Tuesday 17th November, three months after booking my flights the big travel day had finally arrived.

My flight, well the first of two flights to be precise, was due to depart Manchester Terminal 1 at 8.30pm. It was strange having a whole day building up to leaving and saying goodbye, I think it actually made it more difficult. Anyway the day consisted of packing, unpacking and packing some more; the great hand luggage dilema…what would I need to occupy myself for 14 hours up in the air and two in an airport; a dental appointment (not too bad as my dad’s my dentist) and finally eating some cheese (as venturing to Asia means goodbye cheese which is obviously the hardest goodbye).

Despite spending 40 minutes queuing through security Terminal 1 was surprisingly empty which was really nice. As i’m approaching my 30th birthday (ARHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH) I had some much appreciated birthday money to spend in the airport. This meant prosecco, a new bikini and chocolate treats to take to Malaysia.

My first flight was delayed due to Storm Barney which is not what you want to hear when you’re travelling alone and the tiniest bit of turbulence means a crash is imminent. It was delayed further by the utter chaos of 400+ people trying to board a plane with no queuing systems in place…good one Emirates. Then it was delayed even more when unfortunately a passenger on the plane had a heart attack, just awlful. Two hours after our original departure time we took off with a plane full of people panicked they would  now miss their connections (me included).

My original stopover time of two hours and thirty-five minutes in Dubai airport  was reduced to just minutes. I had planned to raid the duty free but in fact all I had time to do was run through the airport and board my flight.

On the positive side this plane was empty which meant I had a whole three seats to spread out on, amazing!!! 7 more hours up in the air and I arrived in MALAYSIAAAAAA where the celebrations started with donuts.