Just a quick follow-up post with various stuff:
Morten's Zip Line trek: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Xy-0ulhnJc&feature=youtu.be
Monday, 30 July 2012
Friday, 20 April 2012
19/04/2012
So... Today was travel day - WE... ARE... GOING... HOME! ;-)
Last night we got a rickshaw from the hospital to the hotel at around 19:00 and we freshened up in the hotel. About an hour later we got the hotel to get us a normal taxi, we loaded our stuff and were on our way to the airport, which took less than 30 minutes.
When we arrived at the airport it took us about half an hour to get it. Security was rather hesitant (anal!) about letting strangers in so early before the flight but in the end and after many words exchanged with security personnel around the place we finally found a "Visitor's entrance" where we could get in. There we were required (for a fee of course) to print our flight itinerary on paper before we faced our last (anal!) security guy on the way into the airport - after talking to him for a full 15 minutes (with broken English of course) he finally caved in and let us in. In hindsight, I was wondering if he was looking for a bit of backhand "commission" but my perseverance won in the end ;-)
After a short stop at a Lavazzo where I had a sandwich while Claire went for a short walk, we went off killing time for about 30 minutes before check-in for our flight opened. Then we checked in, where we nearly didn't get on the flight because Claire was asking them to give us seats with more space due to her medical condition - as soon as they heard that they latched onto the fact that T&C's stipulated that policy was not to let anyone fly with any medical problems - the b*stards!!! All we wanted was a bit of extra space. Never mind, after sweet talking them and saying that Claire herself was a nurse, as well as showing them discharge papers, telling them that the doctors had put a "fit for travel" disclaimer in, and them ringing their supervisors, talking about medical boards of "independent" doctors etc etc etc we were finally checked in after 20 minutes - but without extra space or anything - in fact they were trying to pull the "we are doing you a real favour" spiehl here. I was really disgusted and I swear that it will be a loooooooooong time before I use BA (that is: British Airways!!!) again if I can help it - I would rather use RyanAir because they are cheaper and you get the same treatment (but at least you expect it as you pay less!) - Willie Walsh (Irish chap, CEO of BA) sort your troops out - terrible "service", REALLY! You should consider introducing a "human empathy" dimension to your service rather than hiding behind countless Terms&Conditions, medical boards and what-have-you - disgusting! It does not help a person's condition after having been sick for days (but recovering well!) to be told that "we might not be able to let you on the plane" when all you're asking for is a little bit of extra care - god only knows that we pay for the service you are supposed to provide - though, never again, if I can help it!
Anyway, rant mode off..!
We got into the duty-free area but none of us were really in the mood for duty free or buying presents - and we were also told there that you cannot use your remaining cash Rupees on duty free unless you are an Indian - say WHAT?!?!?!?! Anyway, after some grumbling we just gave up, kept hold of our remaining Rs5.000,- Rupees in cash (I'll find somewhere to use them some day) and headed off to our departure gate. There we (thankfully!) found actual recliners, we planted ourselves there and just waited for the flight.
I had previously bought Alpen/cereal bars galore for Claire so that she had something nutritious to keep her stomach churning so I was constantly feeding her little bits up until departure. We were both sick with worry that she would get sick before the flight (and therefore not be let on because of the previous bullshit) but keeping her stomach occupied with nuts and strawberry/yogurt mix in the bar, as well as talking about non-flight stuff seemed to keep her stomach happy so there were no incidents and in fact she started feeling even better - doubtless also because the time was coming for our departure - going back to IRELAND - yay! ;-)
So we departed on time at 2:20 and other than some quick fruit that I got from the cabin crew we both went to sleep, exhausted. At around 6:15 London time we arrived on time after just over 8 hours of flight time.
After spending 1.5 hours travelling from T5 -> T1, security and mugshots etc we finally arrived in the departure hall for our Ireland bound flight. We went to the pub/restaurant there where Claire had scrambled eggs/smoked salmon on bread (and hoovered it all up, including crumbs!!!) and I had a croissant with ham and cheese and TWO PINTS OF GUINNES from 8:00 in the morning - hardcore! Then it was time to depart and we went to the gate and were off at 10:00. We arrived about an hour later, with no incidents and got our luggage. Claire's sister Annette and brother Shane waited for us and then took us home in Xeena (our Ford Focus) to Roscommon.
There we met her parents and broke all the news while getting fed lots of Irish food. We talked away and I even had a couple of beers while her dad had a couple of shots of Bushmills before we were taken into Annette's house to sleep (picking up some briquettes on the way).
There we just relaxed and watched telly. I got the "great" idea of ordering takeaway so we had pizza, chips and chicken wings at around 22:00. I had actually passed out in front of the telly at this stage on the couch (soooo unusual!) and they had to wake me up for food. After 10 minutes of gorging I literally ran up to bed for sleep - I was so exhausted!
It is good to be back for both of us in a much less populated area of the world where the only "noise" is bird chatter around here in Roscommon...! Mmmmmmm... ;-)
Last night we got a rickshaw from the hospital to the hotel at around 19:00 and we freshened up in the hotel. About an hour later we got the hotel to get us a normal taxi, we loaded our stuff and were on our way to the airport, which took less than 30 minutes.
When we arrived at the airport it took us about half an hour to get it. Security was rather hesitant (anal!) about letting strangers in so early before the flight but in the end and after many words exchanged with security personnel around the place we finally found a "Visitor's entrance" where we could get in. There we were required (for a fee of course) to print our flight itinerary on paper before we faced our last (anal!) security guy on the way into the airport - after talking to him for a full 15 minutes (with broken English of course) he finally caved in and let us in. In hindsight, I was wondering if he was looking for a bit of backhand "commission" but my perseverance won in the end ;-)
After a short stop at a Lavazzo where I had a sandwich while Claire went for a short walk, we went off killing time for about 30 minutes before check-in for our flight opened. Then we checked in, where we nearly didn't get on the flight because Claire was asking them to give us seats with more space due to her medical condition - as soon as they heard that they latched onto the fact that T&C's stipulated that policy was not to let anyone fly with any medical problems - the b*stards!!! All we wanted was a bit of extra space. Never mind, after sweet talking them and saying that Claire herself was a nurse, as well as showing them discharge papers, telling them that the doctors had put a "fit for travel" disclaimer in, and them ringing their supervisors, talking about medical boards of "independent" doctors etc etc etc we were finally checked in after 20 minutes - but without extra space or anything - in fact they were trying to pull the "we are doing you a real favour" spiehl here. I was really disgusted and I swear that it will be a loooooooooong time before I use BA (that is: British Airways!!!) again if I can help it - I would rather use RyanAir because they are cheaper and you get the same treatment (but at least you expect it as you pay less!) - Willie Walsh (Irish chap, CEO of BA) sort your troops out - terrible "service", REALLY! You should consider introducing a "human empathy" dimension to your service rather than hiding behind countless Terms&Conditions, medical boards and what-have-you - disgusting! It does not help a person's condition after having been sick for days (but recovering well!) to be told that "we might not be able to let you on the plane" when all you're asking for is a little bit of extra care - god only knows that we pay for the service you are supposed to provide - though, never again, if I can help it!
Anyway, rant mode off..!
We got into the duty-free area but none of us were really in the mood for duty free or buying presents - and we were also told there that you cannot use your remaining cash Rupees on duty free unless you are an Indian - say WHAT?!?!?!?! Anyway, after some grumbling we just gave up, kept hold of our remaining Rs5.000,- Rupees in cash (I'll find somewhere to use them some day) and headed off to our departure gate. There we (thankfully!) found actual recliners, we planted ourselves there and just waited for the flight.
I had previously bought Alpen/cereal bars galore for Claire so that she had something nutritious to keep her stomach churning so I was constantly feeding her little bits up until departure. We were both sick with worry that she would get sick before the flight (and therefore not be let on because of the previous bullshit) but keeping her stomach occupied with nuts and strawberry/yogurt mix in the bar, as well as talking about non-flight stuff seemed to keep her stomach happy so there were no incidents and in fact she started feeling even better - doubtless also because the time was coming for our departure - going back to IRELAND - yay! ;-)
So we departed on time at 2:20 and other than some quick fruit that I got from the cabin crew we both went to sleep, exhausted. At around 6:15 London time we arrived on time after just over 8 hours of flight time.
After spending 1.5 hours travelling from T5 -> T1, security and mugshots etc we finally arrived in the departure hall for our Ireland bound flight. We went to the pub/restaurant there where Claire had scrambled eggs/smoked salmon on bread (and hoovered it all up, including crumbs!!!) and I had a croissant with ham and cheese and TWO PINTS OF GUINNES from 8:00 in the morning - hardcore! Then it was time to depart and we went to the gate and were off at 10:00. We arrived about an hour later, with no incidents and got our luggage. Claire's sister Annette and brother Shane waited for us and then took us home in Xeena (our Ford Focus) to Roscommon.
There we met her parents and broke all the news while getting fed lots of Irish food. We talked away and I even had a couple of beers while her dad had a couple of shots of Bushmills before we were taken into Annette's house to sleep (picking up some briquettes on the way).
There we just relaxed and watched telly. I got the "great" idea of ordering takeaway so we had pizza, chips and chicken wings at around 22:00. I had actually passed out in front of the telly at this stage on the couch (soooo unusual!) and they had to wake me up for food. After 10 minutes of gorging I literally ran up to bed for sleep - I was so exhausted!
It is good to be back for both of us in a much less populated area of the world where the only "noise" is bird chatter around here in Roscommon...! Mmmmmmm... ;-)
15/04/2012 - 18/04/2012
I am making a an update this time, spanning the remainder of our trip because we didn't go sightseeing at all in New Delhi. The trip I had booked for us to Agra on 15/04 was also left unused and we didn't even try to claim a refund on it. New Delhi really did become a disaster because Claire was seriously ill and I was ill too. The upside was that the hotel was really concerned, helpful and nice to us (apart from 3 days of no hot water due to a burst water pipe - yay, our luck has no limits! - but never mind!)
On Sunday 15/04 morning I finally had enough and contacted our travel insurance with the aim of finding us a suitable hospital that was covered by them. They referred us to the Apollo Hospital and I took Claire directly to the A&E at around lunch time.
After about 30 minutes there Claire had amazingly already been admitted to a bed in A&E and seen a couple of doctors for assessment - and she was immediately put on drip. Within 2 hours they also had her up on a general ward (6 beds - they had no semi-private rooms available for us and full private was just too expensive!) - all I had to do was make an Rs. 50.000,- outlay by credit card and sign the dotted line - and give them a few more details.
Claire ended up spending 3 days there right up until the time of our departure back to Ireland. Her continuous vomiting had caused concerns for potential kidney failure (no wee) and later they diagnosed her with clinical starvation due to the fact that she had vomited up food, fluids, bile, pills and what-have-you for many days at this stage. So as previously mentioned, she was put on drip and remained on drip for the three days for re-hydration and nutrients while they took her through simple foods, gave her anti-sickness shots and pills and slowly started rebuilding her ability to drink and eat again.
I, too, was sick with flu/chest infection for the full duration of this period, adding to the disaster that became Delhi, and didn't do much other than driving rickshaws and cabs between the hospital and hotel to visit and spending the rest of the day in bed. Apart from about 45 minutes one day, I didn't even use the pool facilities nor the workout facilities in the hotel. I only had breakfast as part of the buffet there, when I could eat, and used their cake/patisserie shop in the evening time when I needed to eat.
All in all Delhi was not much to write home about for us in terms of experience - although it's not really Delhi's fault - and we didn't even get to see the Taj Mahal or Agra, which really was a monumental letdown of our trip.
HOWEVER, we're both alive and should be well again soon - so that does count for something!
As regards the hospital: while the ward Claire was in was not the cleanest and also quite noisy, we simply cannot fault the hospital for the staff in terms of nurses and doctors. Claire was really well looked after and ended up seeing 3 different consultants up to twice a day over the three day period. She was constantly monitored and the staff genuinely appeared to care and watch her - maybe some of it was because she was a foreigner as she strongly suspected that a lot of the staff came to have a "gawk" - but never mind, that's really a good thing - especially when your fellow Indians in surrounding beds start giving out about Claire's level of service versus theirs ;-)
The cost of the hospital for 3 nights including doctors, medicines, food, bed etc (and included meals for me when I was around at meal time) came to an eye-wateringly measly €600,-. We were both seriously shocked!
I would strongly suspect that few hospitals in Europe would be able to give that level of care and attention - and especially in Ireland these days with fiscal deficits being incrementally taken out of health budgets year after year - at that price (or even with a multiplier of 2-5). The Indian private hospital system is simply amazing and I only wish that Europe would wake up and make (private) health services a lot more affordable to the point that you could pay for it yourself without (highly suspect and expensive!) private health cover, which is bound to bankrupt you at first hurdle due to "exclusions" at private healthcare discretion, which we hear about in the newspapers day in and day out.
On Sunday 15/04 morning I finally had enough and contacted our travel insurance with the aim of finding us a suitable hospital that was covered by them. They referred us to the Apollo Hospital and I took Claire directly to the A&E at around lunch time.
After about 30 minutes there Claire had amazingly already been admitted to a bed in A&E and seen a couple of doctors for assessment - and she was immediately put on drip. Within 2 hours they also had her up on a general ward (6 beds - they had no semi-private rooms available for us and full private was just too expensive!) - all I had to do was make an Rs. 50.000,- outlay by credit card and sign the dotted line - and give them a few more details.
Claire ended up spending 3 days there right up until the time of our departure back to Ireland. Her continuous vomiting had caused concerns for potential kidney failure (no wee) and later they diagnosed her with clinical starvation due to the fact that she had vomited up food, fluids, bile, pills and what-have-you for many days at this stage. So as previously mentioned, she was put on drip and remained on drip for the three days for re-hydration and nutrients while they took her through simple foods, gave her anti-sickness shots and pills and slowly started rebuilding her ability to drink and eat again.
I, too, was sick with flu/chest infection for the full duration of this period, adding to the disaster that became Delhi, and didn't do much other than driving rickshaws and cabs between the hospital and hotel to visit and spending the rest of the day in bed. Apart from about 45 minutes one day, I didn't even use the pool facilities nor the workout facilities in the hotel. I only had breakfast as part of the buffet there, when I could eat, and used their cake/patisserie shop in the evening time when I needed to eat.
All in all Delhi was not much to write home about for us in terms of experience - although it's not really Delhi's fault - and we didn't even get to see the Taj Mahal or Agra, which really was a monumental letdown of our trip.
HOWEVER, we're both alive and should be well again soon - so that does count for something!
As regards the hospital: while the ward Claire was in was not the cleanest and also quite noisy, we simply cannot fault the hospital for the staff in terms of nurses and doctors. Claire was really well looked after and ended up seeing 3 different consultants up to twice a day over the three day period. She was constantly monitored and the staff genuinely appeared to care and watch her - maybe some of it was because she was a foreigner as she strongly suspected that a lot of the staff came to have a "gawk" - but never mind, that's really a good thing - especially when your fellow Indians in surrounding beds start giving out about Claire's level of service versus theirs ;-)
The cost of the hospital for 3 nights including doctors, medicines, food, bed etc (and included meals for me when I was around at meal time) came to an eye-wateringly measly €600,-. We were both seriously shocked!
I would strongly suspect that few hospitals in Europe would be able to give that level of care and attention - and especially in Ireland these days with fiscal deficits being incrementally taken out of health budgets year after year - at that price (or even with a multiplier of 2-5). The Indian private hospital system is simply amazing and I only wish that Europe would wake up and make (private) health services a lot more affordable to the point that you could pay for it yourself without (highly suspect and expensive!) private health cover, which is bound to bankrupt you at first hurdle due to "exclusions" at private healthcare discretion, which we hear about in the newspapers day in and day out.
14/04/2012
Claire suffered a relapse today and really wasn't feeling well (and neither am I!) so we ended up contacting the hotel and got them to get us a doctor on call. He investigated Claire and yet again we were prescribed anti-sickness medicine. However, as the day progressed in bed for both of us there was no let-up in Claire's vomiting and even the pills came back out.
At night time Claire was just spewing yellow bile and at some point during that night I had enough...
At night time Claire was just spewing yellow bile and at some point during that night I had enough...
Friday, 13 April 2012
13/04/2012
This morning I felt even worse than yesterday and also registered a good fever. But at least Claire doesn't appear to feel as bad as yesterday. Apart from a very short breakfast where we both ate very little the day was pretty much spent in bed, sleeping and occasionally watching stuff on the telly or from my laptop. How annoying!
Thursday, 12 April 2012
12/04/2012
Yesterday evening I did feel a bit rough but didn't think too much of it. This morning, however, I am feeling like crap - chest infection and all joints in my body hurting. To top it off Claire's stomach is doing wobbles and she's sick too. What a great tourist couple we are.
After breakfast and showers we tried out the metro here in New Delhi, which is in very good condition but also incredibly busy with people and just as bad as London during rush hour, if not worse. We went to the Rajiv Chowk circle and had a look around in the shops but it quickly got too much for us in our conditions, due to the annoying array of touts in the wood works everywhere. So after a drink and a sandwich in Cafe Coffee Day there we returned to the hotel where we spent the day and evening in front of the telly - had a few snoozes in between and ended up going to sleep as well at 21:00 as we were both well wasted.
It is interesting to note that the shops in Delhi are quite expensive around Connaught Place and that you're just as well off buying stuff back home. Of course we could go to the markets around the place and pick up cheap stuff - but neither of us are currently in a frame of mind to do so and for that reason we have instead decided that in order to avoid touts etc we will have a look in the International Airport in Delhi for a few hours before flying out.
After breakfast and showers we tried out the metro here in New Delhi, which is in very good condition but also incredibly busy with people and just as bad as London during rush hour, if not worse. We went to the Rajiv Chowk circle and had a look around in the shops but it quickly got too much for us in our conditions, due to the annoying array of touts in the wood works everywhere. So after a drink and a sandwich in Cafe Coffee Day there we returned to the hotel where we spent the day and evening in front of the telly - had a few snoozes in between and ended up going to sleep as well at 21:00 as we were both well wasted.
It is interesting to note that the shops in Delhi are quite expensive around Connaught Place and that you're just as well off buying stuff back home. Of course we could go to the markets around the place and pick up cheap stuff - but neither of us are currently in a frame of mind to do so and for that reason we have instead decided that in order to avoid touts etc we will have a look in the International Airport in Delhi for a few hours before flying out.
11/04/2012
Last night I didn't get much sleep due to the extreme rocking of the train (by far the worst track we have encountered) and the extremely snoring individual across the aisle - he was more noisy than a revving auto-rickshaw!
We arrived in Delhi at 5:45, only ten minutes late, which was pretty good. So we negotiated our way outside and found a small cab-van driven by two kids that didn't look one day older than 16 - but they drove alright and heeded our request not to play their local Indian pop music too loudly at 6:00 in the morning!
We arrived at the LaLIT hotel at 6:15 and had already decided to do an early check-in (costing half a day's rate) only to find that despite our previous emails they didn't have a room with our specifications available for us just yet - they could only offer a "suitable" smoking room at the time so we decided to wait as they indicated it would be no more than half an hour before they would be ready for us. Nearly two hours later and a few back-and-forths from both camps to check/convey status they finally got us a room - but due to the wait they waved the normal fee and still offered us breakfast as an apology - not bad!
So the next time we wish to book a luxury hotel we will do a similar ploy of listing a heap of specifications and wanting to check-in early - seems that there is some money to save ;-)
After showering/freshing up we went down to a huge breakfast buffet - it was ginormous and consisted of nearly everything you could wish for (except pork sausages - chicken sausages being the substitute) - and there was plenty of it and no rush for the buffet stands to get food unlike e.g. the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai.
Then we rested for a couple of hours before I went down to the gym and ran for an hour, showered and relaxed with a newspaper in their special spa relaxation section - great stuff ;-)
For the rest of the day we didn't do much - I did receive a couple of phone calls from employment agencies in Ireland - and even arranged an interview.
At around 17:00 I also skipped out for food (Claire's stomach still not entirely great and she didn't feel hungry), which was a trip to PizzaHut only 750m away - I also brought home a small pizza for Claire for later - and in the reception area of the hotel they had a bakery and I bought a gigantic chocolate donut for both of us to share.
The rest of the evening we watched telly and relaxed.
It was interesting that it had just rained quite heavily when we arrived in New Delhi - and when we checked the news it also turned out that they had had lots of winds at up to 100km/hour, which knocked down trees etc. Also, during the day we only felt temperatures at late 20C's, which felt quite cool for India!
I am starting to wonder whether updating LinkedIn status and replying to head hunters has been such a brilliant idea over the past week. I have so far gotten two phone calls from agencies - and one interview is already bagged for Friday - but while I'm still in India. It's really great to feel wanted out on the current job market, in particular in Ireland, but maybe the timing was a bit off as this undoubtedly will cost me some time and anxiety while still being away. Ah well, it's done now, no point in whingeing ;-)
We arrived in Delhi at 5:45, only ten minutes late, which was pretty good. So we negotiated our way outside and found a small cab-van driven by two kids that didn't look one day older than 16 - but they drove alright and heeded our request not to play their local Indian pop music too loudly at 6:00 in the morning!
We arrived at the LaLIT hotel at 6:15 and had already decided to do an early check-in (costing half a day's rate) only to find that despite our previous emails they didn't have a room with our specifications available for us just yet - they could only offer a "suitable" smoking room at the time so we decided to wait as they indicated it would be no more than half an hour before they would be ready for us. Nearly two hours later and a few back-and-forths from both camps to check/convey status they finally got us a room - but due to the wait they waved the normal fee and still offered us breakfast as an apology - not bad!
So the next time we wish to book a luxury hotel we will do a similar ploy of listing a heap of specifications and wanting to check-in early - seems that there is some money to save ;-)
After showering/freshing up we went down to a huge breakfast buffet - it was ginormous and consisted of nearly everything you could wish for (except pork sausages - chicken sausages being the substitute) - and there was plenty of it and no rush for the buffet stands to get food unlike e.g. the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai.
Then we rested for a couple of hours before I went down to the gym and ran for an hour, showered and relaxed with a newspaper in their special spa relaxation section - great stuff ;-)
For the rest of the day we didn't do much - I did receive a couple of phone calls from employment agencies in Ireland - and even arranged an interview.
At around 17:00 I also skipped out for food (Claire's stomach still not entirely great and she didn't feel hungry), which was a trip to PizzaHut only 750m away - I also brought home a small pizza for Claire for later - and in the reception area of the hotel they had a bakery and I bought a gigantic chocolate donut for both of us to share.
The rest of the evening we watched telly and relaxed.
It was interesting that it had just rained quite heavily when we arrived in New Delhi - and when we checked the news it also turned out that they had had lots of winds at up to 100km/hour, which knocked down trees etc. Also, during the day we only felt temperatures at late 20C's, which felt quite cool for India!
I am starting to wonder whether updating LinkedIn status and replying to head hunters has been such a brilliant idea over the past week. I have so far gotten two phone calls from agencies - and one interview is already bagged for Friday - but while I'm still in India. It's really great to feel wanted out on the current job market, in particular in Ireland, but maybe the timing was a bit off as this undoubtedly will cost me some time and anxiety while still being away. Ah well, it's done now, no point in whingeing ;-)
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