Heathrow or bust!

We left John and Alison with their married life(and Children) at 8.45am and set the GPS for the Europecar office at Heathrow airport. We both had final cuddles of the two boys before we left knowing that next time we saw them they would be big boys (certainly bigger boys) We have been invited to come back for Christmas, so maybe in a couple of years). The drive to Heathrow went perfectly to plan until in the airport on a large roundabout Ian went off on the wrong exit (this had happened a few times but only one memorable honk occured as a consequence) then we had to turn back, but all came together and we rolled into the office ahead of the return time.

The VW Polo was a low power car (1.2 litre) but excellent for the England conditions where winding, narrow roads required manouvability and turning capabilities and the economy was great considering fuel is expensive.

We were some hours early for the flight but that was ok and time soon passed as we drank coffee and read papers. The last political debate was scheduled for that night. We had become interested with the British politics and this was the first election where Britain had TV debates between the leaders. The flight to Doha over 7 hours was boring for Alison but ok for Ian as he watched Avatar twice (he hadn't realised Sigorney Weaver was in it). The 2 hour stopover in Doha is interesting as there are people of all nationalities passing through and it is fascinating to see all the different styles of dress and everyone mixing it all together. On landing in Doha in the middle of the night it could be clearly seen as a place we might want to overnight at next time as it looked interesting from the air. The layout to the city had obviously been well planned and the night lighting gave it an exotic appearance! As we were getting things together to get off the plane we struck up a conversation with an English lady sitting behind us.'Oh' said Ian, 'are you getting off here?'' Yes.' Alison said 'Oh we would like to overnight here, what is it like?'Then she added " I am here for an interview to be nanny for the Royal Family!!!!!' We wonder if she got the job.

For our next leg to Singapore we were shuffled into a transfer bus to get to our flight and were in there for half an hour. This was a bit uncomfortable as it was standing room only. There were so many people on that flight (4 bus loads). Seven hours later we arrived in Singapore and it was daylight. Alison slept most the way but Ian again watched movies. We had to wait another 5 hours in Singapore which was a little tedious. Due to lack of sleep, Ian had to lay down, but the airport did not seem the place, so doing the Aussie thing he found some lawn out the front of the terminal and lay there in the shade for an hour. Alison was not happy and thought there might be a Singapore law against that, as Singapore seems to have laws for just about everything.

Finally we boarded our last flight which was around 4 hours to Darwin. We quickly passed through customs and Melissa was there to pick us up. We arived home at around 3am and sat talking until 5.30am, neither of us really tired (although we knew we were both exhausted). The decision to head to bed was finally agreed and once there we could have slept for a week.

We both agreed that we made excellent travelling companions and that the trip was fantastic. We watched Doc Martin the next night and just couldn't believe we had just been there!