Well this is it. The countdown is over. I got a good nights sleep and awoke early and had a very orderly morning - house tidied, last minute washing done, a chat with the neighbour and on my way. So nice of Kuldeep to offer to drive me to the airport.

As usual I got to the airport way too early and after something to eat and saying goodbye to Kuldeep I found a nice sunny corner to sit in and had time for a nice long last minute phone call with Rowan who was at the cowshed. Tried FaceTiming John and Nate as promised but no answer so I messaged a photo of the Emirates plane to them.

I spent an hour or more talking to a lovely young lady from Peru - she was on her way home after a month in Australia. So started practicing speaking to non-English speaking people in preparation for VaughnTown. Finally 18:30 came round and it was time to board.

I'm now en-route to Melbourne - it's 21:08 in Auckland, 10.08 in Cairo and 19.08 in Sydney ( wonder if Melbourne is the same time.) So far a good flight - I even have a spare seat beside me which is great. Yummy dinner - Beef casserole, mash, carrots and beans washed down with a wee bottle of red wine. Airline food has certainly improved over the years.

I watched a Helen Mirren movie - Woman in Gold which was great and not long before landing in Melbourne the chap at the other end of my row asked to borrow a pen to fill in his Australian Arrival Card - so we got chatting. He was travelling with his wife and they live in Albany Auckland and came originally from Iran. He's a barber and his wife is a hairdresser - some more English practice.

So back on the plane and heading to Dubai - again I had a spare seat beside me, but a young guy in the right hand aisle had the whole row to himself the lucky devil so he promptly spread out and went to sleep. I'm never that lucky.

Another dinner, this time some Babaganoush (know that's not spelt right but the brain is tired and spellcheck didn't find a word) followed by a most delicious Lamb Biriyani. These meals are really delicious, or was it just that I was hungry?

Another movie (Alice from Venice) a bit of a sleep and somewhere in the middle of the night I spotted the news of a plane crash in Sinai with 244 people losing their lives. OMG, some talk of IS involvement, but the Egyptian Prime Minister is saying there were technical difficulties. Not the kind of news you want to hear when you are 30,000 feet in the air in a plane and knowing your next flight will take you over the Sinai Desert. I will work on the theory that two planes won't be downed in 24 hours in the same area.

But of course the good news - The All Blacks beat the Aussies and retained the World Cup.

We had a very bumpy ride from Sri Lanka up the coast of India. It started with one hell of a drop in altitude which woke everyone up with a start, but after being seat belted in for about half an hour the rest of the trip was uneventul with a breakfast being served before we arrived at Dubai and time for another movie, Five Floors Up.

OMG Dubai Airport - we arrived at 05.15am. It is huge and there were thousands of people about even at that early hour, but I managed to find my way around - a couple of elevators and a train to the right terminal, and I located Gate B19 and even found the Diners Lounge three floors up. Unfortunately only time for a quick coffee and to watch a few minutes of the World Cup replaying before heading back to Gate B19, only to realise I should be at Gate B29. Thank goodness I got the right Letter - there's A B and C and they are miles apart. So a quick scoot down the terminal to Gate 29. Luckily I always arrive early and check, check and double check. Got talking to a South African Vodafone employee traveling to Cairo on business and although we were seated in the same Zone in the plane, we weren't in the same row. This plane is a squishy Boeing 777 - not a lot of knee or leg room in this one, and I am stuck on this for another 3.5 hours and yes - Murphy's law - don't have an empty seat beside me this time. First up another breakfast - so far that's two dinners, a supper and two breakfasts - oh well, lots of protein as I had scrambled eggs both times for breakfast.

Sitting beside me was an Egyptian business man travelling home from China and Taiwan. (Madigy Rhalil - I think from memory) He was very pleasant and practiced his English on me and I had yet another opportunity to try and use easy to understand English. It is amazing how many odd things we say in our day-to day speaking that are so hard to understand for those who use English as a second or third language.

As we came in to land in Cairo he took a series of photos on his phone and has promised to send them on to me. How nice is that?

And as I write this we are preparing to land in Cairo. Scary - exciting, and I can't believe I'm actually here. Bring on a shower and a cup of coffee.