Irony

I started today sitting on my plane to London which was scheduled to leave Auckland at 00.15. All was fine and it felt good to finally be setting off.

How quickly things can change . . .

Within an hour of leaving Auckland I was vomitting into a very poorly designed Malaysian Airlines sick bag ("Tear off top before use" Who has time to think about such things in situations like this?) I felt sorry for the poor man sitting next to me and the woman sitting in front but I had little control over my body's need to expel whatever had upset it. I managed to get myself to the loo where I took some time to recover and clean up then headed back to my seat. An hour later - repeat. This time though I was well prepared having already ripped the top off the new bag. Again I gathered myself together then headed to the loo where I was, for the third time, overcome with the most awful feelings of internal eruptions and overheating. So poorly did I feel that I even slept in the loo for maybe 20 minutes as I felt nowhere near well enough to leave the security of the bathroom! Thanks to all those who warned me about Delhi Belly - I just never expected to get it in New Zealand!

I eventually managed to return to my seat and then to fall asleep whilst everyone else ate the curry dinner, the very smell of which served only to make me feel even more nauseousA bit over an hour later and I needed bag number 3 . . . . . when I returned to my seat the poor man next to me had been moved to another seat . . . . at least now I had a double seat to spread out on.

By the time we arrived in Kuala Lumpur after 10 1/2 hours of flying I'd eaten nothing and slept only fitfully. The KL turnaround was scheduled to be just over an hour but in reality turned out to be closer to 3. Finally we boarded what has to be the best aircraft I've ever flown on - a new, 'double-decker' which seemed to have more space and certainly had a more comfort. Altogether a much more enjoyable flight followed.

This view was 'somewhere' over Afghanistan I believe. It's hard to comprehend how a plane of this size (check out the size of that engine!) can get off the ground let alone stay airborne for some 10,000 miles, but they do.

Fiona was at the airport to meet me. We had a coffee before driving back which was, of course, a very chatty and fun drive with lots of catching up and general chatter. Straight to Mum's when we got to Banbury . . . . . it felt good to be home :)