London to Colombo

Day one of our honeymoon has been something of a resounding success in my book!

As usual we left the house an hour later than planned, which meant that after messing around with Purple Parking we arrived at the Sri Lankan airlines check-in desk an hour and a half later than we would have liked. Our plan been to arrive nice and early to maximise our chances of getting an upgrade as a result of being on our honeymoon - we even dressed more smartly than usual! Sadly by the time we got to check-in, business class was full and there was only one emergency exit seat left. Needless to say, it wasn't quite the result we were hoping for, but the guy on the desk was incredibly nice about it all and offered to put us on the waiting list for the emergency exit seats on the off chance that someone didn't show up.

We put our failed upgrade out of our minds and headed into Departures, where we spent a few hours eating at Garfunkels and perusing the Duty Free shopping. Things started looking up from this point onwards. Firstly, Amber bought me an absolutely beautiful wristwatch from Watches of Switzerland as an early Christmas gift. Then when we got to our gate to board, the same guy from the check-in desk stated us and told us he had managed to upgrade our seats to the emergency exit seats! Result! All that extra leg room!

When we boarded the plane, we mentioned to one of the stewards it was our honeymoon and he brought us two glasses of champagne and a small bottle of champagne for our first night in Sri Lanka! Suddenly our day was improving. And that was before they brought us extra strong gin and tonics and the two shots of kahlua!

Can't fault Sri Lankan airlines. The staff were easily among the friendliest airline staff we have ever met, always smiling. One of the younger stewards was sat in front of us for take off and landing and he gave us some great tips on how to get the most out of of our holiday.

The flight was 10 hours and 10 minutes and very smooth indeed. We both slept a bit, watched a couple of films (Dark Shadows and What to Expect When You're Expecting) and arrived remarkably awake.

Sri Lanka is 30 degrees and wonderfully humid. Perfect.

Immigration was straightforward and before we knew it we had met up with our Kuoni rep and were heading to Colombo in a minibus. The transfer took us an hour, whereupon we arrived at our first port of call, the Taj Samudra. Here we had some more good fortune. The hotel upgraded us to a suite. We have three big rooms all to ourselves with a balcony view over the Galle Face beach. Okay, so the hotel is a little run down and the rooms are hardly opulent luxury, but the location is perfect. Plus we have a shower each!

One much-needed shower later, we struck out to the sea front with the aim of walking along the beach. Before we even hit the beach we were accosted by some chap in smart trousers and shirt who claimed that we knew him from our hotel reception (neither of us was particularly convinced!) and told us we ought to go to the Gangaramaya to check out the Buddhist temple. I had read about the temple in a blog prior to coming over to Sri Lanka, so I figured we had nothing to lose by taking his advice. He of course offered to accompany us, at which point the seasoned traveller instinct we both have started ringing alarm bells...we could see that at some point this was going to cost us. On the other hand, we had no guide for the temple, nor any real idea how far away it was. Our man got us into our first Sri Lankan tuk tuk, sorted our tickets, gave us a remarkably detailed tour of the whole place and brought us back to the beach. He clearly had an arrangement with the tuk tuk driver, who demanded 3000 rupees for his efforts! In the end we paid him 1000 rupees...a fiver. Yes it was probably more than it was worth, but given we only have the one afternoon in Colombo, I reckon we did incredibly well to fit in a tuk tuk ride, one of the nicer temples and a guided tour to boot without having to lift a finger.

After we left our two crooked guides, we sat and watched a group of snake charmers, some of whom had baby monkeys, which they were putting to good use in extracting money from tourists. The cobras were beautiful to see, but I am sure they had had their fangs removed, as I watched one of them strike its owner very hard with absolutely no result. Sad for the snakes, but they made for some nice photos.

We walked along the sea front as the sun set, taking in all the food stalls, joggers, strollers, kite flyers and sweet couples sitting side by side looking out at the ocean. Despite all the plane food, we realised we were both amazingly hungry. Thankfully we were in the right place for food! We went to Nana Toina Fast Food stall to eat a plate of the local delicacy 'kottu', which is fried strips of roti with vegetables, spices, chilli and your choice of meat (I went for cuttlefish). Super friendly service and absolutely delicious. An experience not to be missed!

It was dark when we left the fast food stall. We headed back to the room to sort out our luggage and open the complimentary bottle of red wine they gave us. Then we headed down to the bar for a couple of insanely cheap cocktails and yet more wonderful service in the hotel bar. We got yet more gifts as a result of mentioning the honeymoon: a postcard wishing us a happy honeymoon and a demon head fridge magnet! I definitely like Sri Lankan hospitality already!

Bring on tomorrow!