Day 1 - 3 flights, jetlag and beers...

The day started in a pickle. As if it wasn't going  to be an early enough start anyway, I got up an hour earlier than I needed to as I hadn't changed the clock in my bedroom.
So there I was at my neighbour Lisas door (she was giving me a lift to the airport) at an unearthly time of the morning  dressed and ready to go.
She answered it in her pj's  bleary eyed as I had just woken her up, and wondering what I was doing!
Oh well, enough time for a second cup of coffee and the wrinkles of the short night to iron out a little.
Both Lisa and her lovely 2 year old son Oliver took me to Gatwick in the most awful rain storm.
A tearful goodbye and I was on my own to begin my travels.....

The flight  to Thailand was in 2 parts, the first to Dubai where I stayed for 2.5 hrs and then onto Bangkok.
As we flew in the floods were clear to see, swathes of land and roads under water, very sad.
I flew with Emirates who were really good,  more so because they provided free alcohol!
During the 2 flights I managed to get 4 small bottles of wine, I drank 1 and thought it would be a good idea to save the other 3 for later.
What I didn't reckon on was getting them confiscated when trying to board the next flight as they were in my hand luggage-dam!
After another 2.5hr wait I was onto the 3rd flight of the day and on my way to the north of Thailand to Chiang Mai.
Once there I realised I had left my fleece jacket and travel pillow on the plane, they say things come in 3's so hopefully that will be the last losses for a while.
The guest house I am in is in the old part of town, big double room with free wifi (which is good as I treated  myself to a netpad) and a swimming pool, a bargain at £6.50 a night.
Having been up for almost 24hrs, I was so tired on arrival that I had 3 hours sleep.
I got up 3.30pm local time and went for a walk to explore my new surroundings, plenty of bars, shops reastaurants and temples to keep me busy.
Tonight I am in the bar of my guest house trying to stay awake - with the help of a local beer or two until it is a reasonable time to go to bed and get my body clock set to Thai time.
It is 8pm and I am sitting outside in a tee shirt and shorts sipping beer (wine v. expensive here hence my attempt at sneaking some in).
And so day 1 comes to an end, I have chatted to lots of people along the way, all with a different travel tale to tell, many on a trip lasting months and taking in many countries.
I wonder how my journey will unfold?