December 8, 2017 - Flight Day 5!

Yay sitting on planes!

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Kochi Morning

We woke up early and had breakfast at the Ibis hotel’s complementary breakfast. Immediately afterwards, we hailed an auto through Ola and paid 30 rupees for the short ride to Black n White Laundry Services

When we arrived at 8:45, the store hadn’t opened yet. We stood outside getting bit by mosquitoes until the owner arrived just before opening at 9am. Fortunately our laundry was already washed and at the store, there weren’t any delays.

For our laundry, we paid 7kg of wash and fold at 80 rupees/kg, and additional 20 rupees per underwear as well as 5 rupees per pair of socks. Because we needed everything cleaned in 24 hours, there was a 50% surcharge added which brought the total from 1150 to 1725 rupees (about $34.50 CAD!). I wish there were laundromats in India where we could’ve done it ourselves for cheaper…

The laundry came folded and packaged into branded plastic bags which we carried. We hailed another auto through Ola and returned to the hotel for another 30 rupees where we very quickly packed our bags and checked out without incident. The hotel staff let me keep the Ibis hotel cardkey as a souvenir.

Getting to Kochi Airport

Our previous driver to Munnar had offered to drive us for 1000 - 1100 rupees. An UberXL was going to cost 1075 due to surge pricing. We ended up hailing a Prime Sedan through Ola, which had estimated a cost of 677 rupees to the airport. The driver took a bit of time to arrive, and finally did so in a white Suzuki Dzire Tour. The helpful security loaded up our suitcases into the vehicle’s trunk and we went off to the airport.

Sani, our driver didn’t talk to us other than to ask what country we were from (truthful response: Canada). He also played some English songs, some of which were Indian covers of English language pop songs. In the end, the fare turned out to be 760 rupees.