Geo: 39.9204, 116.432Today we hit the road early for the "Long March", as our very professional guide Jennifer (not her birth name, she sweetly states) dubbed the day.We left at 7:30am in a mini-bus and picked up two American women from another hotel who are to be our tour mates for the trip. So we are 10, plus guide and driver. Rhona's luggage arrived this afternoon, whew!On my second trip to mainland China I'm batting two for two in arriving on a long weekend! Labour Day holiday is looming on 1 May and the traffic and crowds are building. So today we did a lot of tour walking (8km by Robyn's exercise band) and visited Tienanmen Square (carefully pronounced in three distinct syllables), Forbidden City, Summer Palace gardens and the Olympic precinct. The Clarks and Oslunds ... read more

Geo: -27.4676, 153.028All packed and the taxi picks us up tomorrow at 6:30am.Lucy is staying with the kind Aunty Jan and Uncle Leo.... read more

Geo: 2.74812, 101.714The MAS Lounge is being upgraded so we walked around till we found the temporary (small) lounge. Two hours here then board for the 8:25 hour final leg to Brisbane, arriving 8:10pm local time. Matthew will pick us up, then home for a period of time zone adjustment...... read more

Geo: 40.4464, -3.85964Trained in to Madrid again for a final look and shop at the markets.Although we've had a couple of casual paella meals, we went to a local restaurant (La Gitana) for their seafood paella speciality. Very good too. The sun was shining and we ate outside.Admin on the 25th. House and car cleaning, travel arrangements and confirmations. Nice lunch at Santinno, while waiting for the car wash.... read more

Geo: 41.3769, 2.17492Did a five hour, Barcelona Highlights Tour that was great. Then caught a public bus to Park Guell, that is full of Gaudi's zany architecture. Returned to hang around the city for the first lighting of the street Christmas lights, then strolled back to the hotel.Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's crazy, unfinished church was the focus of the tour, and it was breath taking (and wierd)! Started in 1882, it was always intended to be built using private donations. Nowadays this comes mostly from the nearly 3.5 million visitors annually, who each pay €14. Construction is now well more than 50% complete and the aim is to finish by 2026, for the centenary of Gaudi's death. It would be worth returning to see it finished - it's planned to demolish a city block to accommodate the ... read more