I booked it months and months in advance and was looking forward to my worldwide trip for ages. I was to literally circumnavigate the globe - leaving from Heathrow to Singapore on Boxing Day.

This flight was delayed and we ended up arriving in Changi Airport quite a few hours late. However, once we got to this beautiful city, close to The Equator, the sights and vibrancy of Singapore was totally worth it. Next, we had a flight from Singapore to Perth and this one was delayed by a more considerable period of time. In the end we arrived at Perth Airport in the early hours of the morning and we were totally exhausted by the time we arrived at our hotel.

Perth was wonderful: expensive, but a very different sort of city. Although it is a million-plus city, it still had a feel of a far smaller community - weird but good! Next came the Perth to Sydney flights and out of all the travel arrangements we had to do, this one was the best: it was actually on time - shock horror! - and as it was a domestic service in Australia, it was far easier.

We did all the usual sightseeing activities in Sydney and decided that we far preferred Perth, out of the two, and then it was on to Vancouver. This flight was quite close to being on time but was just so far. We flew with one of Australia's main carriers - not mentioning any names - and was really not impressed with them at all.

Vancouver was such a magnificent and vibrant city and one that we agreed we would love to return to for longer. But just as we were starting to get settled, it was time for that last long flight back to Heathrow.