Travels with Kathryn

I am writing this from my gate at the airport where with 40 minutes to take off what I hope is my plane has just arrived and  people are streaming off just starting their holidays. I am very jealous.

I have had the most wonderful time and spent at least some of my very efficient uber ride here planning my next trip to Sri Lanka. I need to come up with a route that includes Central Asia, through Pakistan, Northern India, Nepal and ends in Sri Lanka. I am sure its doable and I can give it a name (spread of Buddhism route maybe?)

I left my room mate in the hotel where she will hopefully be being picked up for her next tour. We’ve had a great time together and will hopefully be having a Hoopers in London where she can tell me all about the Hill Country and Southern Sri Lanka so I can get planing my next trip.

There are some interesting procedures in Colombo airport, you are security screened on entry (not unusual for Asia/countries having suffered terrorist attacks), then a walk through shops to check-in. I picked the wrong queue (obviously) and am also sad to report that my “bid” to buy the seat next to me for 90USD was not successful – and looking around me at the gate I think this is going to be a full flight. Oh well. Having spent far less than I thought I would during this trip (less than £200 on food/drink/stuff) I have then done a wee bit of shopping, so it is money saved I suppose… From check-in, you go through immigration and then more shops and restaurants. Disappointingly,  there was only 1 bottle of arrak for sale (£70!) and it was more expensive than I can buy at home and certainly than I have been paying for it here. Update: I managed to buy some “local” arrak which still looks better than what I have been drinking, off the plane’s duty free trolley for 13USD. 

In honour of Tom, for my last meal, I had idli and sambols (I shall be on nothing but dry bread and carrot stick when I get home) and now I am sitting looking at my plane waiting to board.

I am now writing this from the plane – it is 6pm Sri Lankan time, and 12.30pm UK time, and therefore, obviously, we are all blinds down and in complete darkness. We took off about 30 minutes late, and the flight is full, so it was slightly late arriving and then just took a bit of time to get everyone and their mountains of hand luggage on board. It is evidently quite an old plane, but with loads of leg room (kind of makes up for not getting two seats to myself). We were served a delightful meal of curry and rice, during which and for 2 hours afterwards the seatbelt sign was on whilst we went through turbulance – one particular air steward was very upset that people were going to the toilet and risking their safety and those of other passengers. Shocking behaviour. Its now smoothed out a little so all the lights are off to try and put us to sleep, regardless or the fact that it is not bedtime where we’ve come from, where we currently are, or where we are going to – this annoys me and I am resisting with light on, cross stitching and now typing. I have also finished watching Kng & Conquerer (finally got into it and then really enjoyed it) and just started on Salt Path (which 20 minutes in I may have to give up on as its so depressing).

I did give up. I watched Bridget Jones: Mad about the Boy. Utterly ridiculous, in my experience 40 (maybe 50?) something women do not have these sorts of men falling at their feet. Just saying.

It is now 9.30pm Sri Lankan time and 4pm London, and we have just been fed (fish noodles and an excellent ginger cake) and now the lights are off again. We have had a rather turbulent flight, so the seatbelt signs are back on and we are currently over Turkiye so I wonder if we are experiencing some of the stormy weather which I understand I am coming home to. The joys. On the subjet of joys, I am currently watching Practical Magic which I am now sure I have ever seen and I am now realising why it is an absolute classic. Only 4 hours to go…

Time for some reflections. I am really pleased that I chose Sri Lanka and I am not quite sure why I waited so long to go. I am also not sure why I decided to fly straight home, have no time in Colombo, and work on Friday – foolish. I will absolutely need to return, I feel that although I have ticked my Coming Home boxes I have barely scratched the surface of the history (you have not even had a full blown overview of Sri Lankan history as we have just not had time). Things to remember for next time:

• Plugs – I believed the internet and the Guidebook that told me that Sri Lanka used the same 3 round pin plug as India. This is incorrect. Older sockets use this, but every hotel that we stayed in took a UK 3 pin flat plug. Had I taken a UK plug? Obviously not.
• Laundry – hotel laundry was very cheap everywhere, I did not need to take my washing paraphernalia with me.
• Clothes – I felt that I got most of my packing correctly, although I wore my shorts to climb the mountain (and yes it is a mountain) otherwise I felt that knees and shoulders needed to be covered. Basically I lived in my dresses and probably could have managed in just these.
• Mosquito spray/zap it – I foolishly failed to take anything to repel the wee beasties, not understanding that I was going to a jungley country. Remember for next time.
• Time – this really was a whistle stop tour (as previously mentioned) and I would like to revisit essentially every stop onthis trip, particularly Jaffna (and see more of the North) and Trincomalee. I probably do not need to reclimb the mountain. I would then like to actually see Colombo, Hill Country and the South.
• Tours – whilst I would always recommend an Intrepid trip, having now been to Sri Lanka and seen how used they are to tourists and how many people speak English, I would happily come back and organise my own transport and maybe local guides.
• Trains – I missed a train journey, next time there will be many trains.

I have also used this time to mentally plan the rest of this year’s travelling. I am already booked to go to Mongolia (with Colette from my China trip) in June/July and will be taking my old people on safari to Botswana in September(ish) where there will hopefully be elephants! In between, there will probably be at least one, if not two, trips to Alicante. So that will take the majority (if not all!) of my annual leave, so perhaps I need some weekend plans. Another year has gone by without me managing some of the places on my UK list so in the interests of annual leave management perhaps this is the year of the Lake District, Harrogate, and/or Bamburg. More thought is needed.  

Ho Hum 3 hours to go…

It was actually more than 3 hours in the end (so I watched Winter’s Tale) as having taken off 30 minutes we had missed our landing slot so circuled for an hour. Also, due to the turbulance we were seatbelts on for much of that time so it was good to get up and off. However, I realised I lost one of my headphones,  so there was some crawling around on the floor, but one of the stewardess managed to find it. I then stopped off in the first toilet I came to!

No problems in collecting my bag, and then it was onto the Elizabeth Line. It is very cold and I was very tired having no slept and it being around the early hours of the morning body clock time. I was so tired in fact that I spent a good 10 minutes searching for my lost earphones (again!) only to realise that they were in my ears. Didn’t bode well.

I got home at 10pm, didn’t even bother to unpack, I just showered, got my pjs on and bed. Another successful holiday over.

But I have now unpacked and here is everything I brought…