So, once again it's almost time for what has become a biennial Autumn pilgrimage to Scotland (with the occasional foray south of the border into Sassenach territory). And yes, I admit that twenty weeks isn't exactly imminent but at the speed the year has been flying by, it's not that far away either.

Although the accommodation has been chosen and booked, some of it many months ago, a trip never quite seems real until the airline tickets are booked and confirmed. Now that little task is done there's a definite sense of excitement and adventure starting to build. You may wonder what could be adventurous about flying from Perth to Glasgow, especially when you've done the trip a few times as we have, but this time we're switching from our traditional Emirates Perth-Dubai-Glasgow flight and have opted for a KLM flight which goes via Kuala Lumpur and Amsterdam.

Interestingly enough the total flight time of 22 hours and 20 minutes differs by only a little but the KL to Amsterdam leg of the journey is quite a bit longer than we're used to. The plus side is that it's a night flight and we can sleep most of it away and, in opting for the premium economy seats with more leg room and greater recline, it should (theoretically) be a reasonably relaxed experience. Of course I could be wrong!

Transit times have been kept to an absolute minimum so at least we should avoid the added drag of hanging around airports for hours between flights.

It's years since I've been through Kuala Lumpur airport (1987 to be exact) and, thankfully, it's had a major upgrade since then. Schiphol will be an entirely new experience.