Days 40-42 - Saturday 21st - Monday 23rd October - Tarascon - Nice - Frankfurt - Singapore - Melbourne

What a lovely feeling to not have to worry about packing last night or this morning!  Our suitcases had to be outside our door by 9am for our 10.45am departure time which meant we had a much more relaxing morning than those who were leaving the ship as early as 7.30am. Relaxed breakfast, back to the room to put last couple of things in the cases, put them out then went to the lounge to wait for our call. We exchanged email addresses with our Canadian friends and our bus left on time. We were pleased to find that Emmanuel, our guide from Avignon, would be our guide/chaperone to the Nice Airport. The drive took 3 hours but the bus was very comfortable, airconditioned and Emmanuel entertained us with commentary along the way. We stopped at one of the massive Auto Grills they have on the highways in Europe and had lunch. We were surprised at just how hot it was when we got out of the bus. Just before we got to the airport Emmanuel treated us and sang La Vie En Rose. What a gorgeous gorgeous  voice and fabulous way to end our wonderful trip. Then the waiting game started. We arrived at the airport at 2.30pm and our first flight wasn't until 7pm! We had all decided not to bother going into Nice for a few hours because we couldn't check our suitcases in until 2 hours before our flight, the cost of storing our bags at the airport was €14 per bag and the taxi was €25 each way into town.  So we sat, read, caught up on the blog, walked around and repeated that endlessly. We finally boarded our 2 hour flight to Frankfurt and thankfully the connection with our flight to Singapore was short. Then was our long leg which seemed to go quite quickly except that I think we were in an older plane which definitely had less leg room, even for me. We got to Singapore in the afternoon which was different for us because we'd only ever had middle of the night arrivals and departures. But we had a 5 hour layover! It's an enormous airport so we were able to walk and stretch our legs and we (I) bought a few things but we were already quite tired. We decided to go to the butterfly house because it has always been dark when we've been there. I opened the door to the little area before you go through the plastic curtain and took a step inside. I was met by a wave of stifling hot humid air and promptly reversed out. No thanks! We then found a quiet place to sit, wait and for me to cool down. Our flight was on time but full of kids and as John put it, seemed to be on a tuberculosis ward with all the coughing, spluttering and sneezing that wad going on. We managed to sleep a little and luckily it wasn't until our descent that one child a few rows behind us started crying. It wasn't a baby but a toddler whose mother let him stand on the seats and pretty much do what he wanted during the flight so I guess he didn't like being tied down. All the passengers around them shot dagger looks at the mother when we landed. It's always a culture shock to hear everyone around you and announcements spoken with an Australian accent. It sounds so much worse when you haven't heard it for so long. Anyway we made it home safe and sound and then fell in a heap and, not surprisingly, both got sick! Another fabulous, memorable holiday (let's hope my foot recovers soon). As Dr Seuss said "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened".