Massive farewell curry and late night packing should have left me ready for a good nights sleep on Tuesday, and I did sleep really well, between the panicked wake ups every half an hour. A combination of nerves and excitement meant I left the house yawning at the modest time of 0900.

A teary farewell from Mum at the station and I was on my way. I was impressed I had managed to fit everything into one holdall and a daysack but this didn't stop me form almost wiping some poor guy out with 27kg of falling bag as I tried to get it on the train. I then managed to get myself lost getting from London Kings Cross Platform 0??? to the 'Gatwick express' from St Pancras (mainly because it was called 'the train to Brighton'). Feeling it was nice to leave the country via the capital I eagerly took in the sights of the London Eye, Houses of Parliament a toy tiger up a tree and a 'Take Courage' sign painted on the side of a building, which, taking it literally and ignoring the alcoholic implication, made me feel a bit braver.

I was met at the airport by a one and a half hour delay but was compensated with a £5 food voucher. With lunch therefore sorted I settled down on the 'not so comfy once you've been there several hours' seating and promptly fell asleep.

PS. Had to wait until I got to Dubai to post as Gatwick fails to provide free Wifi-shame on you Gatwick .