17 October 2009 - The Trip of Our Lifetime

17 October to 21 November 2009 Flying Brisbane to Singapore, Overnight in Frankfurt, Flying to Rome via Budapest, Two Weeks Driving Through Mid and Northern Italy with a side trip to Switzerland, Flying to Budapest via Vienna, Cruising the Danube, Main and Rhine Rivers for Fifteen Days from Budapest to Amsterdam Through Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Germany and The Netherlands, Three Days Spent Wandering Around Amsterdam, Before Flying Home to Brisbane via Singapore.

Well it took us three years of saving, countless hours of overtime as well as tightening our budget but we were finally off to Europe - we'd wanted to go, dreamed about it, tried to imagine what it would be like over there but were never sure we'd actually make it, and now we were finally packed and ready to depart! Here we were calming watching Getaway, as we did every Thursday night, in November 2008 when it was announced that the first 50 callers would win free airfares to Europe if you booked the 15 day Scenic Tours Jewels of Europe River Cruise. Steve looked at me and said, "Go on, ring them, you've always wanted to do that so here's our chance." Needless to say, it didn't take much convincing and suddenly it was announced I was the 49th caller! So all of sudden the ball was in play and we had a year to save and get ready for our trip.

The next 10 months were spent organising the rest of our trip - two weeks self-driving through Italy and three days in Amsterdam - choosing and booking accommodation in Rome, Tuscany, the Italian Riviera, Lake Como, the Dolomites, Venice and Amsterdam, what to see, how much it would cost, which route to take for the best sightseeing, and hundreds of other details to ensure we made the most of our time and savings.

Then just six weeks before we were due to leave I had a major health scare, which necessitated radical drug intervention, umpteen blood tests, ultrasounds and scans, as well as weekly visits to the Haematologist but eventually I got the all clear that we could still go. Phew, that was a roller-coaster ride for both of us! I became Sponge-Bob Square Pants due to severe fluid retention from the drugs I was taking, but at least Manic Molly didn't raise her ugly head, which was supposed to happen but, Praise the Lord, didn't - much to Steve's relief!!

Our plane was due to leave Brisbane International Airport at 11.45 p.m. - we couldn't believe it was actually us who were about to fly so far across the world! - and, while waiting for our plane to board, we met a lovely young man from The Netherlands who kindly took this picture of us. It was great chatting to him as he was able to give us some hints about Amsterdam and Europe in general.

We boarded our Singapore Airlines flight and found that the seating configuration was two seats on each side of the plane with three in the middle section. We had been allocated the two together which meant a window seat and lots of room to spread out while not disturbing or being disturbed by a "neighbour". Our trip was off to a good start!