We made it to Heathrow yesterday and a ‘minor’ hiccup with our booking (refer back to yesterdays comments about inter-airline communication) was smoothed over (we were told that we hadn’t actually been allocated any seats!). A few nervous moments wondering if we might not be leaving after all, was handled with the calm one has to adopt in front of your children. Role-models and all that. All good in the end and actually was sorted out very professionally (massively under booked flight might have helped!). We left the UK at 9pm on Thursday 7^th November. My wife gets the highest possible award for making our hand luggage stretch to its absolute maximum. Somehow her sweet smile and explanations about carrying the children’s essential items got us through each of the 10 or so ‘check points’ that I was convinced we were going to be challenged / blocked at. Looking like we were carrying our entire worldly goods in our hand luggage was quite a sight as we journeyed thorough the airports (and quite an effort for the ‘pack horse’ parents). I must confess that actually being allowed on to the plane after our transit through Dohar, was a bit of a relief!