I think you may find that living outside of the UK more than 3 months you won't get the state pension, the rules changed when we had brevity I'm afraid...
we fly from Heathrow, we are looking at December, and yes I know it's high season, but I won't pay extortionate increase in fares when the most we've paid before is £1500 (that's for 2 people including seats) or below for flights...