Here we go!

 Oh happy day!  A 17 hour flight followed by a 7 hour flight.  But it will all be worth it in the end. 

The family will greet us - not to mention our NZ-lolly-laden-bags - with joy.  They will fight over the last scorched almond or toffee pop, while I switch from Emirates' luggage allowance (generous) to Easyjet's luggage allowance (stingy).  Yes, I am one of those travellers who prides herself on taking the smallest possible bag.  Also, I'm trying to be kind to my husband, who has terrible memories of our first European soujourn, during which he had his 75l pack on his back, my 65l pack on his front and his daypack in one hand.  I had my daypack only and was whining about how heavy it was...

I once read about a woman who travelled with her passport in one pocket and her toothbrush in the other; and while I couldn't quite manage this myself, it's definitely something to aspire to.  If, possibly, not something to enjoy sitting next to on public transport.

Anyone who normally contacts me via my phone eg calls or txts, please be aware my phone number won't work while we're travelling.  I am not snubbing you!

We'll have one night to recover from jetlag before heading to Rome, where I will be living La Vida Loca!  No, wait, wrong continent.  I will be living La Dolce Vita.  I hope.

In the meantime, rather than photos of us sitting eagerly/resignedly at the airport, I attach a graph I made showing the breakdown of our time by location.  Also a map done by my father, thus proving definitively that the data-analysing apple doesn't fall too far from the data-analysing tree...