Today is my last India day with Beth. I wake at 8am and head downstairs for breakfast. I have plates full of cinnamon French toast and bacon. Washed down with grapefruit juice, orange juice and coffee. I shower and pack in the room and wait for Beth to arrive, her flight lands at 9:50am. 10:30am I get a call from reception to say that Miss Beth is here to see me. I had hoped that she might have been allowed upstairs and she could have used the shower and stuff, but unfortunately not. I leave the room and head down. The lift doors open and I spot Beth sat in an arm chair, back towards me. I run towards her and throw my arms around her. We leave our backpacks at the hotel for holding and head off for Beth's day in Mumbai. Beth has read Shantaram so is keen to see Leopolds. We see the gateway arch quickly and head over to Leopolds. It isn't how we had imagined. It's just a simple café. Both a little disheartened we have a drink anyway and go for a wander. I still need to book my flight that evening to Kolkata so we stop at Starbucks to use the free wifi, but it doesn't work so we have to go back to the hotel and use the hotel travel service. Flight finally booked for 2am that night and the clock finally hitting 1pm the upstairs bar in Leopolds is open so we return hoping that the upstairs will live up to our expectations. It's more impressive than the downstairs, but we're both in love with the romantic memories that Shantaram has painted that were both a still a little disappointed. The bar has copies of Shantaram for sale by the till, the book must have done them wonders! Next, under Raj’s recommendation, we head back to the Taj Hotel for afternoon tea. The waiter explains the Taj Palace afternoon tea process. First course is a hot food buffet of various Indian style beige foods; vet kathi roll, chicken kati roll, paratha, small puff pastries, fried chicken, warm sub rolls. I'm not impressed and it's Beth's first afternoon tea so I really wanted it to be as special as Raj has said it would be. Next the cakes and sandwiches come out, I had harped on about how Toby and I have a scone slice appreciation, these scones were thumb sized, we had two finger sandwiches each- one of which was smoked salmon. We both don't like salmon. However, the deserts were delicious. Copious shot glasses filled with various sweet treats. The lunch itself was lovely. But I definitely wouldn't refer to it as afternoon tea and I said to Beth that when she comes to visit me in the UK we would do a proper afternoon tea…knowing us though, probably an unlimited champagne one. 

Next on the agenda is the Irish bar. It's happy hour when we get there so we order a 2 litre keg- it's buy one get one free. We start playing cards but our game of cards is quickly quashed by the bar manager who tells us that cards aren't allowed in pubs. Gambling has become an issue in India recently and I think the phrase ‘give an inch and they take a mile’ is the most apt way to describe the concerns. Forced into hours of conversation we wait for our late night flights…and order our 2nd 2 litre keg. It's 11pm by the time we leave the bar and fall into a taxi.

A negotiated 600 rupees fare from the bar to the airport with two stops, we leave Mumbai. This should have been expected, the driver misunderstood the ‘two drop offs’ and asks for another 200 to take me to the other terminal. We refuse, hand him 500 rupees, groggily hug goodbye and go our separate ways. I follow the signs for taxis and Beth disappears into the international departures terminal. 

I descend the escalator and see the taxi rank. I ask for a quote to the domestic terminal and I'm told 400 rupees. I scoff and walk away. I young taxi driver walks towards me, I tell him domestic terminal. He points to the bus farther along and says ‘free bus’. Those guys at the taxi rank had just tried to charge me 400 rupees when a free bus was available. 

Finally at the domestic terminal, I check in. I check the boarding time on my boarding pass for my 2am flight; 2:30am. I question it. The flight is delayed an hour. I stupidly kept my Swiss Army knife in my day pack which gets flagged in the security check, I have to return to check in my bag, luckily with no additional fees. 

Finally in the departure lounge I sit in the lounge and wait for the plane to be called. We board and the plane is delayed for another. We eventually take off at 4am and I fall asleep.