12.00 noon Tuesday Dubai time.

We were all very lucky that Ian Gussey had volunteered to drive us to Heathrow and with all the bags packed we arrived dead on time 7.00pm at a packed and hyper Terminal three.

Check in could not have been smoother and following a quick bite to eat and a pint to calm our nerves we were loaded onto a relatively packed plane.

Our first drama of the trip was a slightly inebriated Norwegian who was escorted from the plane having been a bit too familiar with the girl he was sat next to.

We are currently sat in the departure lounge of Dubai airport waiting for the next (and shorter) leg to Cochin