Jetting to Bangalore -- Thursday, 11/9/17

Sleepyheads arise!  Our wake-up call was at 5:30am, luggage outside our rooms by 6am, breakfast from 6-6:30am, and then onto the bus for the airport.  Today we're flying to Bangalore, roughly 1,200 miles south of Jaipur; a two-hour flight.  We're leaving the "Golden Triangle" of northern India (Delhi, Agra, Jaipur), and heading for India's southern regions.  It's gonna be a long day, because after we land, we'll board a bus for Mysore (Mysuru).

Bet none of my American readers have seen this airline -- IndiGo!

Strict baggage weight restrictions on IndiGo Air were for 33lbs. The night before we departed, you can picture people packing and repacking, jettisoning whatever threw them over the weight limit. Ibby wore several layers to keep his suitcase below 33 lbs. It was pretty comical, but no one had to pay an overage.

We were happy to see the lush countryside of south India.

Kind of reminded me of tropical South Florida.

On the ground, we stopped for lunch at Banjara Restaurant.

I apologize for the lines through the next few photos, but the durn things were in the way, period.  I wanted to show you the Hindu idols atop high platforms that we saw along the way.  All of these were very large.

Ganesh.

High atop a platform this idol was huge!

Goodness, this was a dead-butt day.  Between the early start, the flight, and a long bus ride to Mysore, it was overkill.  Our Road Scholar brochure said we'd need patience and stamina for this day.  Somewhere we kinda lost both!  On the way to our hotel (the 118 mile, five-hour drive took forever), we needed a potty break.  Can you believe the stop was at a KFC?  A KFC, fer cryin' out loud!  Above, Jimmy, Frankie, and Ibby pose for a "really?" shot.  On a plus note, my strawberry slushee was delicious -- thank you, Anurag!

See anything wrong with this photo?

While we were at Dera Retreat, one person seemed to be suffering from a cold.  Well, it didn't take long for the sore throat and sniffles to make the rounds of 19 people sitting in a closed bus, sharing the same air.  One by one, we fell, nearly every one of the 19 "got it."  Including Jimmy.  Including me.  The three who were spared?  The singles in the group, as opposed to the kissing couples 😁, which made for some snickers and giggles. We felt lousy maybe one entire day and then the symptoms eased off, though it took time for everyone to feel good.  Did it stop us?  No, indeed.  We kept on truckin'.

A day lost to travel.  We finally checked in at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mysore (pronounced Mysoo), ate dinner, and retired.  Tomorrow, we'll get going again with field trips and more.  We're excited to explore southern India!