RadioGirl and Airline_Brat, thanks for the welcomes. I am indeed going to have hip replacement surgery and flying will indeed be...interesting. The surgeon wants me to stay for ten days after the surgery before flying home. I'm also going it alone, so I'll need to prepare heavy bribes in advance for taxi-drivers, and porters, so I can get my luggage in and out of airports, cars and hotels.

The list of recovery concerns can be found at the Anca clinic's site: http://www.hip-clinic.com/en/hip-info/recovery.html

RadioGirl, do you mind if I message you to ask you a couple of questions about the recovery procedure?