The Long Haul - Friday 6th and Saturday 7th Oct 2017

After a helter skelter day I am finally packed and ready to head to the UK. Brett drops me at the airport and, along with a sense of anticipation and excitement, and a heavy bag, I also have a very heavy heart. I have just learned that a dear friend’s son committed suicide the previous day. He recently turned 21, the same age as Michael. It seems incongruent - I am farewelling my husband and heading away for a few weeks of fun; Sue is grappling with having to say goodbye to her beautiful boy forever. Be strong Sue. Fly free Jake.  

Meanwhile I am about to fly cooped up in a tin can for hours on end. For some this is a nightmare prospect, for me it’s pleasure. I love flying - not only do I still marvel at the glory of flight, it’s about the only time I get to do nothing but watch movies. There is the added bonus of being transported somewhere nice while I’m at it. A silver lining for this trip comes in the form of an Emirates lounge pass and three seats to myself. It’s good to know people of influence at an airline - thanks Jill L for organising this for me. It made a difference.
(I should point out that this trip is a solo one to catch up with friends and I have a full and fabulous schedule of fun and connection. I will also be writing articles on London and Dorset for Destinations Magazine so will have travel writing hat on too).

I’m ashamed to say that, despite best efforts to travel light for once in my life, the sadness of suicide had blurred my discipline and I threw more clothes and stuff into the case than I intended - uh-oh, I am overweight before I begin. In my defence, I will be in different climates and my hand luggage is light! I mention Jill’s name to the check-in lady when she worryingly talks about charging me. Fees are graciously waived and I have mercifully been spared the ordeal and indignity of repacking, an action I have endured in airports all over the place. 
The same things always end up going on the same plane, just shuffled around a bit. One day I will learn - or maybe one day the airlines will ... a few kilos over is not that big a deal. Unless they're those one that won’t budge from your belly! 

Leg one is the long 17-hour Auckland to Dubai trek. It’s a night flight, I watch movies in between phases of sleep which is reasonably peaceful thanks to being able to fully stretch out. The plane is not full and the journey passes surprisingly quickly. It’s the bumpiest ride I’ve had in many years; dinner service is delayed and the seat belt sign is on most of the way. The cabin crew are asked to be seated and buckled in numerous times. I get used to the jiggling about and don’t notice it after a while.
En route I watch The Beguiled (disturbing and confronting, with a measure of charm), The Trip to Spain (light, amusing and a little irritating), The Dinner (multi-layered and thought-provoking) and Whitney ‘Can I Be Me’ (beautiful and tragic).

We land in Dubai at 5am and the captain apologises for a particularly turbulent flight. It is 30+ degrees already; the warmth is not easy to bear wearing a coat. A bus takes us to the appropriate connection terminal; it’s a long ride across this massive airport but thankfully just a short period in transit.

On board for leg two of the journey. The captain informs us of a problem - someone loading cargo has crashed his cargo-loading machine into the cargo door. It requires assessment and repair. We wait. And wait. The captain is obviously as sick of waiting and wondering as we are so he tells us he is going to personally go and check out what’s going on. Shortly after that intervention, we are under way, an hour after scheduled take-off. Captain tells us he has changed to a fast flight plan to make up time. Nice Captain.

I sit next to a couple from Kent who have just spent three weeks visiting their daughter and grandchildren in Cambridge. They have travelled to NZ a number of times previously and, although they lamented the awful weather and horrific cost of housing and living, they were sad to leave and will be back.

This is a day flight and I watch more movies. The Secret Scripture (heart-wrenching and heart-warming, recommended by the woman next to me) and A Kind of Murder (intriguing, polished and somewhat bleak). The lunch is very good.

We land at Heathrow and are told to remain seated, police are coming on board. A bevy of boys in blue march down the aisle and a level of angst can be detected amongst passengers. A young man is escorted off. I suspect he may be a druggie who was trying to get a fix in the loo as, towards the end of the flight there was a random announcement about not smoking in the lavatories. It seemed odd at the time but makes some sense now. 

The queue at immigration is long and the air is as uncomfortably warm as it was in Dubai. I am interrogated at a level akin to arriving in Eastern Europe in the 80’s, due to stringent security levels. They may be rigorous around people entering the country but they have no concerns about what they bring with them; there are no laborious biosecurity regimes here. I am greeted by my friends Jill and Peter who cannot hide their look of horror at the amount of luggage I have, but I promise them it’s not as bad as it looks. Oh all right, it is quite bad! We laugh and hug and it is great to see them again. 

It’s a pleasant overcast London day, 18 degrees, and we drive to their Kingston home past Kempton Park racecourse (going there in a few days) and Hampton Court (went there last time). It’s six years since I was last in London but it seems like yesterday. Even though I am more than ready to shed my travel clothes, I feel like I have just slipped into something very comfortable. It’s great to be back in London Town, my second home and favourite city. 

We enjoy a late lunch and bubbles, chat into the early evening. At 7.30pm sleep beckons; it’s the earliest night I’ve had in years! I sleep soundly.

OBSERVATION OF THE DAY:

Ironically, I realise all the movies I watched on board were themed around mental health issues. It was not my intention to watch a batch of movies with this theme but it is hard to escape the reality of it these days. The complexities and nuances of mental health pervade all aspects of life and touch everyone in some form or other at some time or other. People have become so overloaded, overwhelmed and overburdened by the choices, expectations and obligations of life and that fine line between strength and vulnerability has become so very hard to detect. 

At least, up high in the sky zooming across the world, one can let everyday life take a back seat for a wee while. I took time to reflect on all the good things in my life as we flew along in the realm of angels. My precious boys were never far from my thoughts. I couldn't shake the tragic news of Sue's beloved Jake.  

View of Dubai