12 Dec 2015. <AU> Brisbane International Airport, Brisbane, Queensland —

WE'RE HOME!

Landed at Brisbane International Airport, and emerged fairly quickly, after passing through customs and quarantine, at 12.20am. We were expecting to be met by Tristan, but instead, the whole clan was there, including the little ones, with grins all over their faces! What a wonderful surprise, a happy reunion.

For those who need introductions, from left to right:
Gemma, Jonno, Ashwyn, Lilly, Tristan, Jess

We had kept one gift aside for Lilly and Ashwyn, and gave them their babushka dolls at the airport. Great excitement -- they just loved discovering the smaller dolls within, to excited squeals (especially from Ash) while the oldies did a bit of catching up over — you guessed it — cups of coffee!

We then split up, Jonno, Gemma and Ashwyn going home to Middle Park, while the rest of us went down to Tris and Jess's place at Wynnum, where they released the car to us so we could get home to Bardon.

In Bardon, another surprise. Donna had been alerted of our arrival by the exceptional watchdog, Bibi, and she met us at the door. We went in, to find that she and Bec had set up the house with another lovely welcome. Bibi remembered us, and went bananas with excitement. The girls had rearranged the house to give us back our space right from the outset — we couldn't have asked for better house-sitters!

Suzie's teddies were all lined up in welcome ...

... and our parcels were waiting for us to open them!

After a sleep -- we finally got into bed at 5.30am, with Bibi with us -- we started to back into our old routine. In the afternoon, Warren and Donna took Bibi up to the local dog park, where Bibi is now an institution. Donna introduced Warren to some of the regulars, and Bibi found her boyfriend, Horrie, and showed that she can run (with him) virtually non-stop for the whole time we were there.

We've had a wonderful trip, met wonderful people along the way, been to the most incredible places and had great experiences, but it's great to be home!

And that's a big thirty for this blog!

-30-

This was the last page of the blog for 2014-2015 BUT as a consequence of this trip, specifically because of Tom and Lauren who we met in Bratislava (20 July and 21 July), and later met up with in Leicester (2 December), we are back on the road - or, more to the point, on the railway! -  from May 26 to August 5 2019!

Warren

11 Dec 2015. <AE> Dubai Internatonal Airport; <SG> Singapore Internatonal Airport —

A day of flying. First leg, Heathrow to Dubai, a 6-hour leg. Just enough time for Warren to read The Girl in the Spider's Web, the fourth in the Lisbeth Salander - Millennium series -- Suzie gets it from Dubai on! We were pleased to see that our flight path , instead of being straight, looped around to avoid Syrian and Iraqi air space!

In Dubai, we had about an hour, and we changed from the large A380 Airbus to the smaller Boeing 777 for the rest of the journey. Next leg, Dubai to Singapore, a 5-hour hop. The food came as a light snack at the start, Smoked turkey roll followed by chocolate cookies (which we politely declined), and later, a breakfast of Cheese omelette (or Chilli chicken) and a croissant -- accompanied by the beverage of choice -- no, Warren didn't go for the beer!

On landing at Singapore, we had to leave the plane, even though we were continuing in the same plane, in the same seats, on the 7-hour leg to Brisbane. An hour in Singapore -- we didn't wander far from the gate lounge -- and then we were on our way again, excitedly anticipating getting back to family and friends! The longest leg, but they only gave us one meal, expecting most people to settle in for sleep for much of the way. The dinner was good, with a Turkey pastrami appetiser, Fillet of perch or Thai green chickn curry for mains, and an orange mousse dessert. Then we tried to sleep the rest of the way -- not very successfully!

10 Dec 2015. <GB-ENG> Heathrow Internatonal Airport, London —

Today's the day! An early start — we had to lug the cases down three floors. Luckily the guys were there to start repairing the lift, so they gave us a hand! Just outside the apartments, in Haymarket, we were hoping to hail a cab to take us to the Green Park tube station. The reason for this is that to get down to the Piccadilly Line at the Piccadilly Circus Station you need to negotiate quite a few steps, whereas Green Park has lift access from street to platform! A no-brainer! Well, after missing a couple of cabs, we finally got our lift — and it was only £5.40 for the trip! He left us on the pavement just outside the station.

The train to Heathrow was easy, and when we got there, it was a simple walk via corridor and travellator to the main concourse. We found our way very easily to Emirates check-in.

Once our heavy bags (28 and 23.5kg — we made it under the 30kg limit!) were in the hands of Emirates, booked through to Brisbane, and we had been passed through into the gate lounge area, it was time for a cuppa. Then we meandered down to our particular gate lounge to watch the plane being prepared for the flight.

The hunter-gatherer returns!

Finally we were called to board, and then the plane, due to take off at 1.30pm left the terminal at about that time, and joined a queue on the runway waiting for take-off. At about 2pm we were finally on our way, towards Dubai. The flight was to be about 6 hours, and we would land just after midnight Dubai time — so that will go onto tomorrow's account! Just as a point of interest, the cabin crew had a total 17 languages between them.

They fed us well. For lunch, Smoked salmon appetiser, roast chicken or pan-fried lamb medallion main course, Chocolate delice dessert, with a wide choice of beverages. And, just before landing, ice-cream and drinks — guess who chose coffee!

9 Dec 2015. <GB-ENG> London —

Our last full day in the UK, the last full day of our European journey! But first a little catch-up on the computer. And then to dispose of what we didn't want to take back on the flight home. Some of the clothing was posted to Kay in Scotland, and a package of printed materials was posted home. This was to allow our suitcases to come in under the 30kg limit imposed by the airline. (We succeeded!) Our apartment is in a brilliant location — the post office, for example, is only a couple of hundred yards away in Regent Street. And the Piccadilly Market, which we revisited this morning, is only a little further away down Piccadilly.

We decided to go down to Westminster, to Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey, and then into the War Cabinet Bunkers.

We didn't go into either of the first two, the Palace or the Abbey. To tour the Palace would have taken too long for the time we had available, and the Abbey had an exorbitant entry fee — especially as we had been there before — so we went to the War Cabinet Bunkers, aka the Churchill War Rooms. This was good, in that it tied in well with our time at Bletchley Park and in the underground wartime facilities at Dover Castle.. These are the underground bunkers that housed the British War Cabinet during the blitz, and which have been left in virtually the state they were in just after VE Day.

Churchill's private dining room

The BBC Radio Equipment Room

The Map room

Churchill's bedroom/study

From here, we went directly back to our apartment to continue the task of packing.

Then we walked around the corner to the Prince of Wales Theatre in time for the performance of The Book of Mormon. In the theatre, we were between a girl from Leeds whose birthday was yesterday, and who was bringing her mother along to the show to celebrate, and a couple from Mount Waverley in Melbourne — yes, a couple of Aussies!

After a fun time with Arnold and Kevin (read the synopsis of the show) we returned to base to finish packing and to get an early night — it's a big day tomorrow!