Mumbai Layover

I was really worried about navigating the airport. I had this image in my head of an insanely crowded airport (like the images I had seen of Indian train stations) and colors and languages flying everywhere. In reality, it was the middle of the night and the airport was empty. In the domestic terminal departures lobby there were groups of people sitting around waiting. I found out that the check-in desks didn't open until 3:30am. It was around 1:30am when I arrived. I went and sat down in a corner behind a cafe, which was open in case people needed snacks. Shortly after taking my seat I heard someone call my name and looked up to see Meera. She had changed her flight to the very early morning.

For the most part, Mumbai Airport was modern. All the signs were in English. There really wasn't anything that distinguished the actual departures lobby from those in the United States.

There were a few noteworthy things I saw in the airport:

1) While I was on the shuttle we made a stop before the one I was to get off at. I was looking at everything outside the window and I saw groups of airport employees sleeping in rows along side the terminal building. I'm not sure if this is an overnight thing that happens at all airports after hours- perhaps it happens in the United States and I just never knew- but something about it struck me as sad. Later on in the terminal, I saw a women sleeping on the floor with a blanket next to a register for a little store. Hmmm, maybe their shifts start so early they come sleep at the airport? Or maybe they never leave? Never figured this out.

2) I saw a mouse while sitting near the cafe. I'm not generally afraid of mice, so I just thought it was cute, but I never saw a mouse running around an airport before.

3) Another rather cute thing I saw was a dog just hanging out at the departure curb. It was just laying there chilling out. I'm not sure if it was an employee's dog or a passenger's dog or if it was just a dog that hung out at the airport.

4) When I went to go through security (yes, I had to go through security four times overall) there was a ladies only security line. Score! I think I read in some of the books I have about India that they often have "women only" lines to buy tickets at bus and train stations. I'm not sure why. At the airport I'm pretty sure it was because they padded everyone down. Either way, there were about 20 men in line, but only a couple women. Yay!

After I checked in and went down to my gate I still had another 2.5 hours before my flight would be boarding. I found one of those awesome airport cell phone charger kiosks and cracked out my kit of adapters (thankfully that was one thing that was in my backpack). I also read some. Soon it was time to leave for Nagpur.