The air journey in October 1937 was in an Imperial Airways flying boat, on their recently inaugurated route carrying mail and some passengers. The flying boat was a Short ‘C’ Class Empire flying boat, the Calypso, G AEUA. The route started at Southampton and involved landings on water for refuelling at Marseilles, Bracciano near Rome, Brindisi, Athens, Alexandria, Tiberias, Habbaniyah to the west of Baghdad, Basra, Bahrein, Dubai, Gwador and Karachi, with overnight stops at Rome, Alexandria, Basra and Sharjah (just outside Dubai).