Tag: travel

Portugal & Spain 2025. – Day 1- On the way….

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We left home at 9.00 am Saturday 10th May 2025. I drove John, the two cases and 2 hand luggage’s to the station. Then I returned home parked the car and walked to the station….not because we’re lazy but because we were trying to preserve our energy for the long airport walks.
We took the 9.36 train to Luton…trust us to chose a day when the line was closed from Luton. Disembarking the train a kind member of the platform staff carried my suitcase up the steps because the train had stopped in the only platform without a lift!!. A quick taxi ride for £15 took us up to Luton Airport.
We soon self checked ourselves and our cases in. Then found seats in the departure lounge for the 2.45 hour wait…..We had lunch early and were astounded that 2 burgers with chips was £21… it’s probably 10+ years since we’ve had a Burger King and it will certainly be more than that, if ever, before we have another. No problem boarding the plane and we fortunately had 3 seats to ourselves…

The flight was uneventful and we seemed to be the only plane arriving at Faro airport. We made our way to Avis car hire. Although we had used Holiday Autos to book the car, it was exactly half the price of booking direct with Avis, even though it was a Avis car. Unfortunatly the Ford Kuga we had booked was no longer stocked and we had to take a brand new Nissan Qashqai with only 2900km on the clock……I had to ask the helpful staff how to get into reverse !!!!! Then we were off and on our way…The A22 is a good road and we tanked it along to Lagos and followed the. Signs to Luz….Only then did our instructions fail us and as we drove around the narrow cobbled streets, we had no idea where we were heading for. Eventually we saw an aging couple taking an early evening walk and we stopped and asked them the way. They had very little English and we have no Portuguese……after a lot of hand gestures they stopped talking and I expectantly got into the back of car….where upon we had a delightful 15 minutes of hand gestures from the back seat…what a gem this couple were. We weren’t actually that far from the apartment complex Baka Da Luz. But the streets are mostly one way due to their narrowness. The couple showed us the reception and got out of the car. I gestured I would drive them back but they gave us the thumbs up and set of back up the hill walking…..We thanked them profusely.
On entering the reception we were greeted by the receptionist… who promptly showed us on a map where our apartment was. It was on the 2 nd floor and the furthest away from all the amenities, down a very steep hill. I asked if there was one closer to which I was told “ you booked and economy, this is the economy apartment” ….Well!! Firstly I booked a one bedroom apartment on booking.com and it was £650 it didn’t say anything about “ economy”….. and secondly I’d really have liked to give the receptionist a lesson in “ welcoming behaviour” !!!
Anyway, we drove to our apartment, knowing that we were going to be driving backwards and forwards as there was no way we were walking backwards and forwards up the hill several times a day. The apartment had a lift, so all good there. It is huge, a nice big lounge, dinning room, master bedroom with en-suite including a bath tub and a separate shower bathroom. The kitchen has everything we need. There is also a spiral stairway with two extra bedrooms up there…..ummmm a one bedroomed apartment with seating, dining table and bedrooms for 6 …..hey Ho it suits us fine.

By now it was 7.30 pm and with growling tummies we drove down to the beach front. What a pleasure to find a carpark and a row of restaurants. We selected “A Concha”, as I had read it was good on trip advisor. We ate inside as it was a tad chilly outside. We both choose fish, John had sea bass and I had rare tuna. We had a Coke Zero each and a rather naughty but extremely nice dessert…all for the princely sum of €56 .

Thankfully our earlier guides had given us a good understanding of the village centre and we managed to navigate the one-way system back to our front door with ease. An early night was required as we both felt the tiredness that airports tend to cause…. A great day to the start of our 18 day adventure.

Travels in 2025 are just commencing

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We have had a shaky start to the year with many trips being postponed, cancelled or just not booked….Why?? John has had to have 2 eye operations which had to be spaced a month apart and then another month awaiting his all clear and new glasses…… But Thank goodness we are about to hit the road again.

So whats booked ???…….

PORTUGAL – We are off to Portugal and Spain in May. We have only booked a skeleton trip, because we want the versatility and flexibility to do what we want when we want…. SO… we have booked flights with EasyJet from Luton to Faro – £398.22 for us both with hold luggage and seats. In Faro we pick up a Ford Kuga from Avis booked through Holiday Autos for 18 days £680.47 including Premium Cover. We drive to Baia Da Luz Resort where we have rented a one bedroom apartment for a week for £642…… after that who knows?…… We may extend for a week or we may go straight along to Donana National Park in Spain…this park is home to the Iberian Linx. We are, however, not delusional, as we are aware that a sighting of this critically endangered species is about as rare as seeing a tiger in India or a Pangolin in Africa….. But we can live in hope and the park is also well known for its storks and flamingo.. Near the park is a quirky town which looks like something out of the wild west…but more about this if and when we get there. Moving on from here we could spend a few days exploring Seville and Cordoba…..but we will see… if you’re interested follow our blog starting mid May.

SOUTH AFRICA – We are off to South Africa mid September for a month. As usual I have started this planning by booking our time in Kruger National Park. I book directly with the Park at http://www.sanparks.org … its very easy to navigate and you can put the accommodation in your basket and work your days around what is available. There is no point booking your flights first, because if you can’t get the accommodation there’s very little alternative. I’ve booked ensuite Chalets/rondavels for 21 nights at a cost of £1649.08. We are, as usual, starting at Malalane Gate in Berg-en-Dal rest camp, then Lower Sabie, Satara, Letaba, Shingwedzi, Olifants, Satara, Pretoriuskop and finally Berg-en-Dal. I have not paid the conservation Fees because if you’re in the Park longer that 10 days its much cheaper to buy a Wild Card, which gives you a years free access to all National Parks in SA. Having secured our accommodation I then booked the flights. As usual I got quotes from 4 different companies….. and again as usual DialAFlight gave me by far the best deal…. a big shout out to Rosie Price and her team (tel. no. +44 1618418179), in particular to Maisie Morton…what a girl…gave me the sort of price which keeps me going back…lots of our family and friends as well as our Blog followers have booked with them and everyone has been given an excellent price. We have booked direct flights from London Heathrow to Johannesburg for a total of £1375 that’s £685 per person including hold baggage……wow… The trick to getting deals like this with Rosie’s team is to give them some flexibility with flight dates so they can select the cheapest days for you to fly…..We are once again truly grateful for the service they give us. I also know that the dozens of our readers who did a Sri Lankan trip similar to ours with them were all delighted. Well!! that’s as far as I’ve got with the booking. I haven’t booked a car in RSA yet because I want to see how Holiday Autos works out for us in Portugal, they are offering a great deal in RSA…

I will post both these two trips individually as blogs and with planning sheets when I have done a bit more planing… For now its cheerio and thanks for continuing to follow us. Your support is very appreciated.

Caribbean Cruise 2024 – Day 17 – St. Lucia

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This is another of our favourite islands which we’ve been to several times before…there’s lots to see and do on this island. We’ve previously visited, the Botanical gardens which are fabulous, Marigot Bay beach and view point- this is where Dr Doolittle and The Pirates of the Caribbean were partly filmed, the volcanoes at Soufriere, and had magnificent views of Les Pitons. We’ve also taken a catamaran from Castries to Soufriere and swam on one of the numerous beaches……So this time we walked off the the ship and took a local taxi to Rodney Bay, Reduit Beach costing us $20 per person for a return trip. The taxi pulled up at some gates and a helpful man called Kennedy arranged the time the taxi would pick us up and then escorted us to the beach. He guided us to 2 sun-loungers and put up a parasol for us. The cost of the loungers and parasol was $30. We quickly went into the sea to cool off….it was glorious. Although it shelved quite steeply the sand wasn’t shifting under your feet all the time and it was relatively easy to get in and out. We spent over an hour and a half just bobbing around and swimming…it was very warm.

Kennedy was a good guy who took excellent care of us. When the wind came up he tied our parasol to the sun-lounger, he regularly offered to get us drinks and altogether it was a very pleasurable morning.

When it was time to go we wandered back to the white gates at the road. Kennedy met us there very prepared with a soft brush which he kindly used to get the sand off our feet…what a great idea…. We learnt a little about him…we could have booked him direct and he would have used his taxi to pick us up from the ship and transfer us to the beach and back. He offers a good price for this along with the loungers and parasol….we shall know for next time…we can recommend him, he seemed a kind caring guy…. His full name is Kennedy Mervin Joseph…he has a great motto “ Don’t worry be Happy” and he certainly took the worry out of our day, even phoning the taxi to find out why it was 5 minutes late.

Back on the ship we showered and fell asleep…we’re not used to the amount of exercise our swimming excursions are giving us, that and along with the extra steps …to and from the restaurant ..can be quite exhausting…!!!!

Caribbean Cruise 2024 – Days 14, 15 & 16 – Sea Day, St Thomas, Dominica.

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Following our lovely day on Princess Cays we had a sea day, during which we participated in a few quizzes, played card and had a siesta. It was American Thanks giving so we dressed up for the formal evening and basically just chilled out.

Day 15 of our Caribbean holiday saw us once again in St Thomas. We were hoping we would be able to take the gondola up to the view point, after we had abandoned the idea due to the searing heat the week before. Alas this was our view from the cabin when we woke up …..

We couldn’t even see the mountains let alone the gondola…so we decided a day onboard ship was once again required. It did brighten later in the day but by that time we’d lost the desire to go ashore.
We enjoyed the day, playing cards, reading and catching up with a few bits of communication.
The evening was once again an enjoyable experience with Ernesto spoiling us in his usual manner.

Yes that is Johns dessert and his usual two scoops of ice cream on the side. I have been very restrained and usually have the sugar free option for dessert. A couple of times I’ve had ice- cream but Ernesto has very kindly gone a fetched me the sugar free one which isn’t readily available.

Day 16 and we are determined to go out today. We arrive in Dominica to the usual rain. This island is one of the least developed, it is known as the Nature Island, due to 2/3rds of it being rainforest. We left the ship well prepared with waterproof ponchos…..I bought a job lot several years ago when we were in East Asia and we still have loads left !!!!. Walking onto the dockside several offers were made for tours at a price of $30 per person. We agreed and got on a mini bus. We waited over 30 minutes and were joined by an American couple and 4 rather loud elderly Spanish speaking Mexicans. Our driver was wanting to put 4 more people on but I made it clear that if we were going to have to wait any longer and be crammed in then we would get off, the American couple agreed so Beno, our driver set off. I was quick to hush our Spanish speaking group up so that we could hear the commentary the driver gave us. We visited Trafalgar Falls. Because it was still raining John and I decided not to pay to walk up to the falls which past experience told us it could be very slippery. We then went on to the Sulphur springs. These were quite interesting and I don’t remember being there before. The guide put a leaf in the springs and it instantly curled up in the boiling water.

We proceeded to the view point. Strangely enough we met the pleasant Welch couple we had quizzed with a couple of nights before, they were just starting a similar tour. Costa cruise ship was clearly visible and our Enchanted Princess was just peeking out from around the bay….we were anchored in the cargo port. The cricket ground was very visible as was the town of Roseau.

Returning to the ship we rested and I buried my head in my book for a few hours before supper. After supper we listened to the second auditions for the “voice of the ocean”…….. no Dad I didn’t audition although the standard wasn’t as high as the first part of our cruise and I think I could have growled my way into the final !!!!!!!

Caribbean Cruise 2024 – Day 13- Princess Cays -Bahamas

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You might well ask what happened to Day 9, 10, 11 & 12…..Well!!!! ….Day 9 we were in St Thomas, it was crazy hot making you feel as if you’re skin was being dried to your bones or in my case I felt as if I was “deep fat frying”🤣🤣. We had been going to walk to the gondola and go up to the view point. It was sooooo hot we decided to just walk to an atm and get some money. We had spent quite a bit of cash because all our tours had been paid to local drivers in cash. The atm at St Thomas is in Mall 6&7 of the port shops, inside a nail bar… having both drawn enough cash to see us through the rest of our holiday we headed back to the air conditioning of our cabin…only as we went back through port security did we spy an atm machine at the security point 🤣🤣…

Day 10 we headed to one of my favourite islands Grand Turk. I love the wild donkeys….they’ve learnt to drink water out of your bottle and not spill a drop. I also like the fact that they provide free sunloungers and parasols to encourage tourists to come off the ship on to the island. However it was not to be this time. The sky was gray and it was raining on and off, we were definitely “rocking and rolling” . The captain and the port authorities decided it was not safe to try to dock so on we went.

Day 11 was at Sea – we played cards, took part in some quizzes, ate a nice meal and woke up on Day 12 in Fort Lauderdale. It was turn around day for us and disembarkation and embarkation for others. We complied with the bureaucracy of walking off the ship showing our passports to immigration and walking back on again…this process took 2 hours…we soon back at ‘our’ table playing cards and directing newbies towards the buffet…. I am beginning to wonder if all Americans have a phobia of starving to death so they have to carry food with them at all times, and don’t like to be more than a few strides away from their next meal…..this is the first caribbean cruise we’ve noticed this total obsession with food…..I think I am loosing weight just watching them eat 🤣🤣😢

Day 13 we woke up to blue sky and high temperatures…yeah!! After breakfast with Ernesto we went to the priority tender seating area…not quite certain which part of it is priority as we waited quite a while….seems a bit like their complimentary photo session…..no different from anyone else !!!!! Eventually we tendered to Princess Cays……I love this place….blue sea, sun-loungers…and not least of all this is where John proposed to me, in the sea some 11 years ago….We swam, sunbathed…..my mother would have been proud of me because it was so hot on the sun-lounger I put the waist of my shorts around my head to protect my ears, neck and top of my arm….it was a typical ‘Mum’ thing to do…John said at least it wasn’t my knickers !!!! After a second swim, we headed back to the tenders and back to the ship. 3 hours is about as long as we could stand the heat and most of that time we were in the water cooling off….but it was still long enough for me to do a good impersonation of a lobster…do so hope that when we get home to England I won’t be mistaken as Rudolph 🤣🤣 Great day…thanks Princess Cays you never fail to deliver a happy time.