Big change.

So... three days ago the Girlfriend and I flew from Australia to London via Hong Kong. I mean we got on a plane and sat in it until it landed.. we never actually 'flew'. Because of a silly ticketing blunder we were on separate flights to Hong Kong, where I had to officially 'arrive', get my luggage, then 'depart' again, instead of whooshing by in Transit. It was minorly troublesome, but it had to be done, so that we could sit together for a few more hours.

Dragging my suitcase, I sneaked past the long line for check-in and went straight to the Airline Service Desk, where I fully expected some sort of special treatment thereby skipping the queue, simply on the basis of being me.

"Hello," I said to the Airline Lady. "I'm on the flight to London at 1 am."

Airline Lady checked the computer.

"So," she said, "wen is de departcher thyme?"

I gave her my huh-weren't-you-listening face and said, "One."

She checked the computer again, ruffled some paperwork around, then said, "So... where are you going?"

".... London."

After 10 minutes of her asking me stupid questions, my huh-weren't-you-listening face evolved into my what-is-wrong-with-you face, and eventually into my why-are-you-so-stupid face. But we got it sorted, and I met the Girlfriend at the departure gate, where we were both exhausted and smelly but very happy to see each other.

The 12-hour flight to London passed relatively quickly, and at Heathrow Airport we both had a massive burger and celebrated our tenth month together, before going our separate ways, for now. The mantra in my head was like a drum beat.

This is not goodbye this is not goodbye thisisnotgoodbye thisisnotgoodbye thisisnotitcannotbe thisisnotthisisnotgoodbye.

I was so determined not to cry, but that was an impossible intention from the start.

She is now celebrating Christmas with her family, and since I arrived in London I have been spending lots of time with my extended, noisy, food-loving, smelly, chaotic family. There is lots of food but very little privacy, and I have to choose my moments carefully, to listen to the songs she gave me, and cry.

So now we go from spending every minute together, to being in different countries. And when I return to Malaysia next week, we'll be on different continents, with an 8-hour time difference. But I'm full of hope that we'll make it, that we'll see each other again, and that, with time, we'll start to get used to and enjoy our new long-distance relationship. It'll just be different, that's all.

And she'll only be a text message, an email, a phone call away. And anyway *points to heart*, she's riiiight here.