I have never understood the British pre-occupation with finding things to complain about at airports. Turn on the TV at any point and you can select from a multitude of shows following the fortunes of airport staff, and these people seem to spend at least 80 percent of their time being sworn at. A more stressful job I cannot imagine.

Personally, I like to look on the positive side. If there is a delay to my flight, it's an excuse to potter around the duty free store, do some people watching, have something to eat or even - god help us all - read a book. The absolute best thing that can happen is that they've overbooked my flight, which airlines routinely do for totally mysterious reasons. Presumably, they've still got the money I paid for my seat if I don't turn up, and they also have a lighter plane which would cost less to fly. It doesn't matter how you look at it, what they are basically doing is trying to make extra cash by selling seats they don't have and hoping someone won't show up... which works out fine for me, because I can accept a later flight, arrive just a couple of hours later than planned, and have enough cash compensation in my pocket to pay for my first night's stay.

Still with me? I see a few of you have fallen over from shock at the concept that airports are not gateways to hell. Perhaps it's because I've spent so much time in them, but I could quite happily spend my spare time sitting around the airport watching happy people jetting off on their travels. Come to think of it, it's probably thinking like this that made me realise one day that I should really get a life, and within days I had planned the trip I shall be relating on these pages.

Tomorrow: Bangkok, Thailand

Simon Burford is a UK based travel writer. He will be re-publishing his travel blogs, chapters from his books and other miscellaneous rantings on these pages over the coming weeks and months. You can also follow his world photo blog on Twitter at @BurfordsWorld.

Simon is also currently working on a brand new epic dystopian Science Fiction parody (it says here) - check out Rewind: The Empyreum War at http://www.rewindthemovie.net.

ALWAYS Remember, citizens - the COMPany Loves You