We could hardly believe our luck as boarded our flight to Dubai, when the aisle seat next to us was empty.  We willed the flight crew to lock the doors, anxiously watching for a last minute passenger to appear.  But no – we did indeed have that prized extra seat for the entire leg.  Quickly we spread ourselves out, dumping our stuff gleefully onto the middle seat.  Apart from a toddler who only stopped howling when she exhausted herself into sleep, it was an uneventful flight. 

Settling ourselves into our seats on the second leg to Gatwick (unfortunately no extra seat this time), we brought up the flight tracking screen, interested to see where the route, necessitated by current events, would take us.

Flying out of Dubai, with a good view of the ever expanding city and the towering Burj Khalifa, we saw huge expanses of Saudi Arabian sand.  We reached the Red Sea coast, with its dramatic desert scenery, then turned hard right. We followed the coastline north, continuing right along the Suez Canal, past Cairo and Alexandria.  The pyramids at Giza were below, but not on our side of the plane.   

Crossing the eastern end of the Mediterranean, we could pick out Santorini with its distinctive caldera and cliffs, then the mainland of Greece and Albania.  It was not lost on us that we were flying over a significant portion route of our 2020 “lost cruise” from Rome to Dubai. 

The plane then hugged the eastern Adriatic coast, and we had fun spotting the fjord of Kotor, the bright red roofs of Dubrovnik, and the harbour and adjoining peninsula of Split – all clearly recognisable.  Veering left, we flew over Venice – but alas we weren’t in the right seats to see the lagoon. 

Next were the Alps, remarkable for a noticeable absence of snow.  Apparently there is only one summer ski resort still operating, and we could clearly see why.  France was buried under a layer of white clouds, which only dissipated after we crossed the Channel.  We circled over Brighton, amazed at how brown the fields are.  We could have been flying over Melbourne in January, except for the hedges.  The UK has been experiencing record temperatures, and much of it is drought declared.  Today it was 30 degrees, cooling down a little tomorrow.

And so 30-something hours after leaving home, we settled in for two nights in the unassuming town of Horley – very convenient for returning to Gatwick in a couple of days’ time.  The apartment – and for that matter the town – is very quiet, which suits us just fine. It was a long wait for a long trip, but we got here eventually.