戻ってくると彼は、「すてきな旅でした」と言った。

、「」。

When he came back, he said, 'It was a wonderful trip.'

Literal

Came-back [discovery-と] he [topic-は], 'wonderful trip was' [quotative-と] said.

Direct quotation using 「」 brackets. 戻ってくると uses narrative と — the 'when' of discovered events in sequence. すてき ('wonderful, lovely') is written in hiragana rather than the possible kanji 素敵.