After an hours drive around Lake Annecy we get to our hotel in Talloires, a small village just outside the town of Annecy. Its a 19th century mansion which has been converted to a hotel - quite charming. The large windows in the room overlook the lake and the mountains beyond - breathtaking. the room itself isn't very large, which doesn't matter as we only have on piece of luggage anyway. After settling in, we're both pretty tired, but we decide to push on an...

At last - Geneva!! End of the flying part of the trip (until we return that is). We're both pretty shagged by now. The worst has happened!! Lost luggage!! Only one of our bags has turned up. Unfortunately it was the bag with the bulk of our clothes in it. We should have been expecting the worst when Virgin couldn't check the bags past Sydney, so they had to do a work around. Ah well, what can you do? Just shrug the shoulders and continue on. Anyway, we lodged a l...

14 hours later and here we are in Abu Dhabi. Already been flying for 20hours and we're still only half way there. Now I know how people living on cattle stations feel! Anyway, Abu Dhabi. What a melting pot. Seems like every nationality feeds thru here on the way to somewhere else. The airport doesn't seem as flash as its big brother in Dubai. You can tell where all the flash cash has gone to - Dubai is all glitter and shiny and new. Abu Dhabi seems more "used",...

Day one. Early start - 4am. Two flights later and still in Australia. Feels like we've been travelling forever. Still, every journey has to start somewhere. By the time we get to Geneva it will be 40 hours of travelling. Then another hour to our first port of call - Talloires, situated on the shores of Lake Annecy. Not looking forward to the 14 hour plane trip (nor the 9 hour layover in Abu Dhabi). Still, a small price to pay etc etc.

Last day today. Time to pack our gear and get ready for the trip home. Not too much of a rush: leisurely breakfast at the hotel, 11am checkout time, then a 2 hour drive back up to Heathrow. Not looking forward to the 30 odd hours of flying in front of us. But we are both looking forward to going home. Eight weeks on the road including 9000kms of driving, 8 countries, 23 different hotels, numerous cafes and restaurants, bars, museums and historic sights, this...