In Transit

 It turns out that the 60% chance of getting our Visa back in time was just enough. Like McFadden and Whitehead, 'Ain't no stopping us now' was felt with every fibre of our being.

Leaving Matilda and Jude was difficult but made marginally easier by Jude having just filled his nappy with a colossal 'one' and Matilda far more interested in drawing a picture of 'mummy wearing a crown' than saying goodbye to me. Matilda let me take one of her toys - I had to negotiate hard, down from the 2 foot dinosaur she insisted I carry through Heathrow to a small beanbag pig.

Heathrow to Delhi was mildly enjoyable. Delhi to Guwahati - less so. On arrival in Delhi we had 25 minutes to disembark, get our visa stamped, collect baggage (all baggage was there, this is important to note), drop baggage off at internal transit, go through security and finally, get to the boarding gate.

Remarkably, we did it. Sitting down on the AirIndia flight I genuinely thought I may have a heart attack, or at the very best vomit. The nausea wasn't relieved by the inflight meal. All part of it though, isn't it?

As the baggage belt began to stir into action at Guwahati I was somewhat smug to see my bright red duffel  bag emerge within the first few bags. 

'Surely the bags go on together, I don't know why they don't come off closer to each other', I distinctly remember thinking. In hindsight, I should have questioned how two bags can be checked in together and not arrive 3 hours later in the same airport. Both Tom and I were one bag down each. This proved extremely difficult to communicate to AirIndia staff:

"You lost your baggage?"

"Well, you lost our baggage (it probably wasn't the time for semantics)."

"Okay, how many bags?"

"One bag each, so, two bags altogether"

"You lost them at Delhi?"

"No, no, we lost them here, they didn't come off the plane."

"There are no more bags on the plane, your bags will be in Delhi."

"Yeah, I know . . . How do we get them back?"

"I need your luggage labels to check."

"...Our luggage labels are on ... our luggage."

"You don't have your luggage labels?"

"No."

"I need your boarding card."

•5 or so minutes later•

"Your bag will be on the next flight tomorrow."

"Brilliant! You've found them both?"

"Both?"

"Yes, one bag each. "

"I'll need a picture of the bags"

"A picture?"

*5 or so minutes later*

"So, is that all sorted now?"

"Yes, you can go now"

"Okay, so, tomorrow? The bags will be on the flight tomorrow?"

Laughs "No, no, you won't see your bags again"...

All part of the adventure, isn't it?