Another visit to India beckons, this time in January 2026 to the south. On 5th we fly with Gulf Air to Chennai (formerly Madras), via Bahrain. But the beginning of our trip starts ominously: due to engineering works at Swindon, the Swansea to Paddington train has to travel via Bristol Temple Meads & Bath, thereby adding an hour to the journey.
Except it doesn’t, the train stopping about 30 mins short of Reading due to faulty track things & then returning to Bath & Bristol. So we have to go from Bath to Salisbury, thence to Paddington. The journey to Max’s taking 10.5 hours means a small family Xmas doesn’t happen. The following day’s matinee performance of A Christmas Tale at The Old Vic was great, however, so not all was lost.
We catch the 9.30 flight to Bahrain, then on to Chennai, arriving at 23.30, local time 6.00. Our tour driver, Rakesh, introduces himself at the barrier. All good. It takes an hour to get his car out of the, huge metropolis-like, airport. Then he drives us to our hotel, but no, not our hotel, another in the group so we have another journey to make. We enter our room for the next four nights at 9.00 local time – a long day. So we had some breakfast!
Chris & Kath's Travel Time 
