A very long day

Our last day on Victoria’s southern coast.

We awoke to a sunny Sunday morning—our last in Victoria, and the start of a long “day” of travel.

Our hosts drove us to Warrnambool to catch the train to arrive in Melbourne at 20:30; then a bus from downtown to the airport. Our flight was to leave at 01:05 Monday morning but we were in the air five minutes early. I’d selected seats at the back of one of the sections to have just two seats in the row; all of the rest of the economy section is configured as 3-4-3. These seats also have a bit more leg room, so we managed to catch a bit of sleep on the 7.5 hr flight to Singapore.

Katharine at the free Internet kiosks at Changi Airport.

Singapore’s Changi Airport is big and modern, with the typical shopping arcade of major airports. Free Internet access helped pass some of the time in our quite welcome 3 hour layover.

Back aboard for the next leg to London Heathrow—and 13 hours in the air as we followed the sun over 12 time zones to arrive at 15:30.

A terrorism threat had no apparent effect on Heathrow arrivals, but the customs clearance wait took almost the hour the signs predicted. Then we were out with our bags and onto a bus to the car hire place. With our GPS installed in the Volvo diesel—and a bit of maneuvering practice in the parking lot—we were soon onto the M25 for the 2 hour drive to Katharine’s cousin’s place.

Finally… into a bed after nearly 44 hours of travel.