Ches, Gavin and Orta here. Signing in from Amsterdam. 33 hours in transit from Sydney Airport to Schiphol Airport via Incheon Airport. Just the three of us this time, as Tom was pensioned off when we moved into our retirement apartment. Tom Tom had been made redundant when most rental cars were fitted with satnav and certainly with the advent of Google maps. He'd never been completely reliable as you might remember from our holidays in Italy in particular.

Orta has missed out on a number of our recent trips. He spent many years buried in the bottom of Malia's wardrobe until we rescued him. For newcomers, Orta is a "Bathtub Bear". Actually a prehistoric "Bathtub Bear". He spent thousands of years encased in a glacier and moving slowly south from the Swiss Alps and thawing out in Lake Orta, just north of Milan. We found him floating face down in Lake Orta in 2002 and told him he orta have been more careful. He's claims he's been humiliated too often having to pose for photographs with jars of Vegemite all over Europe.

We set out with Orta packed in our carry on luggage at Sydney Airport. The Asiana Airlines attendants, wouldn't allow us to check a case that weighed 25.8Kgs. It was our only checked luggage. We had to repack at the check in desk. Don't you hate people who have to do that? So, out of that case comes two 800 gm bottles of Vegemite and a 1 Ltr bottle of Sorbolene. That's 2.6 kgs. Another 400 gms of whatever and we are under the 23kgs, but now 10 kgs over on our carry on luggage. We hastily pack the vegemite and sorbolene into "my" carry on luggage bag and check it in with the large case. In the course of the next 24 hours, I find that changes of clothes and kindle chargers have now been packed in the hold and I have to make the journey in one set of clothes and have no book to read on the final 13-hour leg.

I did leave my pad in the case and when in Seoul, I receive an email from Orta. He's not a happy bear. Instead of traveling in the overhead locker, he is humiliated that we have packed him in the hold. That's not the worst of his humiliation; it's that he is now covered in Vegemite and Sorbolene.

So what's his problem? He's a "Bathtub Bear". Have a bath. You think you've got problems; I've got two USB leads with Sorbolene packed in the plug ends.

The first leg saw us spread out comfortably with plenty of empty seats. The second, 13 hour leg; not a spare seat in the aircraft. We arrived in Amsterdam at 5:50am.

We took the shuttle bus to our hotel near the airport, put our cases into storage, then the shuttle back to the airport to take the train into the city. It's been a cold windy day in Amsterdam; 10c to 19c. Never felt warmer than 15c and the locals are all rugged up and wearing winter scarfs. Actually, they might be their summer scarfs. Our receptionist at the hotel suggested this is typical summer weather.

Because it was so bleak, we decided to defer a canal cruise till tomorrow. The Van Gogh museum isn't open on Fridays and the queues at the Rijksmuseum were hundreds of meters long. We decided to follow a foodies trail that is on the Smart Guide app. (that's the app where I have my Grand Tour of Watsons Bay). I noticed that the tour went very close to "Melly's Stroop Wafels", so we decided to stop off for a coffee and stroop wafel.

I'd had a late request for help from one of the rugby boys back in Sydney. I've been giving mental skills/health training/mentoring and with a huge game coming up tomorrow, he reached out to me. I sat out the front of Mellys and had a Whatsapp video chat. That over, I was taken by the stunning building across the street and photographed in with both my camera and phone. Back inside, Ches asked if I'd recognised the name of the building. No I hadn't. It's the hotel Jo has booked for us for the two nights before our cruise in mid-July and again for a night at the end of the cruise. Die Port Van Cleve, PERFECT JO.

With Ches having her hip surgery in August, it can't come soon enough. She struggled walking the streets of Amsterdam. We stopped for lunch near the Rokin tram stop. A Bagel and Espresso bar. Poppy seed bagels with a whipped cream cheese, walnut and sultana filling.

We'd been warned, however I'd forgotten and our first day has ben spent walking streets beside the canals and avoiding cyclists who come at you from all directions. No bells and no hand signals. You'd be safer on the canals and I wondered if anyone has considered starting a business of hiring our boats instead of cars.

It's been a day of just trying to survive the 33 hour trip and stay awake. The trip in to the city via train, back to the hotel to check in at 2:30 and we've decided to take the shuttle back to the airport and the train into town at 5:30pm. We've booked for dinner at Mossel en Gin in the Westerpark. Mussels and frites, shrimp croquettes and around 20 types of gin. It's summer so we've booked a table on the terrace with heaters.

I'll post some photos and videos asap.