Rambling

Hi folks, this is my first post in a long time (18 months+). I don’t have any photos so this is just a collection of my thougths about some trips I took in the last year or so.

Trip A
IOM-MAN-LHR-MEL

Trip B
MEL-KUL-NRT // FUK-KUL-SYD-MEL

Trip A
This is a big trip for me, as I moved from the lovely Isle of Man to Australia. My other half is an Aussie and after a few blissful years on the rock it was time to move to a frightening big city (Melbourne). We both resigned our jobs; I sold my house and car; and we bought single tickets. Neither of us had jobs to go to and we didn’t have a new house either (camping out with the in-laws!)

I only go Economy if I’m paying (I’m a tight bottomed accountant). So it was going to be a tight fit on the luggage allowance! Luckily, good old BA were helpful and gave us an allowance of 40kg each (so 80kg between us…as much as we could carry).

We checked in at Ronaldsway Airport on the Isle of Man in late August 2005. We got checked right through to Melbourne.

The first leg was IOM-MAN on what was then known as BA CitiExpress. The aircraft was a Dash 8-300, rego G-BRY?.

During my time living on IOM, I’d done this short hop hundreds of times. Today would be the last time!

We got to MAN and took the train into the city for some shopping.

Next leg was MAN-LHR, also on BA. It was an A319 – I was disappointed, as I saw an A320-100 at the gate and it is one of the few types I’ve not been on. Anyway, the A319 hop was quick and we soon got our butts over to T4 at Heathrow.

Final leg was LHR-MEL on a BA 747-400. At the gate, we got upgraded to Premium Economy. I was glad….it is a much nicer way to travel. More leg room, more hip room.

I got a little teary on the takeoff roll – I am well travelled but somehow it felt different to be moving to live abroad.

I managed a little sleep on the flight, which is testament to how much better the seating arrangement actually is on WT+.

Next installment soon.