Unbelievably, I am sitting in the family room at home now, typing the last part of our travel story. Can't believe the 6 weeks has finished and have to go back to work tomorrow. Feeling exhausted, not much sleep on the plane, but no complaining allowed. We enjoyed our last couple of days in London.

On Thursday, another lazy morning before getting up and heading to Oxford St so mum could finish her shopping at Marks & Spencers. Yes, I bought a few things as well but they do have good quality stuff. I still have stuff from years ago. Back to the hotel to pack it into the bags and get ready for the evening before heading back to the West End. We had tickets to see Matilda and a friend Jenna, was coming down from Norwich to go with us and catch us. Another friendship started back when we were in South Africa in 2010. We had dinner at a pub (had to have one meal at an english pub at least) before heading to the theatre. We all really enjoyed it, thought it was brilliant. There are 9 kids in cast in in and they are in the show for the majority of it. The girl that played Matilda was very good. Can highly recommend it to anyone who is thinking of seeing it especially as it is coming to Sydney this year I believe.

Was a great night and really good to catch up with another friend. She actually stayed at the hotel with us for the night and had the fun job of watching us complete our packing on Friday morning. I can say that we did not come home with any extra bags then when we went over. The only difference being mum's handbag changed into a small backpack which we had kept packed in the suitcase for the majority of the trip and considering how many christmas decoration we purchased and clothes in London, that was good packing on my half I must say!!

We went and had some brekky before jumping on the tube. Luckily the tube Jenna needed to get to the rail station for her train back home also took us to the Tower of London so we said our goodbyes on the tube until next time.

We spent the afternoon at the Tower of London. I have been here previously but mum hasn't been and it was something she wanted to do if we could fit it in. It was initially built by William the Conqueror and has been added to over the years. It was used as a prison and infamously, 3 queens have lost their heads within the grounds. Most executions took place outside on Tower Hill. We did the Yeoman's Warden tour. They have been guarding the palace for over 400years and they are quite entertaining with the stories they tell. Their are big fat Ravens around and the legend is if they ever leave the tower, the tower will fall and so will the monarchy so they keep ravens here all the time. They look well fed.

The crown jewels are also kept here and you get to have a good look at coronation crowns, orbs & sceptres. Some nice diamonds I must say, worth a pretty penny. They also have a good armoury collection and some good stories are around.

When we left we spoke to one of the wardens about the poppy installation they had in the moat for Remembrance Day. All poppies were purchased by people and they received them once they were removed. Cost them £25 each. He said it was amazing when they were here but it also caused lots of problems that people didn't know. The gardener had problems in keeping the weeds from coming up between the poppies and keeping in nice and tidy on the side, people tried to jump into the moat (20ft drop) and steal them. As he said they usually ended up with a broken ankle while spending the night at the local constabulary. Would have been amazing to see though.

Made our way back to the hotel in a bit of a drizzle and collected our bags for the last time. One quick change of clothing and off we headed. We caught the Heathrow Express train out which only took 15mins (very different to the many times I have caught the tube which takes about 45mins, but much more expensive).

Mum got in line to try and get the VAT (tax) back on the clothing we bought but soon gave up. Line wasn't moving and it was too hot in the room for her. As like the Sydney one, the government doesn't want to make it too easy to give money away. Checked in and then found a nice restaurant for dinner as by the time we got on the plane, dinner probably wasn't going to be served till about 11pm and was hoping to get some sleep in.

Time to board and we settled in. We had put a request in to be upgraded to Business Class with our points but they said there were no seats on the Dubai - Syd let. Shame they couldn't give us the seat for London - Dubai but they don't do that. Looking at Business class on Qantas and comparing it to Emirates, if I was going to pay for my seat I would definitely use Emirates. We settled into our Premium Economy seats. They are obviously better than Economy but no where near as comfortable as business class obviously. At least you do have a little more space to wiggle around in. Watched a couple of movies and got in a little sleep on the first let but not enough. When we arrived in Dubai we were put in a holding pattern in the air which meant we were late to land. Had to disembark and then go through transit security once again which I can never understand as you just got off the plane and don't go outside the secure area. Didn't wander through any shops as the sign said gate open so we went through and then found ourselves in just another seating area downstairs with no shops. The stupid thing was our bags were hand searched here. Go figure.

We were late boarding and then when we were on the plane we were told due to missing our departure slot at 9.55am, we were in the queue with a pull back time of around 11am. At least we could start watching movies while we waited. We didn't actually take off until 11.30am. Mum used this time to fall asleep and she got in about 3hrs shut eye.

Once in the air we were served lunch (on the previous flight supper and a light breakfast was served) and then snacks throughout before breakfast just before we landed. Watched a few more movies, some good ones that I hadn't heard of before including The Judge and The Good Lie. Also put a couple of classics on so I could fall asleep without worrying about missing something.

We landed just over an hour late to lovely grey skies and rain (didn't even get that in Europe over winter except for one morning in Berlin). Bought some duty free, when through the smart gate with our passports and then waited for what seemed like ages for our bags. I guess because we had come from London, ours were at the back of the plane and those flying from Dubai were in front. Collected them, when through quarantine and had to show a couple of our Christmas decorations that were made of wood before being allowed through.

We had booked a car to meet us to drive us home and he was waiting for us. No worrying about a shuttle going around towns dropping other people off. And then we were home and nothing has changed except we now have bags to unpack, jet lag to get over and I have to go back to work tomorrow. Not sure how that is going to work but we will see.

Mum has opened lots of Christmas cards today that have arrived while we were away and many people have written they have been following the blog and enjoying it. I sometimes wonder if it is worth the effort but it seems it is. Once I get all the pictures tagged and dated and check for spelling mistakes, will have it printed into a book as I have my previous one.

So that is it for this trip. Time to start planning the next one!!!