I slummed it at Auckland Airport by having had sausage egg McMuffin at Macdonalds. For some reason my credit card was refused so had to fall back to cash. There was a lady surveying what passengers thought of New Zealand tourism but she bypassed me - did I look too odd?

On the plane saw a Korean film Along with the Gods (great will get BDs of this and sequel) plus Bodies at Rest a quality Hong Kong thriller plus a lot of "Joker" which didn't really click for me. Singapore airport is a delight compared with so many - no queueing at immigration, so soon out that the private car hire driver wasn't there. He had parked at an angle in the car park and we got told off by another driver.

My hotel in Singapore (ParkRoyal on Pickering) was another luxury joint. I had Nasi Goreng to keep me going, and exchanged some pounds before a very helpful staff member advised me to use the MTR which worked brilliantly to get me to Gardens by the Bay. I saw the light show at Supertree Grove which was really spectacular, and also a beautiful display on the lake of large balloon pods which change colour. All free. Did the Floral Fantasy (had to paid to enter that) which had some clever waterfall effects, then saw the Rats in Chinatown for Chinese New Year and got some cookies to take back.

Slept not too badly on the last night of the holiday, had rice congee for breakfast without being sure what I put in it, then had an omelette made to order. I tried to sprinkle cinnamon on it but it was more than a sprinkle. A Chinese lady sitting opposite me pointed at my plate and I was able to tell her in broken Chinese how to get a similar omelette. Rained hard this morning as in sympathy for the end of my holiday.

Got a little worried as the private car to take me to the airport didn't arrive. Hotel staff contacted the travel agency and a relief driver turned up, explaining the first driver had car problems. The relief driver had a picture of Jesus as the Good Shepherd on his dashboard.

Flew Singapore Airlines back to Heathrow, they don't have subtitles for the Japanese or Chinese films shame, but the plane was less than a third full and I had three seats to myself! Very slow getting back to Cambridge from Heathrow on the coach, just as well I checked that my ticket would work for the 787 because it didn't and needed changing! Poor Virginia picked me up at 11pm from Trumpington Park and Ride and my adventure was over.