I boarded a plane after seven years flight-free – flying has got so much worse

Somewhere between the 90-minute check-in queue in Tokyo, the two-hour connecting flight to Seoul, the hour-long wait for security and the 14 hours’ airborne from the South Korean capital to London Heathrow, I really started to question my life choices.

This, my recent journey home after a month spent travelling through Australia, New Zealand and Japan, was hellish enough to almost negate the enjoyment of the four weeks preceding it. It was certainly unpleasant enough to put me off flying for the remainder of my natural life.