Some thoughts about the trip

 We had quite a few hours to wait in Singapore before our red-eye flight back to Brisbane, so we had a look at the famous 'Jewel' just near our terminal.

On our trip over to Europe, the waterfall was working where water cascades from the hole in the roof. It's a major Singapore attraction. We were there too early in the day to see it working this day.

It's very humid inside.

I have no idea why this was here.

We both enjoyed the trip but we have agreed this is our last hurrah in overseas trips, except for New Zealand. It’s getting too hard on our old bodies, particularly the walking involved in the huge airports. Singapore, Istanbul and Madrid airports are enormous. They all have huge duty-free areas with enormous shops, each of which is bigger than our local airport building. My step count was approximately 6K just to get from the gate to the exit or vice versa at most of the airports.

Although Turkish Air gets wonderful reviews, we enjoyed our Sri Lankan flights more last year. The attendants were much more friendly and attentive on SL, and they poured the champers more freely. I preferred the Turkish seats and M preferred SL and we both preferred the SL food.

We coped well once we reached our hotels and walked to the local attractions. But there is a limit to how much I can do, but it really helps if I can walk slowly and sit down often. It's wonderful to be able to stroll around these magnificent towns and villages which is why we go to Europe in the first place.

The Fiat 500 was such a great car to drive in Europe since it is so small and nimble. The boot (trunk) is just big enough for our luggage and there is the back seat for jackets. Fortunately, I can still drive a manual shift and it was easier driving this year than in Scotland with all the narrow roads and roundabouts. Driving for four or more hours was not a problem.

I hope you all enjoyed the food photos. It’s one of the great pleasures of travel and we both really looked forward to our dinners. I am now inspired to try some new dishes based on what we ate, possibly even the liver.

Yes, we missed out on the 50-year dinner at the same restaurant, but we still had wonderful wine conversations all through the trip. I think it is the key to our marriage, talking over dinner about all sorts of things with fun and laughter.

So expect more blogs about Australia. Although we enjoyed our overseas trips, it’s wonderful to be back in OZ.