Well I’m finally back in Oz, after our plane was first delayed by three hours and then cancelled resulting in us having to catch another plane 24hours later.   I love people watching at the airport and often when we (Peter and I) are queuing we will make up histories and scenarios for the other passengers waiting. Like the really old guy with the very young female, young enough to be his grand daughter but lacking any family resemblance or the odd man pacing, obviously not comfortable with flying but it could be something more sinister. After 12 hours of airport we were both very much over people watching.

Despite this unfortunate end to our holiday, it was an amazing break and it is always so therapeutic to catch up with old friends and family.

I was hoping to come back full of inspiration and research, however, I did very little of either.

I did take a picture in Amsterdam from one of their outdoor cafés as the beginning of my instagram blog on inspiration and that was pretty much it! I have posted it above! After Amsterdam the instagram blog idea went south as the demands of travelling, eating out and wine took their tolls.

I love to see the tourist spots, take pictures of the famous old buildings but I much prefer to blend in with the locals and spend time doing as they do in an attempt to soak in their culture and the way they think and how it differs to me.

We stayed in Paris for two nights and on the second day we hung around the apartment we rented, shopping locally and visiting the cafés. In that very small and superficial snap shot I discovered that their life is not that much different to mine-working all day, commuting home and on the way home picking up groceries for the family meal that evening.

Oh where is the romance?

Back in Blighty I realized that their lifestyles are very different to that of Australians. And that I easily slip back into the English culture once I return, it is almost as if I have lived two different lives and when I return to England this other life and person continues to exist!

It is these experiences and realisations that give us our inspiration and research for writing, often these things are right inside us all along!