The Flight to Mumbai I Almost Missed

A week in Goa comes to an end — in fitting style. At 6 a.m., I return from my final party and calculate that I have just enough time for a quick 30-minute nap before heading to the airport.

I wake up one hour and twenty minutes later.

That’s 50 minutes after my first alarm went off.

No time to think. I grab my things and rush to the taxi stand. No car taxis in sight. Which means only one option remains: a motorbike taxi. So once again, I strap my backpack on and climb onto the back of a motorcycle for the ride to the airport.

Another adrenaline rush. Slightly milder than the first time — either I’m getting used to it, or this driver is calmer. This time, before we set off on the longer stretch, I even ask for a helmet when he briefly stops by his home.

“Not required for passengers,” he says.

And doesn’t give me one.

So once again, an hour of wind blasting straight through my skull is guaranteed.

Somehow, I make it. I board the plane — and shortly after, I land in Mumbai, India’s financial capital, home to some 13 million people.

Outside the airport, I catch a motor rickshaw. Finding the hostel would have been impossible without the extremely precise instructions I had printed from Hostelworld. It turns out to be located inside an ordinary apartment building in a random neighborhood. But once inside, it’s warm, friendly, and welcoming.

There, I meet more fellow backpackers. Nea from Finland. Mattias from France, who is trying to find work in Mumbai. Fernando from Guatemala, currently living in England. And Isabel and Helena from Germany — with whom I make plans to visit Elephanta Island the next day.

Mumbai immediately feels different from Goa. The air itself could be described in one word: humid. Heavy. Intense.

The neighborhood around the hostel is alive — narrow streets, children playing football in side alleys, small shops everywhere. One store proudly calls itself “Honesty General Stores” — an ironic reminder that in India, business confidence is rarely lacking.

As the sun sets over the city, the skyline glows faintly through the haze. Later, I browse the menu at a modest local eatery — full meals for under 120 rupees, about two euros.

From a near-missed flight and helmetless airport dash to a new megacity adventure — the transition from laid-back Goa to restless Mumbai is abrupt, but exhilarating.