As I moved the piano back into place after a week of painting and renovation at our Taggerty house, I saw Susan Alty (a member of the steelband who visited Moissac in 2014, and an avid reader of this website - Hello Susan!!) driving up the driveway to get me started on my way to Moissac. I don’t think I could have cut things much finer. There was still some outside painting to be finished (because of the incessant rain in the past week) but a friend has volunteered to come around and finish it up for me when it finally stops raining. So I now leave with a relatively clear conscience.

The plan was for Susan to drive me to Lilydale railway station (about an hour away from Taggerty) and for me to then catch the train to Southern Cross station in the Melbourne CBD (another hour away). There, I would hop on the Skybus for a 20 minute trip to the airport. Then it would be on to Singapore and then Paris with Singapore Airlines, arriving at Charles de Gaulle airport. From there I would take the TGV to Bordeaux, then change to another TGV to Agen, then a local TER train to Moissac. From the Moissac railway station to La Maison de la Rose is just a short 200m stroll, so all sounded straight-forward (in theory).

The first part of the trip went very smoothly. After an hour of interesting conversation in Susan's little red van, she deposited me at Lilydale Station with 10 minutes to spare, and even let me borrow her Myki card to pay for the fare (must pay her back when I get home with a bottle of scotch!). I then set the timer alarm on my iPhone for 60 minutes in case I fell asleep on the train on my way to Southern Cross (given that I now hadn’t slept for 29 hours). I did in fact doze off, but the alarm sounded as we approached the CBD, and I made sure I then stayed awake until I reached Southern Cross.

Then it was up the escalators and off to find the Skybus Terminal. I had heard that it was easy to find, but I must admit that the signage was not all that great. Given the number of first-time travellers that use the train to connect with Skybus, a few highly visible “SKYBUS” signs (rather than small inconspicuous “Bus Terminal” signs) would be very useful. But I eventually found the terminal and from there it was the promised 20 minute trip to the airport (although I don’t know of any other 20 minute bus trips in Melbourne that cost $19).

One of the good things about flying out of Melbourne at this time of day (3.40pm) is that the international airport terminal is virtually empty. There were no queues at Check-In (even if I hadn't already checked-in online), no-one was waiting in the security scanning area, and I walked straight through immigration control with no-one else in front of me. Within minutes I was approaching the departure gate. The sight of the waiting plane and the storm clouds in the background made me glad I was leaving the Melbourne winter for summer in France.

The flight to Singapore was uneventful, and after my customary scotch&dry to let me know that the holiday had begun, I watched a movie (Spotlight) and even managed to catch a few hours sleep (for which I was very grateful). A 2-hour stopover in my favourite airport (Changi) was as interesting as ever and this time involved a shuttle transfer from the E gates in Terminal 2 to the B Gates in Terminal 3. There was a minor drama (for some) when it was announced that there was a change in aircraft from an Airbus A380 to a smaller plane with less Upper Deck room. So all the Economy passengers, like me, who had chosen an Upper Deck seat were bumped downstairs with the rest of the cattle, keeping the Upper Deck pure and wholesome with only First Class and Business passengers. Some were very upset at this, since I think this may have been the highlight of their trip and they were very disappointed not to be flying on the Upper Deck. I suspect the reason for the change might have been the low loading, since when I checked-in the day before, I had a entire row of 4 seats to myself, and the rows in front of and behind me were totally empty. But I wasn’t complaining because my new seating on the Lower Deck gave me 3 seats to myself. So after watching just one movie (Truth, with Kate Blanchett), I stretched out horizontally and got a good 8 hours sleep for the rest of the trip. So far, this had been one of the best trips to France in the past 5 years.

We left Singapore just after midnight local time, so you’ll have to go to the next page to see what happens next.