arrived at the airport just after 7:30pm. On the way into the check-in desks we had to put our main luggage through a scanner. Nearly all of us fell foul of a battery rule – we hadn’t been told you are not allowed to carry more than one spare battery in your hold luggage. We had some spare AA and AAA batteries for our insect killers and head torches and these had to be taken out to be placed in our hand luggage. A strange rule, but they were really nice and polite about it. Once cleared of spare batteries they placed a band around the middle of the bag and put stickers over the locks.

At check-in/bag drop our hand luggage wasn’t weighed again. Next was the main security where we spilt to go through men/women only checks. Behind the curtain I was again told my hair colour was very nice.

Our flight was delayed slightly, think it was about 30 minutes. Malcolm & Liz were flying onwards tonight on the BA flight so were nervously looking at their watches. As we knew everyone else would be making a mad dash for their connecting flights we said our goodbyes to them as we boarded the plane.

The flight landed into Mumbai at 11:40pm and parked up off a gate which meant a long transfer by bus to the terminal building, took about 30 minutes! Fortunately, Malcolm and Liz made it in time for their BA flight with 30 minutes to spare.

We were very happy we didn’t have to get stressed about our connection and made our way to the Niranta Hotel in the terminal building for a good night’s rest.

We spent the day at the airport hotel, I worked on this trip report and Alan went adventuring around the terminal building and brought me back some snacks.

The day went surprisingly quick, especially when I started watching a few of my favourite shows on Netflix. Around 11pm we checked out of the room and went through the four levels of security again to get up to departures. Our flight to Heathrow with BA was in First, so we were able to use the special check-in desk area and different border control line.

Once through security our boarding pass was stamped confirming we had access to the GVK Lounge. We had read there was a special area for First passengers in the lounge that you gained access to via roped off section. Good job we had read about it, because it wasn’t obvious if you didn’t know. Through this area you had at waited service meals included in the cost of you flight ticket.

Alan started with a glass of champagne, followed by some beer. We didn’t have a proper meal during the day, so despite it getting on for midnight, we were both hungry and had three course meal. The food and service was exceptional.

When it was time to head down to the gate we joined the already forming queue for Group 1. It was surprising the number of people that worked to the front of the queue expecting this queue wasn’t for them, only to be told by the staff at the gate to join the back!

Onto the plane, we settled at our First seats and were given a welcome drink, a vanity bag (his & hers) and First PJs. We were directed to the toilets to put our PJs on before the flight took off, which all 16 First passengers did. Each First ‘suite’ has a cupboard to hang your clothes and store your shoes.

We had decided before the flight we were going to skip having another meal and soon as we had taken off I asked for my bed to be made up. First passengers had their beds made for them, lol. I settled in my duvet as Alan looked over and said “how’d you get your bed made”… I replied I just asked. Alan too had his bed made up and we both went to sleep. Fortunately, everyone had the same plan and we were undisturbed by any talking or babies crying… heaven!

Around six hours later I was awake and changed out of my PJs and started to watch a movie while I waited for breakfast. About 90 minutes before landing, breakfast was served starting with fruit and pastries and then a cooked breakfast. Alan had the full English and I had a jungle owlet… I mean omelette, with yes, shock horror, tomato ketchup, so not First Classs, lol.

We landed on time and collected our bags heading for our transfer bus back to our car and another adventure came to an end.