I was lucky enough to have three seats to myself on the flight from Taipei to Bangkok so was able to lie down but due to an unsettled ten to fifteen month old baby I (and the rest of the rear of the plane) didn't get much sleep. I recognised it's cry from a distance during the first leg of my journey when I thought how glad I was not to be sitting near it...teach me to be nasty...I was now in the row behind it. While in the beginning I felt sorry for the baby (having to sit in the one place and not move around) and it's parents (they must have realised they were disturbing other passengers), as my need to sleep increased I became less charitable and wondered why on earth they had put the baby, themselves and the other passengers through this. Note to young people reading this...don't travel with small children unless they are able to sit in the one spot quietly for hours on end…or you administer lots of drugs.

My idyllic seating arrangements came to an end as we re-boarded after picking new passengers at Bangkok, as a young couple (who I immediately disliked...their crime...to have taken my bed away from me) sat next to me. We smiled (mine forced) and nodded to each other and after a late dinner tried unsuccessfully to sleep…the baby was still unsettled).

After breakfast I felt a little more charitable towards the people who had taken my bed away from me and we ended up in constant conversation until we landed in Amsterdam three hours later. The girl's, name was Floor "Yes, just like the floor you stand on and spelled the same." (I guess she'd answered this question a few times throughout her life) and Michel, her partner. Turns out they were returning from a holiday in Kampuchea to their home in Amsterdam. They told me places I should visit while in their city, and most important, what to eat…in particular "the best apple pie in Amsterdam" from a little shop called Winkle (which means "shop" in Dutch) in the main market area. I answered their many questions about Australia, listened as they told me about their travels and answered my questions about Holland and the landscape I could see as we flew into their city.