I'm finally off to Europe

Well finally I am on my way. Despite the best efforts of a spewing unpronounceable volcano in Iceland which grounded all flights into Europe for a week, I somehow seem to have dodged all the chaos and am currently in South Korea en route to Portugal via London.
What a week of uncertainty it has been. With thousands of flights worldwide cancelled and hundreds of thousands of passengers having their travel plans disrupted, I really started to think this trip was never going to happen.
But no matter what I was always going to go to Korea and at least do some sightseeing if I was unable to continue my flight to Europe.
Fortunately lady luck seems to have smiled on me though. Just minutes after booking in my luggage at Brisbane Airport word came through that all flight restrictions into Europe had been lifted. You *^%&(*^ beauty I thought, it looks as though I really am going to get to my start point at Faro in Portugal on April 23 as planned.
With so much uncertainty in the week leading up to my departure, I felt strangely flat and was unable to feel the excitement at finally getting going that I thought I should.
Thanks to the guys at Bicycle World (thanks Liam, Steve and Dax) my bike was duly boxed up for the trip a couple of days before departure.
I got a bit of a shock at the airport when it was weighed in at a massive 29kg, but fortunately Korean Air stuck to their advertised policy of just charging for 5kg of excess weight to get it on the flight.
As I was unable to book the bike through to London due to uncertainty about the European leg of the flight (confirmation that flight restrictions had been lifted only came through just as we were about to board), I had to collect the bike in Seoul and lug it to my overnight accommodation …. not an easy task along with my other suitcase, backpack and shoulder bag.
But I guess it was a small price to pay for being able to jump all the queues of people trying to rebook cancelled flights as I had a confirmed booking for the next day.
Anyway, I will update things once I finally land in Faro. After a couple of days staying with Betty, the mother of my good neighbours Pete and Jackie at her home just outside Faro, I hope to be off and finally pedalling on about the 26th or 27th of April.
Bring it on!!!!