It has been some time since we have been outside of Europe as we have concentrated on visiting places closer to the UK in order to use some of our remaining free rail travel coupons - it is nice to be back travelling on a 'long haul' trip!

Our good friends Simon and Linda very kindly offered to take us to Birmingham Airport in order to catch Emirates flight EK42, the 09.40 Birmingham (BHX) to Dubai (DXB), which saw us boarding a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft for this six and a half hours journey.

With over 450 films, plenty of TV shows, music choices or games available on the Emirates ICE in-flight entertainment system the time passed fairly quickly as we left European airspace and headed over Turkey and Iran before descending into Dubai.

Our onward flight from Dubai to Johannesburg was due to leave the following morning so after what was a longer than expected wait in the heat of a Dubai night (31°c) we were at the Holiday Inn Express which was just a stones throw from the airport.

After a reasonable sleep, albeit with an 06.00 alarm (or the equivalent of 03.00 UK time), it was time for breakfast (although it did seem like a swarm of locust had descended on the buffet selection) and then head back to the airport for our second flight of the trip. Africa (proper), here we come!

Despite sitting at the front of the Emirates A380 we were still in Economy Class as we were on the lower deck - the upper deck is reserved for First Class and Business Class although it was still notably quieter up front than at the rear. The flight from Dubai to Jo'burg was 7 hours and 40 minutes and with a swift connection after landing we were soon sat on board the Air Namibia flight, SW728, bound for Windhoek.

This one hour and 40 minute flight saw us get another meal too and service was very good and impressively we 'pushed back' off stand around 25 minutes early. Maybe it was the last flight of the day for the crew?

Once on the ground in Windhoek we were off the aircraft, through passport control, baggage collected and picking up the hire car in around ten minutes. Very impressive!

Our hire car for the next couple of weeks in Namibia is a Toyota RAV4 although for some reason I always find driving on the left more challenging in a foreign country than at home. The airport sits about 40km east of Windhoek and it took around half an hour to reach our B&B accommodation on the outskirts of the Namibian capital.

Tomorrow the holiday can really begin!