And so, after a relatively long hiatus from travelling, Willard is very excited to be finally picking up his ticket from the very nice staff at the Air France ticket desk in Manchester Airport. This flight will be from London Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur on Malaysian Airlines' new First Class, and then onto Bangkok and a connection to Chiang Mai. Since Willard is worried about loosing his frequent flyer status with bmi (he stopped flying them since they started charging for food in October) he is also going to be doing a "Mileage Run" between Chiang Mai and Bangkok a few times - to the cogniscenti on Flyertalk.COM, this is known as "the Baht Run".

...but of course, Willard first needs to GET to Heathrow, and since he has a few "Free Rental" vouchers due to expire, he chooses to do this via a one-way car rental. Of course, Willard, used to the luxury of a chauffer on his previous trips, is a bit peeved to find himself in the driving seat of a Renault Clio!

But we all finally make it to Heathrow Terminal 3, and the slightly hidden Malaysian Airlines First Class check-in desk.

On the way to the lounge, Willard finds what may well be a distant relative, who now seems to be in the employ of an Egyptian gentlemen!

But, Willard tears himself away from the reunion to take the lift up to the Golden First Class lounge. Here, he can re-acuaint himself with the little things he has come to enjoy about flying, a glass of Veuve Cliquot Champagne, hot and cold snacks, and the company of his fellow First Class passengers.