Off we go.

Saturday 3rd May.  The day had finally arrived.  The packing was done, we'd said our goodbyes, given the sheep and cats an extra stroke and we were on our way to the airport.  We stopped halfway for some lunch.

We had checked in online, so only had to check our bags in, which didn't take long, then we went upstairs.  I exchanged some dollars for euros.  I had got some pounds from the bank earlier in the week, but they hadn't had any euros in, and it would have taken more days than I had left for them to order some.

We had a drink together and then it was time to go through.  There were big hugs and tears from us all.  I wondered what I had been thinking to imagine I could do this trip and be so far away from my husband for two months!  It suddenly seemed way too difficult and far too long as well.

But there was no turning back now, so through to passport control we went.  When we got to the duty free shopping area we gave each other a final wave and then we continued on to our boarding gate.  Very soon we were on the plane and finding our seats.  We were in a group of three seats, but there was no third passenger seated there, so we were lucky to have three seats between us, and a window seat.

The first leg of our journey was Auckland to Melbourne, a four-hour flight.  We left Auckland at 5.30pm.

We had to get off the plane in Melbourne, go through passport control again, even though we were
only in transit, and re-board the plane.  The queue was long and slow.  We played  'I spy' and 'the memory shopping game' to pass the time.

1. Eventually, we were back on board and ready for take-off and the second leg of our journey - to Dubai.  This was a fourteen hour flight.  We were in the same seats, but had a man called Brian sitting next to us.  He was a frequent flyer and had a few hints to give us.  The most important one being "check which terminal you fly from Dubai to London from, because where we land is not necessarily where your connecting flight will depart from!"  He told me once he had almost missed his flight, in fact they had closed the doors of the plane and he was banging on the door so they would let him in! (Although this sounded a bit exaggerated to me!)

I managed 3 hours sleep and Miss S had 4 hours on this fourteen hour flight.

When we arrived in Dubai, due to some runway upgrading work, we had to take a bus from the plane to the terminal, about twenty minutes away.  The bus was stifling hot, and had no seats.  Upon reaching the terminal we were herded through passport control again.  Then we wandered around the shops.  Miss S bought a camel soft toy, and I bought a triptych of small carved wooden pictures.  We then went back on the bus to board the plane

The last leg of our journey was 7 1/2 hours, which seemed short after the endurance test of the previous flight.  I did not sleep at all on this flight and Miss S only slept for one hour.

Flying over the English countryside as we were coming into London was exciting.  It looked so

beautiful and green.  I always feel excited to be back in England.  I was really glad that we were finally here and the arduous journey was over.

We collected our luggage from the conveyor belt and made our way to the arrivals hall where Hubby's parents were waiting for us.

As we drove home to their house in Surrey I enjoyed the quintessential English scenery and recognising familiar landmarks along the way.

When we got 'home' we met Poppy the dog who is just gorgeous.  Miss S fell instantly in love with her and played in the garden, throwing things for Poppy to fetch.  After a little while, she noticed
some neighbourhood children playing outside and asked if she could go and play with them. Gran took her out and introduced her and she spent about an hour playing with them.

I just want to know where she gets all her energy from.