Just when I thought I had gotten the hang of travelling in India

Many places in India go by a number of different names.  Bombay is now Mumbai, Calcutta is now Kolkata, etc.

On the day I was leaving India and flying to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I took a taxi to the airport.  I gave myself lots of time and arrived a good 4 hours before the flight.  Well, the guidebook said the flight goes from Trivandrum, sometimes called Thiruvananthapuram, to Kuala Lumpur.  So I went ahead and booked online with Air Asia.  The airport code came up as TRZ.  No problem.

Well, at the Trivandrum Airport, I got a lot of confused looks from the check-in staff, and after much discussion in Hindi and some broken English, I suddenly realized I was at the wrong airport.  Yikes!  My flight left from Tiruchirapalli, sometimes called Trichy, and not Trivandrum, sometimes called Thiruvananthapuram.  So, how far is Tiruchirapalli, sometimes called Trichy, from Trivandrum, sometimes called Thiruvananthapuram?  Well, I ask that question.  "6 hours minimum by "fast" taxi" was the general consensus.

            So after some contemplation, I headed back to my beach hotel and stayed another 3 days, rebooking flights, and triple-checking the names this time.  Lessons learned.