SriLanka- The Arrival

The Planning

The Research

The Departure

We were all set to Arrive in Colombo... 

And with a blink of an eye, the one hour flight was over and done with. We had landed in Colombo, where it was drizzling. Got out of the aircraft, into the shuttle and off at the airport. We noticed a line meant for “immigration and transfers” and followed the directions to a bunch of counters. We noticed people around a counter filling out forms and promptly went over there. Picked up a form each, and once again filled out all the info we had filled back in Madurai

Name, passport number, issue & expiry date, address in Colombo and purpose of visit.

We then stood in line, showed the form and our passport to the gentleman behind the counter who chit chatted with us a bit and sent us on our way! After a quick loo stop, we grabbed our bags and made our way out the airport. There were quite a few Cab/taxi/package tour booths, and the 1^st one we approached quoted LKR 2800 to our hotel [ the guy said it was a good 35kms away esp since the airport was quite a distance from main Colombo city]. We also enquired with few others but found this guy cheapest and went ahead with them.

He told us we would get a Hybrid car, and came with us to the car pick up point. The driver then asked if we wanted to go via the Expressway, which would take us to the city faster, but there was a toll for LKR300. We decided against it, esp since we wanted to see a bit of the city and were just getting used to the whole LKR cost funda.

That is us standing in front of our car outside Midky Hotel in Nuwara Elliya

Took us about an hour to reach Welawatta Beach road and to find Lafala Hotel. But it was one beautiful drive, we passed the town, sea side, and open fields along the way! And managed to find a McDonalds where we grabbed a burger and happily dug into it [only then did we realise how hungry we were]

Once we checked into the hotel, we sorted out our bags and packed our handbags with the basic essentials. We were going to be on the road from the next morning again, exploring the country, staying at different places along the way. The one thing we knew we had to pack in our hand bag was that we carry our Passport and cash on hand always!! Here I was carrying both our passports and all the LKR money in a folder :D

Get set to travel the length and breadth of Srilanka with us... 

Srilanka- The departure

So, now that we were done with the Planning and Research, we had our ticket and our bags were packed. Since we were flying out of Madurai, both of us left our resp destinations the prev night and reached Madurai morning 6ish. We met, had some breakfast, freshened up and hailed an auto to go visit the Temple. The auto driver offered to wait, and drop us at the airport for Rs300. We agreed, esp since it gave us peace of mind regarding our luggage [ we were wondering if we had to lug it around] and we had a ride to the airport [12-15kms away]. 

He patiently waited the hour while we did the Temple Darshan and dropped us off at Madurai airport. We were early, we had reached by 9.15 when the gates were opening only at 10. We sat and waited in the lounge. At 10am, we checked in our bags,  and were asked to fill out Immigration form - it contained fields where you had to fill in- Name, nationality, city of residence, date of travel, passport number, issue & expiry date and the address we were headed to [make sure to mention city name if not the entire address]. Once this was done, we once again had to wait for a while for the Immigration counter to open.  A man checked out passport and the form, and put a stamp and sent us on our way.  

Always carry your passport and a copy of the ticket/visa along with you!!

{yes I clicked this selfie after the stamping]

We made our way upstairs and waited few minutes before security check in. Once that was done we were off to the gate to wait for Boarding call. 

Ta da.. we were all set to hop on the shuttle and get into our flight. Lo Behold, I noticed that our flight was a small one, a Spicejet "Laung" Bombardier Q400. Our seats were in the 18th row and so we had a short walk to our seats.! Buckled in, we were all set to take off.. 

And this began our Sri Lanka Holiday....................... :-))