Airport beers. They taste much better on holidays

I know it’s a given, but have you ever tried to use a full sized laptop in a cattle class airline seat?

It’s bloody hard.

Particularly for your elbows (or mine at least), which end up perched awkwardly on the armrests, desperately trying to get comfortable without smashing your fellow passengers in the ribs.

Tricky.

Anyway, the reason for the whinge is that I’m writing this on the flight between Sydney and London, filling in that awkward time after your first movie finishes when you’re not quite ready for the next one.

Normally I’d wait to land before writing anything substantial but this flight is different. Exciting different! This is the start of a bit of an adventure – a nine week Euro trip wading through Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Germany and Greece, stopping off at a whole feast of wine regions along the way – including Rioja, Ribeira Sacra, Rias Baixas, the Rhone and lots of other places starting with R.

To say that I’m excited about this sojourn is putting it mildly – I seriously can’t wait. So often my Euro trips are a week or so, with long flights bookending things so much that you barely get over your jetlag.

Not this time!

What this trip does mean, however, is that the posts here on Australian Wine Review are going to take on a different tone. While I’ve got a bag is full of Aussie wines, the general theme over the next nine odd weeks will be more about places. European places

These posts might be slightly more sporadic (depending on wifi) than normal and possibly with more pictures. More blog, less wine reviews.

As a result, if you don’t want to see pics of Spanish beaches and possible me in boardies, best to tune out until early October. Or at least until it’s too cold for shorts.

You’ve been warned…