Journey to Pune

should start by saying at the outset that I do not recommend traveling half way across the world on your own with four children 8 years and under. It is stressful and exhausting; my brow was constantly furrowed and my tone was relentlessly snappish. Having said that, the children coped extremely well considering at one point the 3 eldest had not slept in nearly 24 hours and they behaved beautifully for the most part.The leg to Singapore was the best part of the trip. Sebastian seemed to like the bassinet and slept for a good part of the journey. The crew were falling over themselves to keep Paddy, Charlie and Eliza fed, watered and entertained. The onslaught of toys and food was endless (as were the kids' appetites, apparently). If any of them looked even slightly bored, they were whisked of to some other part of the plane to meet and greet a very enthusiastic audience. Every time Eliza returned to her seat, she was sporting a different hairstyle. Sebastian had a terrific party trick of sitting up in the bassinet after a sleep and smiling at anyone who met his eye, he soon realized this afford him loads of attention, applause even, and there were plenty of willing arms to take him if I needed free hands.The female staff on Singapore Airlines seriously all look like supermodels. I have never seen so many amazing looking women in one spot. They flirted outrageously with Paddy and Charlie, neither of whom seemed to grasp the fact they were the envy of every virile man on the plane. They were so lovely to me, if a little concerned I was traveling solo. When Sharon (we were all quickly on first name terms) discovered we had a stopover in Singapore, she asked me the name of the hotel. I told her the name of the hotel and she responded that she had not heard of it. I could be mistaken but the look of her face seemed to convey a vague fear the children and I might be sold into an underground slavery market. Sharon surveyed all the crew and returned to me quite panicked because no one seemed to know this hotel. She gave me her home phone number (yes, that's right) and told me to contact her immediately if I found myself in any trouble and she would come and get me. It did occur to me that if I was in any trouble, the opportunity to phone her might not arise so I suddenly felt very ill. Sharon returned with the head purser, who scrutinized my voucher and agreed that he had not heard of this hotel either(thus making the black market a far more likely option, at least from my perspective. By the time we landed in Singapore, the purser had made enquiries and discovered that not only did the hotel exist, it was "quite good, really". The children and I were then escorted by 3 staff, including the lovely Sharon to the driver who drove us to the hotel. When we arrived, our penthouse suite and adjoining room were already allocated (I suspect that purser has a bit of influence within the Singapore tourism industry). How is that for service?The layover in Singapore very short and I had to wake the children at 2am because we were taken back to the airport at 2.30am. I didn't sleep at all because, although I had booked a wakeup call, I thought it might not happen or I would sleep through it. The leg to Mumbai was fine except our luggage was the last off so we missed our 9.30am connecting flight to Pune.Chris met us in Mumbai and watching the children run to greet him was truly a Hallmark moment. He booked us into the Hyatt for the day and took the older 3 for a swim while Seb and I had a divine sleep for a couple of hours. We decided to go to lunch at a cafe in a nearby (huh!) area Chris had read about. The trip there was horrible, it took about 45 minutes because of all the traffic and the baby was beside himself. When I asked Chris why we didn't go in a 'Cool Cab' (ie.with AC), he said, "I didn't know they had them in Mumbai". We rectified that misconception immediately. Lunch was at a 'Barista' cafe (the coffee was very just okay) and was pretty good. The trip back to the Hyatt in the Cool Cab was fascinating and exciting and awful and too much to detail now except to say I am pretty sure I saw a woman giving birth on the side of the road! That couldn't be, could it?The final leg to Pune was 30 minutes and fairly incident free, Security on internal flights in India is way, way, way over the top - but a great creator of jobs, if a little annoying. As we were leaving the Pune Airport, Eliza fell off the front of the baggage trolley she was riding on and about 90 people came running from every direction to see if she was okay. In the 24 hours we have been here, our children have been blessed, had their cheeks pinched, complimented, and greeted so many times, they barely bat an eyelid now. Indians love children! India and the McNamara family are off to a good start.