Going home!

Today started at a "sparrow's fart" in the morning - 5am. I braved the icy cold temperatures and ran to the bathroom for a quick shower however I had to wait about 10 minutes for the water to get hot - not good when it's freezing outside!

Sue, Mark and Sam were up by the time I headed downstairs (Sam had been sleeping in Sue and Mark's bed for the past two nights!). I thanked Sam for letting me use his bed and he promptly told me that I should have slept on the floor - ok then!

Mark was kind enough to drive Sue and I to the airport as Sue also had an 8am flight to head back to Australia to see her Dad who is not well. Once checked in, we headed to Starbucks for a caffeine hit and some breakfast before heading through passport control to do some duty free shopping. I got stuck behind some Korean tour group so it took me forever to get through customs but eventually I caught up with Sue.

After shopping, we said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways (although we were both flying to Hong Kong). The first slight was pretty uneventful (and better than expected as it was with Air China) and the transit through Hong Kong went smoothly. They even had a board with my name on when I got off the plane to show me where I needed to go to pick up my next boarding pass - efficient huh?

I didn't have a lot of time between flights so by the time I got through the security check, I just had enough time to walk through one of the shops before heading to the boarding gate to board the plane.

The Cathay Pacific plane was pretty crappy and old (they still had the ashtrays in the armrests). I organized a bulkhead seat but still could not stretch my legs out as there was not enough room. Other than that, the flight was very uneventful until just before we began our descent. The stewardess came around to offer everyone a last drink. Some how, she managed to drop an entire glass of water into my lap and onto my iPod. I was so shocked I just sat there! She quickly ran to get me some paper towel. I felt so bad for her and she couldn't apologize enough.

Now I'm writing today's blog as I sit on the KLIA Ekspres train. I can't wait to get home and see Ross and Black and Blue again!

As you can see from the photo, I made it home after 20 days away. In that time I had been to:

• Doha
• Bahrain
• Shanghai
• Beijing

A fun trip and it was great to catch up with everyone! Sondra, Caroline, Pascal in Doha. Alisha and Elyse in Bahrain. Glynis and Kevin in Shanghai and Sue and Mark in Beijing. I feel really lucky to have the opportunity to travel around and keep in touch with my friends. What a way to start 2009!