A crazy week in travel

Lately, I've been posting once every 2 days or so, on average...sometimes more frequently than that, but very rarely any less frequently. However, this past week changed all that.

MAA-BOM-DEL-BOM-JAI-CCU-DEL-MAA-BOM-MAA, in 5 days. Or this...


That's right. To misquote John Denver (well, almost) I've been living, on a jet plane.

There's been a flurry of activity recently with some of my clients, and one thing led to another, and all of that resulted in these crazy 5 days. But that also gave me some other opportunities (and some losses too), such as
  • a stay at the IHG Intercontinental, on Marine Drive, Mumbai, which will help me achieve most of my IHG Big Win offers (or so I hope), considering my earlier stays with Crowne Plaza Gurgaon and Holiday Inn Mumbai [hotel review on the Intercontinental coming up separately]
  • a cancellation that led to losing Rs 7,000 on a booking for a club room with a room upgrade, breakfast and internet, at the ITC Grand Central, Mumbai (a great rate, just that my plans changed and it was non-refundable)
  • a stay at the Doubletree by Hilton in Gurgaon, and so earning some (not much, though) points on the Hilton Weekend Getaways offer
  • a 250 JP miles earning for web check-in on 1 April, even though they announced discontinuing it effective that date
  • a stay at the ITC Grand Central, Mumbai, in one of their Executive Club rooms (read, functional and no frills) (and not receiving a moral threat like I did earlier) that I'll write about separately
  • intentionally taking a later flight on Air India just so that I could pass through the new International Terminal 2 at Mumbai Airport [will write about that separately]
  • getting upgraded on that flight to business class, only to have an almost exact replica of the experience I had in December last, on the same sector and aircraft

In all, a decent week for earning points and miles, though a bad one for the body and mind. And so, I've slept through most of today.

I will soon post more, particularly the ones I've promised above. 

My apologies for having disappeared without warning, and thank you for your readership. I'm touched that Cheryl and Vishal wrote in to ask if all was fine with me. Do keep reading. Thanks, once again!


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