2 . Well, the trip is fully booked up now and the deposit paid - oh the pain!
We have been saving up for this trip for almost 20 years and it's an important event in our family, hence the "no expense spared" approach.

It hardly seems like two decades since we adopted our lovely babies in that hot and stern Colombo court room and I wonder how different the island will be on this, our first trip back to the land of their birth. 
One things for sure, May & Roshan are very different  to the mewling babes that first came to us. "Strapping" doesn't do them justice.
It will certainly be a profound experience for them and should prove to be an engine of fond memories for the years to come. 

Rebecca at Audley Travel, has sorted out a wonderful itinerary for us and she couldn't have been more helpful as we changed, expanded and trimmed it to suit all our particular idiosyncrasies exactly. 

http://www.audleytravel.com/Destinations/Indian-Subcontinent/Sri-Lanka/Highlights.aspx

Luxury seems to be the major theme of the expedition and we are all for that.

So now, the long wait and ever mounting anticipation begins.

When the day comes and we eventually set off we'll fly in the late afternoon from Heathrow and arrive in Colombo early the next morning after something like 10 hours in the air and having had a good night's sleep on the plane .... with any luck.
Now you might well ask how a big, tall, long-legged chap like me with painfully arthritic joints could possibly get a good night's sleep on a long haul flight.
Well, I came up with a cunning plan.
And that plan was to book one of our tickets in business class for myself and then close my mind to the exorbitant cost of such a rash action.
I feel a bit mean about Helen, May & Roshan riding back in steerage whilst I luxuriate in the business class cabin but I do need to be able to stand and walk when we get there, so needs must, as they say.
I am, however, practising my charming smile and powers of persuasion to try and melt the hearts of the aircrew to upgrade one or all of my cattle-class compadres when we check in.
It might just work.