Firstly and foremost John and I wish you happy festivities wherever you are in the world .
2025 started slowly for us. John had two eye operations which slowed our travelling down. We also had a February deadline for another of our books – “50 Gems of Bedfordshire” it will be published February 2026 by Amberley Books. …I think this will be about Johns 30th book with Amberley Publishers…and my 2nd!
In April we headed to Norfolk with my Dad. We hired a lovely bungalow near Sheringham for a week. What a lovely week it was, meandering around our beautiful countryside.
May saw John and I heading to Portugal and Southern Spain….we fell in love with Praia de Luz ….wonderful apartment for a week, super beach, restaurants and “Jackson Mystery Tours” around the countryside….(that’s Johns name for exploring and getting lost).
A wonderfully relaxing and “chill out” time.
We travelled up to Spain and spent time in an intriguing village called El Rocio….a real throw back place on the edge of a national park which is home to the highest number of Iberian Lynx in Spain…needless to say we didn’t see one…but we did very much enjoy our time there.
We travelled on up to Seville for a week…hiring a strange apartment in a residential block. We enjoyed the Cathedral, horses and carriage sight seeing, a river cruise and a flamenco show.
Driving back into Portugal we stayed a week in a holiday complex apartment near Albuferia….ummm not one of our best accommodation choices…. But we made the most of it with beach days and exploring the area.
Back in the UK we had a variety of days out with Dad, such as a coffee on a longboat on the Grand Union Canal
The end of July we headed for Devon. A fantastic occasion which saw my sister as a truly radiant bride as she married Mark….a day which was such a happy occasion.
September came and yippee! we were off to South Africa…..
Much joy as we met up with good friend Gill and our dearest Cora
Then off to Kruger for 3 weeks of heaven…..this year we started at the most southern point and went right up to the northern tip……Mother Nature blessed us and we saw some truly magnificent sights…
Our cameras didn’t stop clicking…but we did take a few shots of people..
And of course there were some fantastic sunsets…
Back to the UK we went with Dad to the New Forest in mid November…although it was cold it was still fabulous to see the ponies and we sat watching them on several occasions from what was my mums favourite spot….a joyful occasion we repeat every year…
As we reach the end of 2025 there is nothing left to say except to wish all our followers a Very Happy 2026…we hope your year is filled with adventures, laughter and love.
We woke up after a very comfortable nights sleep in the Protea Marriott Midrand hotel….our deluxe room was mega comfy…even managed to get the temperature right… I forgot to mention that on our way yesterday we saw the fairly magnificent waterfall mosque…
We had a really nice breakfast of bacon, sausage, egg, toast followed by yogurt and fruit and a nice cup of coffee. Returning to our room we packed up and loaded the car before heading to our friend Gill’s for the night.
It was an easy trip, having got a bit lost yesterday my dearest Cora had given me strict instructions last night .. … “Mum! Do not go any other way ….get on to the N1 Johannesburg, where it splits stay N1 Bloemfontein take the first off ramp to Rivonia, head towards Morningside clinic ( my son had been born there) and take the turning to Gills just after the massive billboard….then you’ll know where you are”…… “yes darling” I meekly replied…….i followed her instructions to the letter and 11 minutes later we were at Gills.
We unpacked the car, gave Gill all the bits we hadn’t used…which was quite a bit as due to quite a bit of cold damp weather we hadn’t cooked as much as we had anticipated doing… we stashed the pillows back upstairs in the spare room cupboard and prepared the cool box with all the cooking stuff in it to be stored in Gills garage. At this point John came in from the garden as it started to rain heavily.
Gills garden is a hive of bird activity. There is a Southern masked weaver making a nest right outside her patio.
After the rain stopped we went to Chillies Mall. There’s a great car wash in the underground car park …150 rand (£6) for an SUV inside and out …. pensioners rate…so we dropped the car off and went upstairs for lunch at ocean basket.
Great seafood platter for 3 …yum, yum…needless to say we ate it all….
After lunch we collected the car and went back to Gills for a restful afternoon, chatting late into the night.
Morning came all too soon. The packing was completed two cases, two hand luggage’s and a Woolies back with our fleeces in. ……a little story about the cases….. last year after we came back from Sri Lanka we treated ourselves to 2 new suitcases …our old faithfuls which we’d brought at Tesco 10 years ago had finally expired with a hole in one and the wheel broken off on the other….so we purchased at reasonable expense two new bright yellow ones from John Lewis….we took them to the Caribbean last Autumn and the wheel collapsed on one and the zip burst open on the other….they had a 5 years ago guarantee so I went to Milton Keynes (45 minutes away) …. I showed them the pictures of the damage ..we had hearty discussion about whether it was poor quality goods or rough airline handling eventually they agreed to change them…I selected two others, silver ones, but they said I should have brought both the old ones back …I had only taken one as parking was a distance away and I couldn’t see how I would manage two….so I asked them to put the silver ones aside and I’d go back the next day with the other one…when I returned with the second one the following day they had sold the silver ones…I was not amused…. They agreed to waiver the delivery charge so I paid the extra £120 …they were each £60 more than the original one but I was told they were far better quality….sure enough they arrived the following day…We used them in Portugal and Spain and then this trip….oh dear…. One of them came off the plane dented and the plastic was cracked open. Since then the zip on the other has opened at the end you can’t see and it won’t zip closed….so once again we will have to have them wrapped at the airport to get them home and once again I shall be taking them back to John Lewis…these cases are not fit for purpose…surely a suitcase should be able to withstand a trip on a plane and why give them a 5 year guarantee if they are so badly made…..they weren’t super cheap at £140 each …….grrrrrrrr
Anyway back to reality….we had a very nice breakfast with Gill…thank you very much…then we sat chatting in the garden while John took loads of pictures of Urban wildlife and nature …
All too soon it was time to say goodbye to Gill…it’s always sad. We headed back to the Protea Marriott Midrand and booked into the same room.
Cora had said she would call and have tea with us. It was a wonderful surprise when she breezed through the door and joined us in the bar…..that lady brings an aura of positivity wherever she goes….her smile forces everyone around her to smile …she is beautiful inside and outside… we were so privileged, she had lunch with us and we spent all afternoon chatting until 6.00 pm ….How she managed to clear her diary and make so much time for us is beyond me….it was a very special time…then it was time for another goodbye…
After a rest we had a light supper and retired to bed.
The morning brought sunshine. We had a lovely breakfast again and then chilled in our room until checkout time. John took some pictures around the hotel.
We booked out and sat in the lounge area…writing this blog…in an hours time we head for the airport, drop the car off and fly home…Stuart has already WhatsApped me to say he will meet us at the airport….our holiday will then be over…..what a fabulous time we’ve had….i’ll blog how the flight went tomorrow….then we will blog our sightings data, our final costings and our accommodation reviews over the forthcoming week.
Thank you to everyone who has followed us…if you have any questions or need help with bookings feel free to contact us at 2jsworldofadventure@gmail.com
For flight and accommodation contact Maisie Morton or Sean at DialAflight
+44 1618418179
If you mention us Jenny Jackson and 2jsworldofadventure they will give you a really good rate.
Finally once we have sorted the photos we will be asking you to rank them so we can select your 13 favourites for this years calendar ….this year if you are in the UK you will be able to order one of these……more about that in future blogs💕
Yesterday we set off from home for a 3 week holiday. It is to celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary. Those of you who know us will remember John proposed to me in the Caribbean.
We flew directly to Miami..good flight…spoilt by the huge queue to get through immigration….just under 2 hrs we made it through…for the first time ever we used Uber for a lift to our hotel in Fort Lauderdale…it was $68 a good price…..how were we to know that there are several Marriott Courtyards of Federation Highway !! Another Uber for $21 got us to the right one. We were exhausted and went straight to bed…..Unfortunately our old red 10 year old cases had expired and we had brand new John Lewis yellow ones….one is already smiling at us!!
We woke up very early 3.00am ….Uk time was 7.00 am body clock all adrift! After the necessary trip to the bathroom we both managed another long sleep and finally made it down for breakfast at 9.30am…USA time. We used our new skill to call another Uber and for $45 he took us to the port…dropping us at pier 21 to embark on the Enchanted Princess. Wow!!!… to say we were amazed is an understatement…the queue for the terminal went right the way to the end of the pier and back around again. It took us an hour to join the end of the queue and another hour and three quarters to embark on the ship…nearly 3 hours most of it queueing in the hot sun….come on Princess that is not good enough…..they should have allocated embarkation time slots like they used to, so that customs scanning doesn’t get overwhelmed … the actual embarking with Princess staff and getting our medallions was only a matter of minutes. After dropping our carry-on bags off in our cabin…..an obstructed view balcony especially selected as it looks over the middle of the roof of the lifeboat…so I can’t look down and feel seasick…..there is always method in my madness!!! ….we hotfooted it up on to the sun deck for a Key West Cooler mocktail…”Cheers everyone!” And a light lunch – hummus, pitta bread, olives salad. Followed by fresh melon and pineapple…….lovely….two glasses of water and we are ready to fight the crowds for a slot on top deck to watch the sail away……..The usual array of singing, dancing, shouting, cheering, the “love boat tune” played on the ships horn and the pilot boats guided us out of the port 50 minutes late but yeah!!!! We are on our way.
Deciding we needed a rest we descended to our cabin….and our suitcases were already inside awaiting the unpacking….John kindly helped me and we soon had it all in the draws and wardrobes and the cases stashed neatly under the bed. Our cabin Steward for the next 20 nights came and introduced himself…”Lucky” from the Philippines. I think we are lucky because he instantly said he’d change the bar fridge for Diet Coke and he went and got us a kettle for our early morning coffee….which incidentally I bring with us….he also made certain that our shower has a flexible removal pipe, as I don’t like the fixed ones which don’t allow you to deep clean individual areas!!!!! I was very impressed with him so he will be lucky as I can already feel a big tip going his way..
So far so good….we have booked a table for supper at 6.20 every evening, so hopefully we won’t have to queue…but if we do we do…..
Two sea days now, then an island which is new to me..Tortola….but in the mean time let’s eat, drink and be merry…..
Last nights show, in the theatre, was a musical tribute to some of the biggest icons for the last 70 years…. It wasn’t the best we’ve seen… only two sang and the rest was recorded backing vocals and dancing… nothing really to write home about so I’ll leave it there and move on to Day 5 ….
This morning we woke without the alarm and got up… hard decisions to make… does one put ones one peice swimming costume before breakfast and hope you don’t need the toilet or does one change on the beach…. Ummm … I risked it and struggled into rent a tent!! Pulling a large T-shirt and my standard white baggy linen trousers …. Right! ready for breakfast… we couldn’t decide which restaurant served breakfast so once again we braved the buffet. This time we tried the other side and although it may have been my imagination it seemed less manic. I spied a free table and endeavoured to reach it, politely asking a gentleman, who was sat in the aisle with his adoring 15 strong family around him, to “excuse be” whilst gesturing Incase he didn’t understand me…. No response!!! Well!!! There’s some truth in the saying “if you can’t beat them join them” !!! So mustering all my strength I barged passed his chair almost catapulting him under the table .. all done with a lovely smile and an “oops so sorry”… I think he got the idea and shuffled his chair in to let John pass. Yeah! We have a table … from there on breakfast was quite simple…. Noisy but at least we could get to the food. …….. oh no !!! I did need the toilet … so I raced back to the cabin whilst John finished his coffee… dilemma overcome and we still make it to the theatre for our excursion in good time even though John is shaking his head at me in dispair…. Obviously not convinced that my tactics were brilliantly executed !!!! Bus Numero 12 was called luckily our French is better than our non existent Italian so when the caller forgets the English we still have some idea of what’s going on…
Today is our beach day…. I just love swimming in the sea so I am like “tigger” bouncing and bounding around. The coach took about 20 minutes to get to an area above a Sandy beach resort. It was Makris Gialos Beach and the beach facility was called Costa Costa beach. The track was quite steep and wound down onto a lovely yellow Sandy beach. Two loungers and a parasol were €30 , which we willingly paid…
We quickly stripped down to our swim suits and went straight into the sea… a few of our fellow beach goers squealed as they paddled in the cool ripples. But we are British we are made of stronger stuff than that !!! Out we waded and 1..2…3… we were in…. It was lovely , only taking seconds for our bodies to acclimatise to the temperature of the soothing sea… we swam, bobbed about and enjoyed the submergance.
Some considerable time later we took up residency on our loungers.
We did a repeat of this 3 times. Our lounger time was spent people watching and laughing in amazement at the adaptation of a paddle boat.
A lovely time spent on the beach. John played in the sand for a while !!!
We changed out of our wet costumes and meandered up to the bar for a Coke Zero.
We returned up the steep track and fortunately the bus was already there. He had just prevented a couple from embarking but I blew him a kiss and he opened the door…. I was probably the only person who had thanked him when he had dropped us off… he also turned the aircon up and gave me the thumbs up I blew him another kiss…
On returning to the ship we had a quick salad lunch and a Magic Island Mock-tail in our nearest bar before retiring for a siesta…. I went out like a light and only woke in time to shower and change for supper.
Now let me tell you about the shower … it is a sort of triangle with the longest straight side being about 2 foot and the other straight side being about 18 inches. To wash one’s hair you need to stick your head in the corner under the water meaning your derrière pushes itself out and becomes shrouded in the shower curtain. The opposite happens when you wash your derrière with your head pushed against the shower curtain… it really would pay to be a contortionist… if anyone has found an easier way to use this tiny shower I am open to ideas!!!!
Having completed the task, dried hair, ‘booted and suited’ we headed for the dining room…. Once again we had a wake view in Salem’s area. A nice menu allowed for a pleasant meal.
A quick night cap and we’re off for an early night as we have a busy day tomorrow….. So after applying copious amount of moisturiser to my lobster pink front, back and nose!!!!… we will say good night until we reach Bari.
We are off for a weeks holiday in Cornwall, the southwesterly tip of England. It is one of our favourite holiday destinations when we are staying in our home country. Before the pandemic we just called it a holiday now we call it by the rather grandiose name of a ‘Staycation’ !
We set off from home this morning and drove across to my 93 year old Dads house to pick him up. We had an extra companion today as dad has purchased ‘Little Betty’ ( a fold up, pull along one piece mobility scooter), and she sat proudly next to him on the back seat. How we fitted the usual amount of luggage in as well as Little Betty is beyond me…but with a fair amount of pushing and shoving and a few choice words we finally shut all the doors and set off at 10.00 am.
We made good progress with very few hold-ups, on a road much travelled by us. Heading straight through Bicester and on to the A34 then turning to Swindon on the A420. There is a delightful restaurant and Motel called Mollies, on this road. A room would cost you about £75.00 per night….but I am ashamed to say we only usually stop to use their very plush facilities!!! On reaching Swindon we joined the M4 west towards Bristol exiting at junction 17. From here we took the A350 signposted to Poole, bi-passing Chippenham and through Melksham towards Westbury. Dad likes going this way as he had 6 weeks training in Melksham when he was drafted to the RAF for his National Service in 1955 until 1957. We are always interested when Dad talks about his past….his actual main posting was at RAF Upwood, near Ramsey. We’ve taken him to visit this now derelict shell, which has been vandalised and graffitied all over….Anyway I digress……..When we got close to Westbury we wound our way down a farm track and parked up near the railway line….this is a spot we know well and have spent many a relaxing day with John photographing trains and Dad and myself enjoying the beauty of the unspoiled countryside around us…….we were actually here when I read on my iPad, the up to date news, that Boris Johnson was putting the country in lockdown……we had to race back to our hotel and pack up and drive the 3.5 hours journey home….again I digress… today we sat and had coffee and our sandwiches, enjoying watching my dearest husbands jubilation at photographing a few trains he hasn’t already seen this year.
I also decided to book us into a rather quirky hotel on our return journey. John and I had stayed at The School House and Restaurant at Wootton Bassett a few years ago and decided Dad really ought to share the experience…..I won’t tell you all about it now but I will say it really is a good stop over, lovely rooms, great food and superb hosts and I include the dog in that!!!! I tried phoning to make the reservation but had to leave a message……more on this in a minute or two……
We continued our trip on to Westbury Station, John likes it there as there are usually freight locos stabled up. Today was no exception. We dropped him off and he said he’d phone when he was ready to be picked up.
Dad and I drove around to a small Youth Sailing lake and watched the boats and enjoyed seeing the very young goslings. On returning to the drop off area of the station the phone rang and thinking it was John I answered in my best Policeman Plod voice “Hello! Hello! Hello!”. I was absolutely flabbergasted when a female voice laughingly replied “Hello! Hello! Hello!”, ….oh dear … I felt obliged to explain that I thought she was my husband calling to be picked up…..Dad was laughing his socks off…..needless to say it was the owner of the School House Hotel. Yes! I think she thought I was totally mad….but she took our booking £76.60 per night for a double room bed and breakfast, she also booked us a table in the restaurant. We will look forward to this as the last night of our holiday.
I had just finished my conversation with her and John walked out of the station saw us and once again we were on our way. This time only a few miles to Frome where we are staying overnight in The Premier Inn. Again we’ve stayed here several times before, it’s comfortable and a convenient stopover as Cornwall is really too far for us to drive in one go, it also has a “Beefeater” next to it and at £75.00 a night per room -room only, you can’t really go far wrong. A bit of a tip about Premier Inns if you have a request like us :- two ground floor rooms next to each other, you need to phone them directly and request it with your booking number, because if you fill it in on the special request form when you book it goes no further than Central reservations….. the actual hotel can’t see your online special requests….anyway, there was a lift and the receptionist did manage to get the rooms just one room apart so we were grateful…we were also grateful that she told us why our request hadn’t been honoured…this isn’t the first time Premier Inn hasn’t honoured our requests so at least now we know why….Nice rooms but be warned..no air conditioning and the windows only opens a couple of inches…..
Tomorrow we go to the house, in Par, Cornwall, which we have hired for the week …
2 J's World of Adventure 