1. Planes, Trains and Automobiles Part 1

Above: Our Singapore Air A380 ready for boarding at Sydney Airport 22 May 2008

Above: From the vantage point of Row 62 in Economy (Main Deck) The new screens are bigger than previously, and it's great having the control set stored in the seat back...preferable to in the arm rest as in the Boeing 747, where it gets knocked accidentally, films change, disappear, call buttons get pushed and so on. The A380 seems roomier, even if its not. There is definitely more head room, if not leg room!

Above : The first drink and snack. I like the cup holders - another improvement over Boeing aircraft.

Above: The best meal I've eaten on a plane. The chicken tagine and cous cous out of Sydney. Ordered the diabetic meals (worth getting special meals; they come first, and then while everyone else is still chowing down the toilet is yours!)

Above: Some of the delights of Singapore Airport include free video games, free Internet.

Above: An altogether squeezier Boeing 777-200 from Singapore to Rome.Down the back again - row 46

It's a sad fact that, in the absence of teleportation or a Tardis, in order to get to Europe from Australia, you have to spend about 22hours in the air, plus a couple on the ground somewhere in-between (always an overlit shopping mall masquerading as an airport), not forgetting the 3 hours anticipating departure at your home aerodrome and the interminable age it takes to unload 500 bums from seats with their carry-on kitchen sinks and portmanteaus from the baggage belt.

Nevertheless, in the same way childbirth doesn't seem to deter some women from turning up for more of the same, and in the absence of an income stream more closely aligned to our desires and pretensions, we continue to fold ourselves in to knees-under-the-chin seats at the back of the bus and look forward to the next time. At least the entertainment system on Singapore Air is pretty good. I find it's when I've been able to travel every couple of years I've had a chance to catch up with all the movies missed since the last flight. This time I saw Atonement, Conversations With My Gardener and The Butterfly and the Diving Bell going over, and The Other Boleyn Girl, Roman Holiday, and Paris on the way back. (My record is an 8 movie marathon between Sydney and London. )

Unbelievably, there seem to be some people in the world who think anything over 5 hours is a long time to spend in a plane! Hah! I bet they also think they should arrive with a perfect coiffure and eyes not open only through the power of arrival-adrenaline.

Still, some things do change. When we first took off for Europe - Rome - in 1982, on a Qantas flight, it seemed to take the form of a milk train. After an interminable number of hours we were still in Australian airspace, having stopped in Melbourne and Perth, with stops in Bombay and Athens to come.

But the seat pitch 'leg room' seemed to be better in those days. Air New Zealand offered the best on its trans-Pacific flights, but nowadays, it's tray tables cutting you in half as the seat in front reclines, and DVT-grade cramps all the way.

Singapore Airlines' new A380 offers the unthought of luxury of private 'suites' up in the pointy end, but at $20 000+ that's unattainable for most of the rest of us. So while we dream of being told to turn left as we enter the plane, for most of us it's the long haul to the back of the bus.

Singapore Airport isn't a bad place for a swim, and the transit hotel is good for a few hours sleep if you've got hours to burn, and there are shower facilities at a reasonable cost if you have a limited time.