I should have had an inkling things were starting strangely when the guy in front of me at the check-in queue turned around and stared me in the face.

I gave a little smile, out of politeness - what's the normal reaction in those circumstances? He probably thought he was being all smouldering and sexy - sleazy git!

I was on my way to Buenos Aires, via Miami, and travelling alone. Being the gateway to South America, flights to Miami are full of Latinos. Having been in a relationship with El Gordo for years means I'm well used to them, so El Sleazo wasn't bothering me that much...until we were on board and he kept sauntering past my seat and winking at me - yuk! Did he think I was going to follow him to the tiny toilet and join the Mile High Club? He's watched one-too-many adult movies, methinks!

Well, it's not that I didn't hear my alarm going off, or my car broke down, but a friend of mine got married and I couldn't get any time off to go.

Normally I'd jump through hoops to get to a wedding - I'm a weddingophile!! I love the preparations, the outfit, the hairdo, the hotel, the transport, the gift...I realize that the cost of all this is sometimes outrageous, and sometimes the wedding itself can just lapse into that ‘same ole, same ole' format, but I'm addicted!

Ok, I'm not quite up to the obsession level of '27 Dresses', but have to admit that the wedding scenes from SATC The Movie (now on DVD, should that be SATCDVD?!) were my favourites (well, probably a close tie with the outdoor shower scene with Samantha's neighbour..). Speaking of DVDs, I've even discovered that I've got a section of my own movie collection that could easily just be labeled "Weddings" (I won't bore you with the titles - you know which ones I'm talking about!).

So there I am, sitting on a tram trundling along the streets of Amsterdam, thinking that my week couldn't have gotten off to a worse start - I'D FORGOTTEN TO DO MY HAIR! I mean, please, who forgets to do their hair?

I'm sure it's a sackable, if not criminal, offence in many countries. No matter how tired or ditzy I was that morning, how did I not pass by a mirror and see the non-straightened, non-gelled, not-even-brushed mess on top of my head?!

I love people-watching, and public transport in a foreign city is a fab place to do just that, but today I felt like I was the one people would criticize. Horrors! I could feel my barnet getting dodgier by the minute - in my mind's eye I was Wurzel Gummidge with nice accessories! Frowning like the ‘Before' photo in a Botox ad. And then - my mood was lifted in an instant - El Gordo had updated the music on my iPod over the weekend and I had it on ‘shuffle' listening to the new songs he'd selected. Out of the blue, Julie Andrews' voice starts singing "Doe, a deer, a female deer....". I just laughed out loud - how did he find that and download it for ME? I have to recommend it, though - for those grey moments, or bad-hair days you can't beat a bit of ‘Sound of Music'!

The reason I was in Amsterdam was for training - sometimes my company centralises training for several of its European offices in one city, and I was lucky enough to get to go to Amsterdam! Making the most of it, I'd flown over earlier to spend the weekend with friends and El Gordo, which was why I was so exhausted by the time Monday morning came round.

The Greek islands are faaaabulous, Darlink, if you've got more than a week, but for a break of 3-4 days Athens is perfect. The mix of culture, good food and shopping, blended with Mediterranean sunshine, is a win-win combination!

Travelling as an airline employee on standby can be nerve-wracking, especially to a destination with few daily flights, as you never know if you will have a seat until minutes before departure. We managed to squeeze our toned buns onto the last 2 seats of our flight, but we couldn't have been seated further apart - one on the left-hand side of the front row, the other on the right-hand side of the back row! Still, beggars can't be choosers, so we smiled gratefully and settled in.

Four hours later we were touching down in what should have been a beautiful, ancient city bathed in the midday sunshine of early Summer, but turned out be totally overcast with temperatures about 10 degrees lower than the norm for that time of year. A bit disappointing, but we hadn't come to a resort so sunshine wasn't mandatory for us to have a good time. I'd had the foresight to book the Intercontinental Hotel - in a city where Acropolis / Parthenon views are promised by many hotels, few can really back it up unless it involves Cirque du Soleil-type gymnastics and a periscope!

My apartment was fabulous, even if I do say so myself, an attic in an old building right on the Grande Place, the main square of mediaeval buildings which is the heart of Brussels. I felt like a princess each morning as I stepped onto the cobblestones, avoiding the inevitable Japanese tourists feverishly snapping away. In Summer there are open air cinema festivals and concerts there, and in Winter the beer festival and delightful Christmas market, and every other possible event in between!

If you're going to do a short trip to the Costa there's really no need to go anywhere near the nasty 70's resorts. There are so many big hotels there that out of season they have some great offers, low rates to fill the empty rooms, but considering you'll only be paying 2 or 3 nights accommodation anyway, a tenner a night is neither here nor there.

We stayed at the Marriott resort, which is really nice, and got a ‘friends and family' rate because I know someone who works there. Rooms are allocated at this rate on a standby basis, basically you get what's left when you check in. The gods were obviously smiling on me that weekend because the only room left was a 3-bedroom apartment with indoor Jacuzzi on the top floor right on the beach!!! Hurrah!! We bounced on all the beds, had a glass of vino on the balcony overlooking the Med, strolled along the beach at sunset, frolicked in the Jacuzzi....everything I wouldn't normally have done on a Saturday afternoon!

Speaking of pale, and realising that even my freckles were vanishing, I jumped at the chance to meet up with El Gordo on the Costa del Sunny in Spain. He'd been working in Madrid so just had to take a short hop by ‘plane to Malaga. It was only a weekend trip for me, but a couple of days of 20 degrees and sunshine does wonders for the soul, especially if it happens to be cold and wet at home.

Our first morning in Dubai and we woke up to what we thought was misty sunshine, and then discovered that it was a kind of smog caused by sand, blowing in from the desert!

As we'd arrived in the middle of the night we were looking forward to throwing open the curtains to a cityscape of tall glass and metal buildings, but that wasn't the case. A lot of the buildings were quite low, and the whole place resembled a building site, but without the mud and builder's crack.

From Far to Middle: Judy flies from India and arrives in Dubai.... 

By Ms Judy Free 

Judy continues her travels in the Far East and encouters more then her fair share or bouffy haired men and moustaches...