Caught up with Emily in Dubai. She was fairly happy to have actually made her flight. Apparently there was some rail chaos on the line between Victoria Station in London and Gatwick Airport, after two seperate trains broke down. The express trains were all cancelled and it was mayhem on the line as London commuters and airline passengers alike competed for space on available trains. It took her nearly two hours to get to the airport, rather than 30 minutes. Fortunately she had allowed plenty of time and the path through check in and security took no time.
We all made it home safely. Emily got back to Melbourne about 7:30am this morning. We landed in Brisbane just after 6am and finally made it back to the Sunshine Coast around 9am. I don’t think anyone slept more than an hour or two on the final leg from Dubai, so no doubt we will make up for that this evening.
Trip was great. Not much more to add than what I have already written over the past 5 weeks or so. Took about 2,000 photos, half of them at the RAF Museum at Hendon. Months of fun to be had cataloging and sorting them all. All the trials and tribulations don’t seem so bad already. I might need to re-read the blog occasionally to remind me.
Some general observations on the trip that I haven’t already made:
- Don’t worry about what the duty free alcohol limits are if you are flying into Italy (or Rome to be precise). They won’t do more than a cursory check of your passport, much less ask questions about anything else. I could have walked in with a bazooka for all the attention I was paid.
- The horror stories you have heard about coffee on the Continent are true. I gave up drinking it, as I couldn’t bear to be charged 6€ for a small lukewarm cup of froth. If you like short blacks you will fare better. Big chains like Starbucks are your only hope.
- Driving on the RHS of the road isn’t that hard, you adapt in about a day. Driving anywhere in France or Belgium is a challenge, simply because of narrow roads, narrow lanes, parked cars, bizarre road/intersection layouts and crazy drivers. England was easier, only because the drivers were a lot less crazy. The other challenges were still there.
- You can find decent pizzas in Italy, but you have to look. Most restaurants place the toppings without chopping them up, e.g. whole slices of speck (we will never forget speck). This might be traditional but it makes for a terrible pizza. Buying by the slice from alleyway vendors guarantees that the ingredients are chopped up and well distributed. Much nicer.
- People in France really do walk down the street with a baguette under their arm. We did it too!
- If you don’t like crowds or queues then you will be disappointed by all the main tourist attractions. Refreshingly, some of the less popular but highly interesting sights like Foxton Locks are as quiet as a mouse.
- Food at restaurants, cafes and pubs can be quite expensive. If you buy your own groceries then food is remarkably cheap, much cheaper than in Australia.
- If you enjoy a beer, Europe is the place for you. Apart from the variety, you can buy it at bottle shops (naturally), supermarkets, cafes, newsagents, souvenir shops, in fact anywhere that has a drinks fridge. It seems to be perfectly natural to consume it at any time of day.
- You can buy Australian wine in French supermarkets for under 10€. We didn’t, we bought French wine, which tastes fine and can be had for as little as 5€.
- If public safety concerns you, then Europe will leave you frazzled. The average pedestrian shows very little concern for their own safety and I would love to know what the accident statistics are. I wonder if this laissez faire attitude carries over to other areas?
That’s it. Hope it was interesting. Thanks to everyone who assisted in any way on the home front while we were away.
Steve J.