The Londoner Has Landed...

I have arrived, but not without my usual dramas. I did what I always do – I was up till 4am packing the night before – it’s a little tradition I’ve maintained since my very first international flight nearly 9 years ago – I don’t know why, I just always do it !! That was just the beginning of my eventful trip down under....

Claire kindly agreed to accompany me to the airport, having not seen her for a while, we had a lot to catch up on so once we were on the tube we got chatting. We chatted so much that we somehow managed to get on the wrong leg of the Piccadilly line and by the time we realised we were halfway to somewhere we didn't want to go !!! Very funny considering we’ve travelled the world and been living in London for 9 and 11 years but I guess it can happen to the best of us...

Anyway – we got off at the next stop, crossed the platform, turned around, went back, got on the right leg which is all great except that I was already running a bit late by then so I left Claire with my backpack (I had 2 bags not one, but they never notice that do they??) and had to literally sprint to the check in. There are lots of building works at Heathrow at the moment so I got a little lost but actually checked in with 1 hour to spare (considering they recommend at least 3 hours, this was not wise) only to be told that there were no spare seats showing !!!!!!! I was just about to shell out an extra few grand to upgrade to first when they found a seat and then I was off to security....

It was here that I learnt that Security meant it when they said one bag only ! The man was yelling at me to put my handbag in my backpack or I wouldn't be allowed on as I was trying desperately to explain to him that I was meant to be boarding now !!! Luckily Claire was lingering near by so I threw my extra pillow at her and then filled my jeans pockets with lots of other random items that wouldn't fit in my backpack. I pushed my way to the front of the security line but forgot to remove my belt so got searched after setting off the alarm. I had no time to put the belt back on so starting running to my gate. An unfortunate side affect of losing weight is that my jeans only stay up with the belt so let's just say that the people of Heathrow saw a little more of me than they would have liked !!!!

I made it to my gate only to be told that my allocated seat had been given away - i was about to burst into tears when they apologised and announced that i would "have to" sit in the emergency exit !! I thought I'd hit the jackpot as this is my all time favourite seat on a plane but I knew it was too good to be true when I arrived at my seat and found 2 irishmen already stinking of booze (this was 11am) who then proceeded to drink and drink and drink for the entire flight !!! They were quite happy drunks at least and I lost them at Singapore so overall it was a good flight.

I had two profound thoughts on the flight - one was how is it that the hot towels go so cold so quickly yet are so hot when you first get them? The other was that sunsets and sunrises above the clouds are pretty bloody amazing.

Anyway - here I am in Brisbane (Brisvegas to close friends) and here is the view of Brisbane from the top of the mountain on which I live....

it's good to be home....