Blogs from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

All packed and one last look at the check list before we depart. We're meeting at the Royal Oak, Aston Abbotts (where else!) and the taxi picks us up @ 13:45. Terminal 5, Heathrow is our initial destination for the 18:35 flight to Hong Kong. We'll be flying on the new Airbus A380 so the trip has something new right from the start. "The Aston Abbotts and outlying areas formation drinking team" as we've been christened, consists of the following: Simon Guy Mike Bush Karl 'Karlos' Bickell Adrian 'Adie' Bystra Bob Chapman John 'Burgy' Burgin Due to land in Hong Kong at 14:10 local time. Let the tour begin!... read more

Even though we fly until tomorrow we've taken today off as well. We've had an excellent lunch at the Mole & Chicken at Easington with Sophie. Suoerb food and very good vfm unlike the Hiltonhotel at T4 which charges £9.60 + 12.5% service for one G&T !!!! rip off . Tomorrow its a 4:30 alarm for a 6:40 flight.... read more

Well the final day was spent in glorious sunshine doing absolutely nothing! We enjoyed the previous nights meal so much that we went back to the fish restaurant again and had an equally fine repast. We also got a good look at the lunar eclipse as it passed very close to Oman. Very weird to see the moon turn red! The next morning we grabbed an hour after breakfast on the sun bed before reluctantly making our way to the airport and home. Home via the dog kennels where we picked up Ruby who then proceeded to whinge all the way home and tell me in great detail what a horrible time she'd had! Torrential rain greeted us and when we finally made it back the boiler was off and refused to re-light - oh joy! ... read more

Flight boarded on time but didn't take off until 14:00 (45 mins late). However, a good tail wind meant we made up the time and we landed at 17:16. We made it through security and collected our bags OK. I had been carrying my kilt so I handed it back to George for his flight back to Newcastle. We said our good byes. We'd spent nearly 1 month together and we'd had an absolutlely brilliant time. My thanks to George for being such a great travelling companion and for putting up with me for so long! Many thanks to Phil W for picking me up from Heathrow. He was there ready and waiting (although still in his paint spattered work clothes! I had expected a peaked cap and a message reading "Mr Guy") We made good ... read more

Nearly finished packing. Out tonight with Sue & Sophie to a very nice restaurant. For some reason feeling very apprehensive!... read more