It was time to say 'So long', 'See you next time', ' in Chile or Europe?'; the drive to the airport, check in the rented car and the luggage, pass through security, board and switch off for the duration of the flight.

I took more pictures of those breathtaking views as we flew over the Andes and again as we landed for a fuel stop at Sao Paula where the highlight was seeing a A380 Airbus, on a demonstration tour of Brazil and Argentina. I thought of the manufacturer's claims that this plane can carry 40% more passengers than the largest planes prior to it as we crawled like an endless snake through Security. They'd have to increase the turn around time for such fuel stops, if they are still appropriate.

A peek out of the window as I woke up revealed another snow covered mountanous landscape, this time of the Pyrenees. Thick cloud cover obstructed the view of the Alps as we approached Zurich.

The temperature at Heathrow on arrival back in the UK was the same value as when we left Santiago: 32. The difference was that here it was Fahrenheit, where as in Santiago it had been Centigrade. Angie collected me and as she drove me back to Durrington, there was an opportunity to take the last pictures of the trip, a glorious sunset over Wiltshire, timed at 16:06 as we approached the Amesbury exit of the A303.

While it's good to be back home, I always prefer to have plans for future trips already on the table. So it may come as no surprise to discover that some of these Diary pages were written on holiday in Cologne, Germany where we celebrated Christmas with Angie's family and in less than a week from completing this page Angie and I will be in the air on our way to Lima, Peru, but this time on a South American Tourist Highlights package tour, also taking in Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil.  As you can tell, I hate the dark days of (European) winters!