Day One of the journey of a life time.

We got to the airport last night around 7 pm. after a day full of preparing for the trip as well as ensuring the house was left clean and tidy for our wonderful 'in residence' house sitter Barb.

I am sure S&N will be extremely well taken care of in our absence. There will be no need for them to miss us, of that I am certain.

It certainly will be interesting to see what they'll be like personality wise on our return.

We had them groomed the day before our departure so they were smelling beautiful and all light and fluffy for indoors adventures.

We are so very impressed with the dog groomer Shaz, we have rebooked for just after our return.

I do think the dogs will like it also.

Many thanks go to Lizzie for recommending her for more than one reason.

We are currently flying over Iran I believe and will soon hit the skies of Turkey before we reach Europe.

It was a balmy 26 degrees this morning when we stepped out of the plane in Dubai and I had to pinch myself as it was just like disembarking in Thailand or Vietnam.

 We only had a brief exposure to the elements in Dubai airport as our stop over was 21/2 hours there. Being so very tired after a long flight from Melbourne, it was a little difficult to grasp the enormity of where we were, let alone summon much interest in the gaudy shops as we whisked by on buses and trains looking for where we had to wait again for our next plane.

A quick drink of water for Murray and a glass of freshly made lemonade pour moi ($11 later) and we were ready to wait again for this next leg.

Our flight over was relatively uneventful.

We were a bit disappointed early in the piece as our initial seat allocation had been changed. We were to have had 'front row' seats but through the course of time they had been changed to hemmed in seats, but all in all, the seats weren't too uncomfortable. One was an aisle seat for me so we really could not complain. The guy next door to Murray was either snoring or sneezing all through the night which was a little disconcerting but you put up with what you have to I suppose. The little pillows came in handy!!! The flight between Dubai and Paris has Murray sitting in an aisle seat and I am next to him in a row of four which is a good thing as this means no strangers are having to clamber over us, added to which the seat next door to me is empty so we can spread out a bit.

Meals were delicious.... I don't know what the fuss is about airline food as it was all delicious (we must have been hungry) and served at the appropriate time.

I had a bit of a Susan Sarandon fest (one of my most favourite of actors) out of Melbourne. I watched a movie about serial murders that turned out to be mercy killings in which she played a policeman,  then another movie which actually was very well done, titled "Tammy" featuring Melissa McCarthy and the above S.S. Quite a hoot as it turned out and I had a bit of a laugh which was what it's all about.

This leg of the flights is seeing me watch Series 4 of Downton Abbey....am up to No. 2 as I am writing out of a possible 6, so what I miss out on this trip I will catch up on, on our way home.

The bonus of the flight is that Murray has made a pledge that next time we will fly either business class or first class if only for the pleasure.

So this ends the first writings of the trip.

To be continued fine folk!