This is the first taste of a tropical climate for the boys. It was 28 degrees when we arrived at 2am this morning, plus the obligatory humidity. They were shocked!

We met our lovely driver, Praki, this morning. He is to be our guide for our visit here. But it looks like he has two sidekicks included in the price. He comes with a bag handler/door opener, plus a driver. Praki just does the talking – no driving, no bag handling. That’s a pretty good staff to guest ratio I reckon. And talking is Praki’s forte. We spent about 5 hours in the car today, and I’d have to say there’s not much we don’t know now about Sri Lankan history, religion, politics, lifestyle, agriculture and even Praki’s own life journey. He’s a gem. I know we are going to enjoy the trip.

With all this tropical weather, it seemed like a bit of a pool kind of evening.

After 22 hours on the road, in a plane (two actually), on a transit bus, a departure lounge, and 45 minutes on a mini bus we arrived at our hotel in Negombo, just up the coast from Colombo. I don’t think they set out to make it rhyme, but there you go. It was about 2am local time. And that meant time to be horizontal.

Leaving the dark skies at Tullamarine

What I have learned from this is that there is a limit to how many hours you can have your iphone ear pods jammed in your ears. Or any other airline issued ear phones. Agony. And one other gripe to get off my chest…there may be 245 movies, 180 tv shows and countless songs and podcasts on the in-flight entertainment system, but for me it’s much like pay tv. Nothing worth watching. I will admit to the fact that Lion was available, but I’ve brought the book with me and want to read it before I watch the movie. Fingers crossed they don’t change the play list when we fly home!