Very exciting day, today - my first ever flight!

5.30am: leave for Stansted (via Dawn's house) not having slept at all the night before.

6.00am: Five girls in the car: so much chat, giggling,and general excitement about our 'holiday' that we hardly hear any of Dawn's special 'Going to Ireland' tape.

8.35am: In the air! Not too scary so long as you don't look out of the window. At all. Ever.

9.45am: Landing. Horrid feeling in the ears and sudden bump but otherwise fine.

10.00am-6.30pm: Fun and games with the girls IN IRELAND!!!! The most drawn out game was 'Finding somewhere to eat lunch which caters for a coeliac vegetarian, a low GI diet and a no-yeast person.' Around 3.30pm we finally sat down to lunch. Just to add to the total number of means of transportation used in any one day, we took the car ferry across the river Shannon (longest river in the British Isles at over 200 miles - thanks for the inflight quiz, Sarah).

6.30pm: Back at Shannon airport. Not really looking forward to flying again but not actually requiring sedation.

9.30pm: Solid ground!!! Ears still a bit funny, though have popped.

11.00pm: Home sweet home. Well, college anyway.

Not sure I'll be rushing onto a plane again for fun, but not as bad as it might have been, thanks to Dawn ('If we were in Australia, we'd be in Shannon by now'), Sarah (action songs in the airport bus at 6am), Helen (if it moves, or even if it doesn't, she'll have taken a photo) and Mandy('Where is America?'). Still laughing after 17 hours in each other's company - must be true friends after this!