Mumbai Flights

The Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport has two terminals:
the International one, formerly known as Sahar Airport, at about 30 km (20 miles) north of the town and
the Domestic terminal, formerly known as Santa Cruz Airport, at about 26 km (17 miles) from the heart of the city.

When you get out of the International terminal building, look at your right for the prepaid taxi counter, they offer the fairest prices to reach the centre.

While when you take a flight, don't forget to fill in the tag which must be fasten to your hand luggage: a stamp is put on this tag when your luggage get checked and it's absolutely necessary for passing the custom.

Bombay has two major airports. The Santa Cruz airport serves the domestic areas of India and the Sahar International airport serve as the gateway to the world. There is considerable distance between the two airports and so when someone is taking a domestic flight from Santa Cruz after flying in from abroad, sufficient time should be allowed for transfer.

From Santa Cruz airport, Indian Airlines and Jet Airways provide frequent flights to various parts of India. In the recent years, private carrier Jet Airways has gotten a leg up on state owned Indian Airlines. For more information and planning, try

www.jetairways.com

We had planned on taking a flight from Jaipur to Udaipur. However, there is one plane that starts in New Delhi, goes to Jaipur, then Udaipur, then Bombay. Then it turns around and does the same trip backwards. And then it does the whole round-trip one more time that day. Fun, yes?

Well, as it turns out, Udaipur gets a bit foggy some mornings, and there is not an instrument approach. So the morning flight from Jaipur to Udaipur sat on the ground for a few extra hours before finally allowing the passengers to board. Then, after waiting for another hour, the crew had all those bound for Udaipur deplane, and the flight took off for Bombay, skipping the morning Udaipur landing.

Once back inside the terminal, we were told that we could be on the waiting list for the afternoon flight. Well... we knew that, since it would be the same plane in the morning, that it was already several hours behind schedule. Who knew what would happen throughout the course of the day??

Instead, we worked out a deal with the counterperson... we got a car (an Ambassador) and driver. The car would take my boyfriend and I, along with a British couple, to Udaipur. An Ambassador is really not made for 5 people... Plus, the other couple were traveling around before settling down in India, so they had an enormous amount of luggage.

The trip took us over 8 hours... and our bums were numb by the time we got to Udaipur. To top it off, when we arrived at the other couple's hotel, the cab in front of us was unloading people that had stayed behind and taken the afternoon flight! The joke was on us!

I'm glad, numb bum and all, that we drove. Through empty countryside that was beautiful and rural... sights that we wouldn't have seen any other way.

The only stop we made between Jaipur and Udaipur was at a tea stop. Glasses were dipped in dirty water and filled with steaming tea. I looked at the tea suspiciously, but, 'What the heck' and drank it down. I didn't get sick!

This view of Mumbai's Airport from space taken by a satellite shows the place where I work at the Chattrapati Shivaji International Airport!!! The two runways crossing each other are very prominent and I work on the aircraft at the International Airport (Terminal - 2) which is the C-shaped structure you see above the runways. You may catch me working on one of the Air-India aircraft and sometimes even on the other airlines which we handle!! HAHAHA!!!

Picture courtesy: Australian Earth Data.

Very close to dense city areas, well structured with streets and everything, lies denser and compact ghetto area. Nothing more than one floor, no street to speak of, often with only an ondulated sheet of tin roof.
That is the city paradox in India. People leave the country for the city only to end up in these ghettos.

Making tip to start working this page. Will keep improving.