IT'S nice to have arrived in Spain, safe and sound. With less than an hour to go before I tee off in the opening round of the Spanish Open, it's quite nice to have actually made it here.

I have had two weeks in the Far East, where I was in the money at both the Volvo China Open and the Ballantine's Championship and it's nice to be back on European soil.

It might sound strange but I am not the best flyer. No matter how much travelling I do during the year, I still don't enjoy going up in that plane.

And the last fortnight has been one of the most gruelling - at least the volcanic ash cloud didn't really affect my trip.

The same, though, could not be said of the turbulence.

I left Jeju Island in Korea early Sunday afternoon and I didn't arrive in southern Spain until late Monday night. Forty hours is not the ideal length of time you want to spend flying, even if you do have four different flights to go on.

Fortunately I was on a double-decker plane, which means there was a bar for us to drink in, really comfortable chairs and even a bed to lie in. It was still a really tiring trip.

It was actually good to have had the bar because it meant a few of us could have a few drinks. There were a few caddies and Australian Richard Finch.

So when we hit the turbulence, I was quite relaxed about it. Looking back now, that turbluence has to be one of the worst I have been in.

It lasted 90 minutes, it was really bad, but what can you do about it. It's the job, I might not like flying but playing golf professionally is what I have always wanted to do, so it comes with the territory.

===================================================== IT has been said before that the scheduling on the European Tour is strange, like this week's trip to Seville on the back of two weeks in China and Korea.

But the organisers have to just go where the money is, where the sponsors want and when. It just so happens Spain is next up.

Maybe there is a case for a schedule that takes you back towards Europe step-by-step, with Korea followed by Malaysia, South Africa, North Africa and then Europe. Personally I don't think it makes much difference.

Tour golfers tend to look at the schedule and try to take a couple of weeks off after a long trip. There will be some missing from Spain this week after playing in Korea.

From a personal point of view I like playing in Spain, the money is good, as it was in the Far East, so I think it's beneficial to play in both.

==================================================== HOPEFULLY I will have a decent four days at the Real Club de Golf de Seville. The last couple of weeks - having finished top 30 and earned a little more than £40,000 - has been good for me.

After the problems I have had with my shoulder and switching caddies, it's nice to have captured a bit of form again.

It's got my confidence up and hopefully that will continue in Spain. The weather was not great in Korea, where we played three rounds, it should be better in Andalucia and another decent finish would be ideal.