So, here we are again at the start of another trip! As this map (from the ever excellent Great Circle Mapper Website) we're going to the Far East! Over the years, you've seen Willard and Ken take many trips as mileage or status runs, but on this trip, we're spending miles - taking up the benefit of the various offers we've had in the past, and taking advantage of the old bmi "Cash and Miles" awards in First Class before the prices increase. As you can see, we're travelling to Hong Kong, via Copenhagen and Frankfurt, and then returning, with a loooong stopover in Thailand, via Frankfurt and Stockholm. All with as much First Class as possible - a very Willard trip!

....and yet again, just to make it a bit more interesting (and so we can try to keep our budget for the finer thigs in life) we're travelling using BBC Top Gear Challenge Rules, so it will be public transport for connections and transfers. Here is Willard in uncharicteristic mode, waiting for a bus to join Pat for a train ride to Manchester Airport.

If Willard looks a little disgruntled here, it's because he's been true to the rules, and taken a bus and an underground train to get to Lime Street station, only to then watch Pat roll up in a car! Oh, well, here we are on the train waiting for our journey to the Airport....

After a rather non-premium check-in and security process, here's Willard getting ready to run "the Gauntlet", which is our name for the tight slalom of duty free goods that Manchester Airport has thoughtfully built to slow down and impede the progress of travellers trying to get to their flights.....

Willard does seem to have found some distant cousins (what a strange idea, being named after a railway station). After excitedly explaining his travel plans, they do now seem to look a little jealous!