Manchester Airport - 10.11am, Wednesday.

After a long and tiring flight from Singapore we have safely arrived in Manchester for our delayed, delayed again, still delayed flight to Dublin.

This would be one of the grubbiest airport I have ever been to. Litter left lying around, waste bins overflowing and the floors are very dirty - not just this morning's dirt. After Singapore being so pristine it makes this look even worse.

Never-mind, we're on an adventure and every new experience adds to the story.

One of the group has just come back from buying a sandwich from Boots. She could have paid either three for 9 quid, or 2.50 each.  Mmmm, and we're not even in Ireland yet.

The flight time 'across the sea to Ireland' is around an hour, so we will have time this afternoon to rest up as tonight we are going on a literary pub crawl - drinks included! I imagine someone is going to drag us from pub to pub, all the while quoting James Joyce. Will let you know. To be sure and all, at all!