Mumbai Airport Escorts: A Night Between Flights who lives close, and which landing hours still work

Where you landed

Two airports, and the one this page means

Mumbai has two airports now. The old one, the one most people mean, lies between Santacruz and Andheri East. Its big terminal, Terminal 2, stands on the Sahar side. The new airport is at Ulwe in Navi Mumbai, a long way to the south-east. This page is about the old one.

Hotels crowd the ground around Terminal 2: in Sahar, in Marol, around Chakala and J.B. Nagar, and along Andheri-Kurla Road as far as Sakinaka. Staying there for a night between two flights? Read on; this essay was written for that night. Three stops of Metro Line 1, the blue line from Versova to Ghatkopar, sit on that road: Airport Road, Marol Naka and Saki Naka.

The area is busy for a plain reason. SEEPZ and MIDC, two big office estates, sit just north of Marol, so Andheri East has far more business hotels than most parts of the city.

No girl on our wall lives inside the first ring of the drawing. Closest is Shivani, No. 07, a VIP model from Andheri. Next comes Nidhi, No. 06, an IT worker based in Powai, just past Sakinaka. One ring further out are Sneha and Tanushree in Bandra, and Monica in Goregaon.

Sakinaka has a room of its own on our floor plan. The Sakinaka room shows who visits that side, and the Andheri room is where Shivani hangs.

Flying into the new Navi Mumbai airport instead? Then the three girls who live in Navi Mumbai are the nearer ones: Chitra in Vashi, and Dassy and Suhani in Nerul.

The arrivals board

Landed late? Check the clock first

The desk keeps fixed hours. Each day has an opening hour and a closing one; past the closing one, no new booking starts. Monday: 1 PM until 2 AM. Midweek, Tuesday through Thursday: 12:30 PM until 2:30 AM. Weekend, Friday through Sunday: 12:30 PM until 4 AM. After that, the next start is the following afternoon.

Write to the desk while you wait for your bag at the belt. Give it three things: the hotel area, the hour you will be in your room, and the girl you want, if you have picked one. That way the answer can be waiting for you when you reach the room.

Think of it the way a gallery treats your coat. You hand it over, you keep a small brass tag, and you collect it later without any fuss. Here the tag is your message: one clear line naming the neighbourhood, the time and the girl, and your phone kept close for the reply.

Nidhi from Powai is also on the late night list, which helps on a weekend arrival after midnight. If your flight out leaves early the next morning, book a short visit for the evening; it fits better. A long layover across a Friday or Saturday night is when the full night is worth it.