In August 1972 I paid off the Hudson Friendship in Okinawa and the flight home proved to be a journey that Odysseus would have been proud of.
Flew to Tokyo then Hong Kong. Here had a five hour wait before my next flight so by the time I got on the Boeing 707 my eyeballs were already out on the springs. We landed in Bangkok but then were delayed as they could not get one of the engines started. Some blokes in boiler suits came out and removed the cowling and poked and prodded the engine's guts for a few hours and got it fixed.
We then flew on and finally arrived Lod Airport but my connecting flight had long gone. They fixed me up with a British Caledonian flight the next morning, so I sat on a luggage trolley the whole night being eyed suspiciously by a tough looking Israeli soldier with an Uzi (the Lod Airport massacre had occurred only a few months before.)
Eventually I got aboard the Caledonian flight and have to say they treated me well considering by now I bore a strong resemblance to a sack of manure. London airport was like discovering Shangri La and a bus ride to Euston followed by the train up to Stafford completed my journey. At this point my arms were about six inches longer due to carrying luggage.
As I staggered through the door, just like Odysseus being reunited with Penelope, I was immediately asked: "When are you going back ?"
