And Finally.......

Oscar Wilde famously said that Hell was spending eternity in the same room as your best friends.

Well, three months in the constant company (for half of the trip - Thailand and America -we even shared the same bedroom!) of your squabbling daughters can sometimes get a bit much too!

The initial point of the exercise was for us - especially the girls - to spend time with their grandparents in South Africa and Australia.

The second part of the plan was to introduce the girls to some of our favourite places in the World. To show them different cultures - and let them meet genuine poverty too. And to live out of a backpack, without all the trappings of home, for 3 months.

Both have been satisfactorily achieved.

We had no real problems - no illnesses, thefts, accidents, etc and can happily say that we all felt we needed more time than we had in every place we visited.

The hospitality we received along the way was awesome and we were able to spend time with some of our special friends from way back........

This weblog has been a great way of recording our adventures both for our friends and family and for our future memories - we'll copy the blogs to word documents and print a hard copy for the kids and grandparents (and anyone else who may want one) to put away.

Probably saved a fortune in postcards too!

The only time that the kids really suffered was travelling in tropical heat in Thailand. As soon as we recognised this, we cancelled our plan to travel down the peninsula, set up a base in Phuket and did day trips away, eventually flying straight from Phuket to Singapore.

At other times the important thing is to keep them busy. Multi-program seatback screens on aeroplanes are fantastic. On other long journeys, or waits, we ran the gamut of games from the Ministers cat (& derivatives) to our favourite - What am I? (animal, vegitable, mineral or abstract). We also made great use of secondhand bookshops.

This may well be the only opportunity we ever get to do such a trip together, but since we've all come home wanting more I think the seed has been well and truly sown.

Where next?

Wychwood Music Festival.

After that - well, watch this space!

Will miss:

Heather: Elephant ride, Bike Ride, Murphys, snorkelling

Rhiannon: Elephant ride, Killer Whale, Yosemite, Marlo (mouth of the Snowy)

Frith: Family and friends, seeing new places, California, Phi Phi, Marlo

Graham: Snorkelling, Old Friends, Family, Thailand, Marlo, Hot weather

Won't miss:

Heather: Mosquitoes, Burn, Jellyfish sting

Rhiannon: Mosquitoes, Spiders, Hot weather

Frith: Not enough time anywhere, Mosquitoes, Gecko poo, Sharing a room with the girls for 3 months

Graham: Taking Rhiannon to restaurants, coming home