Woke up about 5, probably when we docked, and kind of dozed after that. yuk. Grey old Southampton docks and the gasworks outside the window. Not the most attractive vista for arriving overseas passengers!!! Australians who got on in Sydney must be a bit worried at this point. Still at least the sun came out and it was actually a nice blue day if a little bit chilly.

So, had breakfast and then sat in on of the lounges waiting to be called for disembarkation. Finally got that at about 1020. All went well and we found ourselves quickly in the baggage hall. Bob got a couple of trolleys and we loaded our bags up. At this point it all started going a bit wrong. For whatever reason, the exit from the baggage hall was incredibly slow and a huge line built up. Finally we got outside and there was a massive queue for taxis. Bob reckoned that it was about a mile to the Hertz office so he decided to walk and then come back for me. I stood (no seats) with the two trolleys. Shortly after he set off it became apparent that people were already showing up to get onto the ship for the cruise that was leaving on Aurora that night. A giant queue of cars built up into the terminal car park and right back through the docks. I realised that it was going to take Bob ages to get back to me. This was all made a lot worse by the fact that one of the giant "Of the Seas" ships came in today as did Arcadia, so there were three ships disgorging and loading all at the same time. And oh yes, in a genius stroke of planning the dock authorities chose today to dig up the access road and reduce it to one lane……

It took Bob nearly two hours to get back to pick me up during which time I was a slumped figure guarding my trolleys in the freezing cold. Hahaha. I got cramp at several points and was doing a strange stampy gyrating dance(it was agony, ok!) around the trolleys when I noticed a rather glamorous group arriving at Aurora. New entertainers thought I. One of them looked really familiar and as I stamped I mused that maybe he'd been on our own cruise at some point… a singer??? I stared at him a bit… he was familiar…… he looked back at me with a slight smirk due no doubt to my strange stamping dance action and - I realised later - he thought I'd clocked who he was. I hadn't. He kept coming out and talking on the phone. I kept stamping and peering. Then, it hit me! It was Aliash from Strictly Come Dancing. The cruise on Aurora leaving tonight was a Strictly cruise with a group of the show dancers onboard. I must say he was much better looking than he appears on the show and errr…. Tall… and err…. Rather well put together LOL. I think he may have thought I was actually doing a little dance around my cases…groan…. Blush…. Urrrggggg…..

We finally got home around 3 to find the house all in very good shape. We spoke to the girls. Daisy was going to UNESCO HQ for a private tour and reception. Lucy was on a train to Devon for some foodie event picking wild garlic! What a funny family we are…. Anyway, the only snag about getting home was that the burglar alarm was set and Bob couldn't find the fob to turn it off (it was in a suitcase) and neither of us could remember the disarm code properly. So…. Panic Stations! The alarm kept going off for ages till we remembered how to do it. Awful row it made. Quite deafening. We are getting senile! Got the cases upstairs and unpacked. There is some washing but not too much.

There was a bit of post but most of it will be arriving tomorrow. It's going to take us a few days to get squared. The garden needs a bit of a weed but it's not like it would be if we'd gone away in the summer.

Went to LIDL and got a few basics and then couldn't face cooking so went to a dining pub on the edge of Folkestone. The portions were enormous. The diet starts tomorrow!!! By then we were knackered and with aching backs from lugging all the cases upstairs.

What a great trip it's been. Amazingly there were still some things we didn't do onboard even given 4 months.

• We never had lunch in the sit down restaurant

• We never had High Tea in the sit down restaurant

• We didn't go to any of the Chocaholics Buffets

• We didn't go into the Casino.

• We didn't have a late night snack

• We didn't have dancing lessons. Disappointed about this!

• We didn't go to the gym so probably just as well we didn't do any of the above eating activities!!!!

Some of you asked me before we started to name our favourite stops and our least favourite stops. This is surprisingly difficult because so many places were fantastic for different reasons and many times I found myself writing "we will have to come back here". But, here's a bit of a go at it!

• Best City: Sydney. It has everything.

• Best Scenic Destination: New Zealand. A stunning range of beauty in a relatively small area. So many amazing things to do.

• Best Diving: Moorea for fishlife, Curacao for corals.

• Best tropical paradise: Moorea. If you're looking for a honeymoon destination, look no further.

• Best Food Experience: Dungeness Crab in San Francisco. Slobber.

• Best Wildlife destination: Chile - whales, dolphins, seals, penguins, birdlife….

• Most disappointing destination: Rio. Stunning location and must have been wonderful once but now overcrowded, polluted, dangerous and a bit unpleasant. Of all the places we've visited this is the one that we feel, "Yep, been there, seen it, never want to go back".

So….. this is the end of our voyage to the far side of the world and back again. Thanks for your company along the way. It made it extra special. I really enjoyed writing this every evening and sharing it. Maybe we'll do it again another time x.