Start of a long journey

1630, Singapore
So here we are waiting at Changi T3 to board the plane, and looking ahead not only to London, Riga, Belarus and Ukraine, but also to the miles and the years we have before us. This of course is our first trip as a married couple, and this provides the perfect platform to do something we haven't previously accomplished - start AND maintain a travel blog.

If you know us well, you'd expect that blogging on the go is revolutionary for us. It explains my chief motivation to purchase an iPad. Yes we know there are more sophisticated uses for a tablet but this constitutes a couple of Great Leaps Forward for us and we are eagerly embracing this digital future (albeit we pray it doesn't lead down the same disastrous road as its historical Chinese namesake).

2130, Riyadh

Nine hours later, and we've safely landed in King Khaled International Airport (KKIA) in Riyadh via Saudi Airlines (they've abbreviated it to the more phonetically pleasing 'Saudia'). We got the Singapore-London, transiting in Saudi Arabia both ways, return ticket at what we thought was a good bargain - just a little over a thousand bucks - but we didn't know what to expect. Any doubt we had has been momentarily dispelled by this first flight, although praise should wait to be confirmed by the subsequent connecting flight.

The ride was smooth, save a bumpy stretch when we were approaching to Sri Lanka. In-flight entertainment was adequate, although Mary's audio didn't work and we shared a single one throughout. The food was not bad - I particularly liked the Asiatic Indian Vegetarian Meal (anachronistic culinary nomenclature notwithstanding) I pre-ordered.

The flight wasn't full, so there was a lot of space, which was actually arranged very interestingly. There was a nice little space towards the back of the plane - for prayer. The last four or five central rows of seats were marked off, to minimize cleaning up afterwards I thought, thought it turned out they were reserved as makeshift beds for members of the cabin crew.

Service was friendly, perhaps because the crew had ample rest. On my way to the toilet a quick scan of the in-flight entertainment screens ahead of me revealed I wasn't the only one watching Iron Man III. A quick scan of the faces on my way back revealed passengers were not the only ones entertaining themselves.

KKIA has a modest departure area, which we fully explored in all of ten minutes. So here's hoping the above will keep us occupied for the next three odd hours. To London!