And so I have arrived home after six weeks on the road. A trip that has taken me to North America, South East Asia, India, Europe and back again. The mileage is somewhere around 58,000 and I have been keeping close track to make sure those miles are credited.

I have been through Changi Airport in Singapore at least three times, and I can easily see why it has won Business Traveller magazine's best airport award 20-odd times. To be sure HKIA is good, SYD is well managed, MUC is clean and efficient, but for my book, Changi in SIN just ticks all the right boxes.

From a decent smoking lounge (there are still some of us who like a quick drag before we fly), to the boiled sweets at immigration, this is one airport that is run with the passengers in mind. And not like the old joke: it would be a fine airport if it wasn’t for those pesky planes...

In East Timor I saw at first hand the work being done by the United Nations integrated team (you can see that in this month’s Quest for Peace). In Sydney of course it was the A380. Tokyo was Business Traveller, Japan Now! and so on.

I also enclose a picture that just about sums up why I love to travel. I took it a few hours ago as my Lufthansa plane made its way back from Delhi to Munich. We were over Afghanistan and I took the picture from the window of the A340-600. (By the way I saw the downstairs toilets on the LH A340-600 in economy. Interesting! First time I have seen airlines building into the hold for passenger use. So the 747 and A380 aren’t the only planes with stairs!)

This picture isn’t exceptional. It’s not even remarkable. It’s simply our world as I flew overhead. And for the chance to have seen it while enjoying the superb modern technology in the air (the plane, not the toilets), I am grateful.

This week takes me to Cairo. It will be my first trip to Egypt. Can you believe that? I am attending a conference. Watch me slip out and see the Pyramids. This is why we travel.

Richard Quest, CNN, over the English Channel