Monday 6 Feb 2012   Return to the UK

No more sleeping in today, out of bed at 05:45 to a quick shave and breakfast so that Andreas could drive me to Cologne Central railway station to catch the 08:41 express train to Brussels.  We had enough time for a nice breakfast at home but nobody had much appetite today. Having been together for a week of travelling and then parting company again was like saying goodbye after our Camino pilgrimage walk in 2010.  Andreas stayed on the station platform until the train left and he was feeling the cold as it was quite bitter outside, probably about minus eight degrees.  On the train I had a single seat which was good. As part of the service we were served a continental breakfast and the two hours to Brussels past quickly whilst reading the Ben Kane book "Hannibal".  Along the way the snow layer increased as we neared the coast, both sides of the channel had a good deep coverage.  In Brussels I bought a new Casio watch for €45.  The funny thing was that the women in the shop claimed not to understand Dutch, German or English and only spoke French, yet they are the four languages spoken on most of the trains entering Brussels! French!!!!  My train departure from Brussels on the Eurostar was spot on time and two hours later I arrived at St Pancras station, London, from whence I took a taxi to Waterloo station.  At Waterloo I purchased a ticket for Petersfield and had 4 minutes to catch that connection arriving an hour later in Petersfield.  Malcolm came to collect me and we drove back to Pipers Hill in Eastwood where we stayed with Brian and Fiona, close friends of Malcolm and Lindy.

Tuesday 7 Feb 2012   Admin and Relaxation

Wednesday 8 Feb 2012  Visiting Petersfield and Buster Ancient Farm
Today Malcolm took me into the little town of Petersfield for a look and coffee before heading to the Butser Ancient Farm, which is celebrating it's 40th anniversary.  This farm is a reconstruction of ancient Iron Age and Roman Britain buildings.  The Roman building is constructed out of stone, and wattle and daub. The weather was bitter and we didn't linger too long as the wind cut through coats and light snow was falling, this however did not seem to bother the school children who were there learning about Roman mosaics. The farm has been the basis for studying ancient farming techniques and also breeds various ancient animal types such as some pig varities which have almost disappeared. On the way home we stopped at the local butcher in Waterlooville, who when he heard that we were travelling the world asked if we could photograph his red customer bag with his details on it in various parts of the world.  He already had photos of an Aussie in the outback and at HMAS Cerberus with his back.  All the photos are going on the wall to show that his meat is known the world over.  A great marketing technique. From Waterlooville I also posted a 4kg parcel home which cost 81 pounds or $128.  A similar parcel from Holland cost 32 Euro.  Someone in the British post office is making money out of this.  Tonight the final pack for tomorrows departure to London where we are staying with Malcolm's brother.

Thursday 9 Feb 2012  Drive to London

Pretty relaxed morning at home and departed at at 1230.  The trip was fast due to light traffic on the M25. By the time that we arrived there was a lot of snow on the ground and more falling.  For an easy dinner we visited a local carvery where for 5.95 pounds we had a fabulous meal and an early night as we had a very early start the next day. Weather predictions were 8 inches snow overnight.

Friday 10 Feb 2012   Heathrow, Miami and Lima

I was up at 5 AM and saw Graham (Malcolm´s brother) outside shovelling away snow and clearing the car for departure.  I still had time to check my emails and found some new travel instructions for the Lima part of the tour. Our departure was slow as we had some minor problems backing the car out up an icy driveway with the three of us and our baggage but eventual we did get underway and took it slowly until reaching the M25 which was clear of ice and snow and traffic flowing freely.  Arrived at Heathrow at 6.30, checked in baggage and all went well until we arrived at the British Airways lounge who did not want to recognise the reciprecal Qantas lounge entitlements.  I had long winded arguement with the supervisor before we were allowed in.  At 9 we made our way via the internal rail service to terminal B11 and boarded our flight.  I found the seats on BA crampted and after 11 hours flying was glad of the opportunity to stretch. In Miami we were met by an American Airways representative and rushed through to our AA flight to Lima, Peru. Why anybody would fly American Airlines is beyond me.  The aircraft boarding was like primary kids at the playground and the mostly male aircrew were similar to the World Championship Wrestling team.  The "healthy" food we were served consisted of some fairly stale and dry bread, a packed of oversalted chips and a can of soft drink. Everything about this airline is unprofessional and in my mind they should not even be in business.  I would hate to see them in an emergency.  In Lima we were met by our guide Eva and driver Herman.  In case you are wondering on our travels throughout South America we have private tour guides and drivers for just Malc and me.  It is the only way to travel and at least we don't have to put with unpleasant travelling companions.  On arrival at Lima I was stunned by the number of people at the airport at 11 at night.  There are 9 million people in Lima and I recon they were all at the airport.  We were taken to our hotel, the Casa private Collection Miraflores and found that they had given us a double bed because Malcolm's name on the documentation said Rose.  We fixed the bed problems quickly but ran into this again later on.

Photo's will be posted later when facilities permit.