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Back to packed breakfasts – we just grab a coffee at the hotel and then head back into the park for our last rickshaw safari heading for the watchtower where we can get breakfast while watching the geese in the morning light. We also get a close view of a young Nilgai, a greater spotted eagle and some final scops owls amongst others.
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After lunch we catch the train from Bharatpur back to Delhi and a return to the Holiday Inn where we started our trip where we say goodbye to Eddie. We are collected in the middle of the night to transfer to the airport for our 3 AM flight.
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We arrived at Delhi airport to be told our flight would be 5-10 minutes late (depending either on which check in desk you went to, or possibly which class of ticket you had – David had paid for an upgrade and was given a shorter delay than those of us at the back in “World Traveller” class… We were all ready to go, and the flight deck announcer told us that although we would be slightly late leaving, there was plenty of slack in the flight plan, and they expected to arrive on schedule. This was followed by a call for any doctor on board to make themselves known…
Sometime after that another announcement confirmed that there had been a “medical emergency”, local medics were involved as were the BA doctors at Heathrow, – and, obviously, if it was necessary to remove the passenger, they would also need to remove his bags. There was another long delay – then a further announcement – a second, unrelated, medical emergency had occurred, and both passengers had now been removed from the flight, along with their travelling companions and all related luggage, so we finally took off 2 hours late…
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My National Express coach from Heathrow T5 to Birmingham left about 2 hours after we were due to land…
In the middle of the night, I woke up and decided a trip to the toilet was in order, and started to make my way towards the rear of the plane – I’d only gone a couple of rows back when a steward appeared (Mr Ben Shopkeeper style!) behind me, and said would I mind going to the toilets in front of where I was sitting as they had someone collapsed at the back of the plane. When I had returned to my seat it turned out to be a girl who was sitting diagonally in front of me who was walked back to her seat on a portable oxygen cylinder, sat down, threw up and the collapsed again. I confess I fell asleep again at this point (There were obviously more than enough people who knew what they were doing to deal with her, so I felt offering any help would only be getting in the way. In other circumstances, obviously I would not have just ignored the situation!)
Having (another!) Medical emergency on board did mean we got a priority clearance to land, but also meant we had to wait for the Paramedics to board and deal with her before we could disembark (I assume they had moved her nearer the front, as there was no sign of activity at the back) Fortunately Immigration was not busy and I had my choice of electronic passport readers. Unfortunately I was at Heathrow, where the Electronic passport readers have never yet accepted my passport. I had to try three booths – with the official on duty applying the passport to the reader from the adjacent booth the final time before they accepted this and sent me to the manual desk. So I got to the baggage carousel with about 25 minutes to go to catch my coach – there were a couple of bags already going round. I waited and watched and 5 minutes later the same to bags went round again…
Alan, Carol and David all arrived at the carousel at this point, as the initial 2 bags made a third appearance, followed, at last, by some new ones. Normally, I am lucky at baggage reclaim and don’t have to wait too long for my bags to arrive. Today of course, now down to about 15 minutes, my three companions’ bags all turn up first (and pretty much together)!
Fortunately, my own bag is not too far behind them, (in fact I catch them up just after we leave the terminal) and as I head for the coach stop I can see there are a number of coaches already in. I ask the National Express Lady standing near the back of the line of coaches “Coach to Birmingham?” – She doesn’t seem to understand the question. I repeat it “I think it’s one of these” she helpfully informs me. Despite this aid, I do manage to locate it and manage to make my seat with about 4-5 minute to spare!