I posted back last summer - the gist was WIBU to fly to Oz for the weekend for my male best friend's wedding leaving my 4DC and DH behind.
Response was fairly 50:50 that i was mad:it would be worth it. There was a good smattering of "you are in love with your friend" and at the end the eco-folks came on to tell me i was killing the planet.
UPDATE:
I went, it was amazing, my best mate and I realised we were desperately in love, ran off into the sunset leaving his fiancee at the alter and my DH and kids abandoned on the other side of the world.
sorry......
I managed to extend the trip slightly so I was away for a week, 5 days on the ground in Oz. My parents very kindly said they would have the DC after school so DH didn't have to work half days as he planned which was amazing of them.
I got a great deal on the flight which was only 21 hours as it was only a refuel stop in singapore. I got myself some sleeping tablets, moved onto Oz time as soon as i boarded the plan and drugged myself to sleep at 9am uk time and slept all the way to singapore!
My friend picked me up at the airport and he had found be a fab little air bnb two streets from his house.
We had two days before the wedding so it was a mix of catching up, helping run last minute errands, decorating the house etc. I was also in charge of keeping my friend's dad from irritating the bride! (i've know him since i was 10, i know how to handle his sense of humour!)
the wedding day was amazing, it was really very special to help my friend get ready and be with him through the pre-wedding nerves etc. the wedding was fab, the reception was great fun. I got to know his now DW much better which was lovely.
the couple of days after the wedding the bride spent time with her parents and my friend and i got to do some touristy things - i held a koala and stroked kangaroos etc etc. we also got to spend a day in the nearest city to him before i flew home and had a really good catch up.
He dropped me at the airport and i drugged myself to sleep on the plane again on the way home.
I had no jet lag at all on the way out, arrived at 5pm local time and went to dinner, bed around 11pm and woke at 8am. Arrived home at 10am local time, small nap before kids back from school, bed at 10pm and up at 7am. tiny bit tired for a couple of days but nothing that felt like true jet lag.
was able to call the kids and DH at their breakfast time every day too which was great.
So in short, it was brilliant, i am so glad i did it and i would make the same decision again. it was the most special thing to be there to see my best friend get married.
Sorry the update wasnt actually as film-script-worthy as a lot of you were hoping for!