Our Emirates flight left Hong Kong at 12.35am for Dubai, a 9 hour flight. Abi and I determined to sleep as much as possible and didn’t turn on the technology or open our books. Belle wasn’t quite as disciplined and didn’t get as much sleep as us.

Our 1.5 hour layover in Dubai ended up adding another hour sitting on the tarmac in the plane as our departure was delayed “due to paperwork”. It meant more time for in-flight movies, and was better being on the air-conditioned plane than in the warmer terminal. As we descended into Newcastle 7.5 hours later though and found it was 4 degrees, we almost missed the heat of Dubai! Almost….

Our accommodation check-in was scheduled for 4pm but we arrived in Newcastle at 1pm so requested earlier access, and sat at Starbucks at Newcastle airport while waiting for confirmation. While it’s only 13 hours’ difference on the clock between our HK departure and arrival here, we have actually been travelling 21 hours.

A 25 minute taxi ride later we found ourselves Quayside in the centre of Newcastle. The girls and I were able to shower, do some washing and then we headed out to explore the waterfront. The pubs look very English and inviting, but all had only male patrons, so we dined at the Hard Rock Cafe. We were there during happy hour so thought we should get our first wine of the trip – although we don’t intend to try to match the boys on their beer tour at all!

So many people were out and about, it was interesting grabbing snippets of their conversations – I feel like I’m in a Ted Lasso episode!

We then went to Tesco for some groceries and back to the apartment to await the boys’ arrival. Our meals had been so big we had boxed up the fries, and the boys tucked into them as they caught us up on their trip so far. Luke and Cooper have met the rest of their family in London, and we will see them next week.