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Second last  blog entry – I think.  I’ll be doing a wrap up later in the week.

Very, very reluctantly booked out of our hotel this morning.  We know it’s Saturday morning and we will be traveling now till we get home to Toowoomba on Monday morning.

Said a tearful goodbye to Luke and Carolin this morning.  They have lots of changes going on with their moving to a new town and jobs.  Not sure when we will see either of them again. 

Drove to Dusseldorf to catch the plane to Milan.  Left a little early to let the children start with washing and getting organised for their weekend.  Arrived about 4 hours before our flight, dropped the car off, had lunch and booked our luggage in.  Had a slow beer and wine before boarding.  I took a photo with my camera this morning and went to take one after we went through security - by the look of my camera, it looks like the internals and the SD card have been fried - will be making some inquires about that later.  Lucky I've been backing up all my photos each day.

Nothing unusual with the boarding procedure – got the bus across the tarmac to the plane.  Got out of the bus and we were boarding the smallest plane at the airport.  One of those cigar shaped planes with the door opening and they form the steps.  About 5 steps into the plane, my head touches the ceiling all along until we take our seats.  Pam is beside herself and very nervous.  We strap ourselves in and look forward to a fast flight to Milan.  Pam tells me it was the longest flight of her life.  There was an incredible amount of turbulence.  The plane bucked and weaved its’ way to Milan, amazing how flexible planes are when they are getting tossed around.

We did arrive, and much to Pams surprise, in one piece.  She was going to do some shopping in Milan airport but was too traumatised.

Only had a couple of hours then on to Dubai with a 7 hour flight.  We had a 4 hour stop over and with disembarking and boarding, Pam considered 3 hours shopping in Dubai would be adequate.  On the way to the plane in Milan I found an English newspaper (the first for 6 weeks)  and the story on the front page…..Dubai airport to process 40,000 pilgrims in 2 days starting today.   Suffice to say we arrived at Dubai and the airport was so packed it was standing room only.  No shopping for Pam today.  I’m most upset because it will be all my fault!!!!

The 14 hour flight from Dubai to Brisbane was the best ever.  Pam was pleased the pilots were obviously more mature than the 20 year olds we had seen earlier.  (They looked 20 anyway)  Pam thinks they drive a bit slower and are more cautious than the younger ones and take lots more care.  Good theory and it seemed to work, hardly a bump.  Harley met us at the airport – our bags were first off, straight through customs and after landing at 6.30am we were driving out of the airport by 7.15am.  Dropped Harley off at work and drove into sunny Toowoomba at about 9am all ready to wash about 50 kilograms of washing!!!

Our Germany car - returned without any damage!

Display for a car hire company in the Dusseldorf Airport.