That's great that you enjoyed the flights and got an upgrade, especially when you had reservations with travelling on Egypt Air. You haven't answered Flashware's question which you quoted, which airline did you feel treated you differently because you were on award tickets?
Have a great time in Croatia and hopefully you feel a bit more settled now you are in the one spot for a while before your travelling adventure continues on to LA.
Shanye2233, you also never answered my question about which airline how you managed to get Star Alliance gold, which I found strange as you had never travelled overseas before and there are no Star Alliance airlines in Aus!