We were on the holiday route to Shimla Our second train trip in as many weeks and smack bang in the middle of school holidays. Sat next to 2 families; grandmothers, parents and screaming kids, left to run riot - especially the one little runt sat right behind me - he grabbed and kicked at every opportunity, jumping in and out of his seat - over excited and under disciplined…

Time to put into practise the meditation; stay calm, inner thoughts, ommmmm…..

Now that Sheena could get us onto trains, the girl is in a frenzy - for the second part of the ten hour journey we were sandwiched tightly into the Toy train to Shimla on which there was little space for both of us and our five bags. We were on the honeymoon express - that climbed slowly through the hills pulled by Percy the red locamotive , through tunnel after tunnel, past quant little toy town stations.

At each little station the dads/husbands jumped out and grabbed chai and pastries; waiting until the very last moment to jump back on board. Picture the crowd of less than athletic, grown men chasing the train as it moved off every platform - of course I had to join in!

We were recommended the Spa lodge - a distance from the town proper and at the end of an unbelievably steep drive - we had no choice but to squash into a tiny taxi with the bags on the roof and be driven the 1000 metres - at the end of which the poor little car couldn't muster enough power to get all the way to the top.

A sure sign of things to come; would Sheena be able to muster enough power to get all the way to the top?

Our friend in Mumbai went to school with Joey - owner of the hotel - many, many calls had been made to confirm and re-confirm our stay but upon our arrival a confused little man welcomed us sheepishly, register in hand;

"Oh, I'm so, so, so sorry - you see I've given your rooom away!!"

We'd arrived at Faulty Towers with Shimlas very own answer to Man-well, he spoke like him, looked like him and bumbled around like him.

Man-well had mistaken us for a German family of four. We were forced to stay in the basement until the Germans could be forcefully evicted from our room and the only room with a view the next morning.

Mr. Man-well apologised continuously for his mistake over the next three days.
However he more than made up for it by producing the best English breakfast we'd had during the trip, along side never ending amounts of toast and produced a magnificent pot of tea every morning.

It was 4km from our lodge to the main street - uphill! - Thank God, at the foot of our drive was the Oberoi hotel - five stars of grandeur, where we were able to spend most of our time snacking, drinking tea, eating scones and pirating the wifi.

Simla or Shimla as it's now to be known is a cross between Switzerland and the Lake District in more of a ramshackle kind of way; Indian chalets and germanesque castles with hanztle and grettle towers perch on top of the hilltops amongst the forests, inhabited by families of evil monkeys!

The place is heaving with Indian holidaymakers giving the place a strange familiar feel akin to Kendal, Windermere or Filey, with a main street that has survived the 1900's; Chinese cobblers, pashmina stalls, sweetshops and only a few small local restaurants (including of course the local dominoes and subway) line the high street.

The views are truly spectacular; we were just able to make out the jagged line of peaks of the Himaylayas through the clouds. The wonderfully cool air a relief from the heat of the plains and at night it even got chilly - for the first time in 8 weeks we were sleeping under duvets.