Map from The Great Circle Mapper

An early start getting a taxi to the airport at 6am. After checking in with no problems I headed to the lounge for a coffee to help me wake up, before boarding the first flight of the day to Düsseldorf, flight LH4931. First flight was slightly late leaving. Once en route we had breakfast of a plate of cold meat and cheese, a warm roll with butter and a yoghurt, followed by chocolate.

When we arrived in Düsseldorf we had an hours wait for the next flight so went to the lounge where I curled up in a big comfy chairs and dozed.

Woke up feeling somewhat refreshed and had a drink before going to catch the plane to Frankfurt, flight LH807.

This being only a half an hour flight I was expecting to get a drink and maybe a biscuit. Instead I got a ham sandwich, slice of cheese, yoghurt and a decent sized bar of chocolate - I had trouble eating it all before we landed at Frankfurt.

Once at Frankfurt we had to go from terminal A to terminal B. This involves going down some steps through a long tunnel with strange changing light effects on the walls and hippy music - I swear it was designed by someone on LSD. Then up some stairs, I am sure there must be a better way to design an airport than this. Then we had to go through the extra security checks to get to the states. The women looked at my passport with some concern but let me through. After a long drive round the airport we boarded the flight to New York, flight LH406.

The business class cabin is very nice, with reclining seats that are big enough to curl up and sleep in.

Each seat has its own screen for the on board entertainment system. We were provided with a pillow, blanket, flight socks, headphones, eye mask and toothbrush and toothpaste. The safety information comes on a screen and video rather than a person demonstrating. We had a glass of champagne before take off.

When it came to lunchtime we got a proper linen tablecloth and napkins as well as proper cutlery. There was a choice of dishes available. We had parma ham, salad and warm bread rolls to start with followed by poached halibut with potatoes and mushrooms in garlic butter. It was absolutely gorgeous, cooked to perfection, much better than I was expecting from airline food even in business class. This was followed by cheese and biscuits and then the offer of coffee, brandy or baileys and chocolates, by which point I was absolutely full.

After dinner my happiness was complete when I found some cartoons on the entertainment system. After watching cartoons for a while I dozed before waking up to fill in US immigration forms. I then spent most of the time reading until our next meal which was smaller but still very nice.

We landed in New York on time but then had to queue for an hour and a half to get through immigration. We were fingerprinted and photographed with no problems, the Americans decided to let us in. We then quickly picked up our bags and got through customs with no problems. Our limo driver was still waiting for us so it was straight to the hotel. We booked into our hotel - in the red room and our bags were taken to our room for us. We have a massive king-size bed. There is an en suite bathroom and a TV in the room , but only a view of a brick wall.

According to the information in the room, The Time offers a multi sensory experience to awaken your senses. The use of bold colours alerts your vision, jelly beans tantalise your taste buds and there is also a jar of customised fragrance. My only comment is that the jelly beans taste nice. However, it is wonderfully air conditioned.

First impressions of New York are that it is hot, smelly and noisy. After settling in and a shirt rest we went for a walk round. Times Square seems like a vulgar and tackier version of Leicester Square. I wasn't very impressed by 5th Ave. Maximilian Strasse in Munich and Oxford Street in London are both nicer. My hands were reacting badly in the heat and pollution, getting very swollen and itchy so we went back to the air conditioned hotel bar for a drink before bed. I tried an Amstel beer, which I have had before in Amsterdam, but this was much weaker and tasted awful so I switched to Coke. Went to bed about 10 O'clock (2am UK time and I had been up since 5).

Still no news from the Australian High Commission who refused to give me an authority to travel permit on line.

Day 2