Getting here

After a whirlwind of sorting out my desk at work, leaving do's, sorting out the airfreight, selling stuff and all those other jobs which we really should have done over the past 3 years but needed a looming deadline to kick us into action, suddenly it was 5.30am and time to leave for California.

It was a wonderfully sociable morning as Mum & Dad (who seem to spend much of their retirement on route to Chichester harbour where Dad keeps the boat he'd always hankered after), and Hugo's Mum who was in London were able to meet us for a coffee at Heathrow before we left. In a wonderful coincidence friends of ours were also on the same flight so we had an opportunity to catch up on the plane. It made leaving so much easier, particularly for Hugo who wasn't returning to England 2 weeks later as I was.

However the very early morning was made slightly worse by some classic Claire planning which meant we were out clubbing for my work's "Claire's not quite leaving do" until 2am. It was a great night though, and as we were lucky enough to have Virgin Upper Class tickets included in the relocation, the in-flight bed with pillow and duvet and 4 hours sleep certainly eased the pain (after a nice steak of course).

Never before when the pilot has said we're an hour from landing have I thought* deep down "no please fly around a bit longer - I haven't had time to enjoy all this luxury yet" I am so going to struggle back in Economy now - no bed, no duvet, no food on demand, no table cloth, no dinner opposite your loved one, no "would you like a glass of champagne"!

* Not very environmentally friendly but please see section on planting trees.