The Journey's Start Part 1: 36 Hours

36 hours.

36 hours of travel, that's what it takes to get from the tiny village  of Tan Lan in North Wales to the megalopolis of Jakarta in Indonesia, via Heathrow and the oasis of commercialism and designer brands that is Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar. Huge thanks to my parents for driving to Heathrow, saved me the huge stress and time it takes getting to Heathrow via the trains and underground.

A great tip if your like me and going away for a long time and pretty much need to take the kitchen sink but only have a small rucksack, pay for the safety wrapping a get them to stick other things in with it! They're actually quite open to this as most airline check-in staff don't like rucksacks due to the loose straps so this makes their lives easier as well as ours! For me paying the £10 for the safety wrap was totally worth it as I was able to sneak an extra backpack through filled with walking boots and toiletries by getting it wrapped together with my rucksack so that it was still only one checked item less than 30kg, though the result bore more than a striking resemblance to a humongous Christmas turkey!

The flights with Qatar Airways I'd wholly recommend, especially flying on their new A380 as I did to Doha; first class service, best food I've had on a plane, great film selection and surprisingly the cheapest prices!

Managed to sweet talk the check-in girl to giving me extra leg room seats right up the front of the plane for no extra cost! Pays to be nice and polite.

Not the best of photos showing the A380, but my Mum wanted to see pics of the plane.

One thing that stuck with me though and may seem a little odd is the view I had whilst flying over London. Seeing the masses of light and their connections through lit roads and motorways I was reminded of pictures I'd seen of the connections of nerves or blood vessels in the body. Masses of light at the vital organs the biggest at the brain of London and smaller masses at the small towns all linked by the golden arteries of light of the country's roads and motorways. This effect though I didn't see when flying over Doha or Jakarta, this may be that London has grown or evolved steadily over time compared to the other cities which have expanded rapidly over a short few years so lack this more natural look to them.

London from the air at night

The surprisingly tasty meal of beef in a thyme and garlic sauce

Though I spent 9 hours in the airport in Doha, there isn't much to write about it as I didn't get to venture out into the city. The airport itself is nice, modern and clean and clearly pays homage to the vast amounts of money being poured into the region at the moment with it's modern architecture and vast array of designer shops akin to the malls you expect to find in any of the neighbouring Emirates. This was the huge contrast to what lay ahead in Jakarta........