Backpacking

Day 1: 31st January Leaving Do's and Don'ts

London, United Kingdom

As I write this I'm sprawled out on a sun lounger - granted, Heathrow Terminal 1 is not the most exotic location in the world, but I'm comfy, the sun's shining and I won't be anywhere near a desk for the next year of my life...

My leaving bash went really well the other night. It was a good turnout, and I had the chance to chat to nearly everybody before I went. Bit annoyed I forgot my camera though. I felt a bit out-of-sorts at the meal - I put the churning in my stomach down to nerves at first - but I barely touched my food and couldn't drink (at that stage, it's time to worry). The next morning I woke up feeling terrible, sick to the stomach with a banging headache, and it wasn't a hangover. Great timing to pick up a shitty virus, eh? The sole benefit was that I could unleash the little blighter on the unsuspecting public of Tokyo. Anyway, after spending most of the day in bed, I'm feeling a fair bit better today...

Well, I'd never been on a long haul flight before, so it was all a bit of a novelty (which quickly wore off unfortunately). There was an 18 channel selection of things to watch on your own

little TV screen, from Little Britain to Michael Palin, films such as the Bourne Supremacy and The Village, and - my little nephew Ben would love it! - a channel showing Toy Story non-stop. There was even a map showing you where you are at the moment, and altitude, wind speed and ETA and stuff. It was educational, too - I learnt there was a town in Sweden called Bastad. To control all this there were a ton of