we have arrived back from safari, and i am a couple of shades browner (bar two triangular bits on my face which somehow escaped the attention of the african sun) feeling enlightened and somewhat sad. tomorrow afternoon our long trip will come to an end with a longer flight. anyhoo, enough of my whinging. for your reading pleasure, let me present for you shalini's top and bottom five summary of the last three months, starting with...

the top five:
number 5: spotting alan rickman on the stairs at the bbc television centre. he looked snarly, but i think that's a default expression in his case. if he'd growled at me, i think i might have fainted clean away...
number 4: wandering around venice, getting lost, and getting found again. venice was so, so marvellous that i didn't even care that the shower in our ensuite bathroom was pretty much over the toilet. eating gelati in the freezing cold was a lovely experience.
number 3: spotting the comet mcnaught on blouberg beach in capetown at twighlight one night. i actually felt a physical jolt as it came into view, and the warm-fuzzies lasted for hours afterward.
number 2: central park. in the middle of such an amazing city, an oasis of calm and beauty. the autumn leaves were poetry, and just walking around in the park was blissful.
number one: safari. all of it. even the bathrooms. but the most amazing thing was of course the animal sightings - the elephants that burst out of the bushes, ears a-flappin', and scared the crap out of us, the sleepy leopard hanging in the tree, the two dozing lions a couple of metres away, the pot-bellied zebras, and the impalas in our campsite. yes, photos to follow.

now, the bottom five...
number 5: losing money in vegas. i know. your heart bleeds, right? next!
number 4: being held back on our first stop by the (indian) passport control guy. it's not as if i wasn't paranoid enough as it was...
number 3: losing it at pisa train station when a series of delays resulted in us losing our first-class train tickets to venice. yes, there were tears, and no, i'm not proud of it.
number 2: arriving in ireland very, very tired due to delays at venice and heathrow which saw us spend seven hours more than we were meant to, inside airports.
number one: the fact that it's over. i'm looking forward to being back in melbourne and catching up with family, friends, news and gossip, but it's been nice being on holiday for such a long time. i know, i know. i'll get over it!
see you on the flipside.