21st September 2017

WE ARRIVED….YAY

I now honestly hate flying. Though Qatar Airlines were amazing some things weren’t and not all of it was due to them.  As I posted on the 18th, Auckland Airport has a Oil Line Burst meaning an earlier flight for us so we could stop over in Melbourne.

Great take off, good flight…The plane was like a ruddy sauna, talk about dehydration and a 19 hour headache. It was horrible, the entertainment, steward/ess were great, food ok.  Next time I fly will be in short bursts.  I feel sorry for my daughters.

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A skyline image of the city of Doha in the day time. Cleare blue sky with skyscrapers of various shapes and sizes in the centre of the image…Grass at the front.

Once we finally hit Doha we worked out it was a large airport. There was no tunnel to get off, it was walk down the steps and get on a bus to the terminal.  Outside the airplane for even 1 minute at 11.15 pm and 32 c   OMG Slammed with ‘superheat’ as Claudia called it and ‘soupy’ as Belle said.  It was horrible.  Anyway, the airport was huge and pretty cool, not that we stopped to look or take photos, the girls weren’t feeling to great and nor was I.  This place had a train..wow

The second part of the flight to Manchester was much better. Newer plane, seats still uncomfortable, meals good. One steward apparently thought I was Belles sister…LOL. Belle corrected him.  Great kids movies to watch (typical me) sleep, and we all swapped seats for landing.  I have never seen such excitement on Belles face as she saw the lights for Manchester, especially considering she is scared of heights. It was delightful to see.  Then it was ENGLAND...we had arrived. Next we had to tackle getting out, which once again was a positive experience.  We werent’ sure about a couple of things re- delcaring so checked them out on a phone (I was surprised that there were no declaration forms to fill in anymore on the plane) to find all was fine and we walked out to find Mr Anders (our driver) who was wonderful.

So much has changed, even though so little has…A weird experience jounrying though countryside and towns, old and new houses…noticing some differences. Mr Anders was great.  The fresh air was most welcome, well until they the girls smelt the cow manure and rapidly shut their car windows making me laugh.

“Not as bad as sulphur,” I said.

I’m not sure they were amused.

Arrived at my parents….Looks like they lost control of their garden a bit…even though they do have a gardener every other week. It is weird being back in my childhood home.

Photos to be added once I remember to download them. Meanwhile here is an image of Little Morton Hall – a majestic black and white tudor building in Cheshire which I hope to show to my children on day.