Lifestyle of the Rich & Famous, i.e. Not me.

As I often like to remind myself “life is not about the destination, it’s about the journey” and boy was it true on our journey to India! I should explain: I have always been on a budget and I am constantly trying to save a dollar when it comes to travel. In effect, I ONLY travel on the cheap … that is, unless an insurance company is arranging and paying for absolutely everything. As her “medical escort”, I, too, was ushered in to the wonderful world of plush – and Man! Was it nice.

Air Emirates often wins awards for “best of…” in the airline industry. We were arranged to fly with them from Mauritius to India. They are notorious for representing the over-the-top ridiculousness that is: Dubai. And, yes – the airline left no detail unattended to. Not only were we perfectly positioned in Business Class, but we also enjoyed fantastic bottles of champagne, canapés, Godiva chocolate, beautifully displayed meals on herringbone china complete with silver utensils, to-die-for food – and this was all within the first 4 hours! The stewardess ( a beautiful girl from Russia with her headpiece perfectly wrapped around her stunning face ) then literally ‘tucked’ us into bed. Our chairs slid all the way to almost horizontal. There was a special cushion added for comfort, 100% wool blankets for temperature control and bird sounds played over head in the starry sky. Yes, you read that correctly – the lights were dimmed and the ceiling turned into a twinkly sky! I was in heaven. Not only had I never, ever been comfortable on any flight I’d ever flown, but I was now not only comfortable, but VERY comfortable, full from champagne and dozing off to lullabies overhead. Plus, I used these stickers to indicate when I should be woken up. Nice! This was craziness! – or at least to me, in my budget traveler world, it was.

I had access to all the latest newspapers and magazines from around the world, my TV had over 100 new releases to choose from. I could listen to over 500 channels of music and I got my very own makeup bag full of goodies to take home with me. This truly was my real-live Sex and the City moment. (this airline is featured in the second movie)
Or as Pat leaned over and said: “This, my dear, is what you call geriatric nursing!”

We had a small wait in Mauritius (of which we got to happily enjoy the business class lounge at the airport), one stop-over in Dubai (only got to see the airport since it was 2 a.m.) and arrived into Chennai, happy, rested, clean and settled about 10 hours later.