After what seemed like weeks of saying goodbye, bidding farewells and shedding tears with our nearest and dearest, and then meeting (to some degree of embarrassment) those very people you'd just said goodbye to the very next day - we were finally off. A new home and life awaited us - the feeling was surreal, more akin to going on holiday then the reality of giving up life in the UK to relocate 4000 miles Eastwards.
Fortunately it was raining! It's always easier to move to India when it's raining -things look grimmer, making a life where the temperature rarely drops below 25 seem more appealing. As Alicia and I ran around similar to the headless chickens that we would most likely encounter in some future back street of Delhi, we polished off a few last minute tasks. You know minor stuff - like sanding and sealing the decking and offloading my car, just the type of things you need three hours before emmigrating.
I was still in the shower when the limosine driver appeared. Having a limosine driver take us to Heathrow seemed perfectly normal after the events of the year so far. Don't get me wromg - the Virign Business Class home to airport pickup service was no stretched limo, so no opportunities to blast out music and shout at cyclists whilst drinking maddog - but a very comfy leather seated volvo. The driver was very accomodating as Alicia and I piled almost 10 bags onto his shiny seats. I am not sure if Alicia had lost the ability to count, or had no appreciation of the weight of a kilo, but we certainly had more than the allowed baggage.
But when one flies business class, they kind of overlook details like that. In fact, when one flies Virign business class and arrives 90 minutes later via limo at Heathrow, one arrives at ones own terminal, avoiding all the riff-raff. There is a dedicated security check-in just for such passgengers, manned by bored looking staff who have a handful of passengers each day to screen. They looked mildly excited when they found a bottle of PVA glue in my hand luggage (don't ask) but it was easily and efficiently handled, returning them to their day of emptiness.
And then one is escorted to the lounge - oh boy!