Airport
Trip Start
Jan 02, 2008
1
28
75
Trip End
Jun 17, 2008
Chennai (Madras),
India
Saturday, February 9, 2008
I didn't sleep much on the night train and it arrived in Chennai just before dawn. I knew there were several stations, but I hadn't bothered to find out which one I needed for the airport. Turns out I needed the first stop and I missed it. So I had to get a local train back to the airport. I arrived at 6.30am and my flight wasn't until midnight. I had a long wait ahead of me and Chennai airport isn't designed for waiting. They wouldn't even let me inside because I was so early. I dumped my bags at the cloakroom and asked someone how I could waste time. I ended up on a train to Marina beach. I had no idea how far the beach was, what it was like, or even how to get there. I thought the train might take me there directly, but I had to get a bus as well. It crossed my mind that I might get completely lost and not actually make it back to the airport in time. The beach was shit. I literally got there, walked through the filth down to the sea and then set off back to the airport. But the journey was interesting and a little adventure. Much better than being at the airport, but I only wasted 4 hours out of the 17 hours I had to wait.
After sitting outside the airport on a window sill for hours, I walked over to the domestic airport where they were also reluctant to let me in, but I managed to persuade them in the end and I found a seat for the rest of my long wait. By this point I was bored and so exhausted. But I couldn't read because I kept falling to sleep, and I couldn't sleep because I kept falling off my chair.
