Sleep deprivation by necessity and choice. I finally finished packing (and it all fit! Booyah!) at around 1am on Tuesday morning ready to fly out at 6. On two hours sleep I was tired but functioning to bid farewell with minimal tears and start my adventure. :-)
At takeoff we had a full row, and a few funny instances of trying to communicate between English and Iranian Arabic. After takeoff the Iranian couple moved (no sabotage on my part -I promise O:-) ), they had a faulty seat which didn't recline, so I ended up with a whole row and 3 pillows. I celebrated with 8 hours sleep, and could only smile at the slightly envious facial expressions of the hostess.
Fortunately I was refreshed when I got to Dubai as the plane stopped at the terminal 2 minutes after boarding started on the flight to Manchester. With high anxiety and lots of what if scenarios running through my head I patiently waited to disembark. Fortunately Emirates had someone waiting to lead a group of us with the same flight transfer to the next gate. (Next stop over in Dubai I should have time to explore - it looks interesting but I may need a map. Complex is an understatement! It's like a multi storey maze with glass walls.
During next flight, Dubai to Manchester, I learnt the true meaning of cattle class, in an older packed plane where you walk through business class on the way to ecconomy. 7 long hours of timing walks with the hostesses carts and crowds not overfilling the nook around the toilets. I was aiming to stay awake for the majority of this flight to set my body clock correctly - it worked I finally made it out of the airport (smaller and much more easily navigable this time). Arriving at the Manchester yha I promptly fell into bed.
That's the end of my 35 hour day 1.
