Tag: travel

Travels in 2025 are just commencing

Published on by 2jsworldofadventure2 Comments

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

Published on by 2jsworldofadventure2 Comments

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.

Published on by 2jsworldofadventureLeave a comment

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

Published on by 2jsworldofadventureLeave a comment

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.

Caribbean Cruise 2024- Day 8 – St Maarten

Published on by 2jsworldofadventureLeave a comment

Today we docked at the port in the Dutch side of St Maarten. The island is split in two with one half owned by the Dutch and the other side owned by the French…they even speak their own language depending on which side you are at, although English seems to be universal reflecting the islands reliance on tourism.
After breakfast, an amusing affair which left us chuckling, we packed a beach bag and headed on out. It’s quite a walk to the water taxi. They charge $7 return fare for the ferry over to Philipsburg, the Dutch side capital. Disembarking the ferry you are swarmed upon by tour and beach touts… we bargained hard with one lady who started at $35 for 2 loungers, parasol and 5 drinks and finally agreed with $20 for 2 loungers and no drinks.
Our loungers were at the waters edge and we were quick to strip down to our swimming suits…water shoes on and in we went. It has a steep shelf with the sand shifting under your feet, so it’s not the easiest to get into …however we managed it with some decorum!!……Bliss, warm water, clear and bright blue who could ask for more…

We even managed to get out without falling and doing my usual beached whale impersonation!!
After several sunbathing then cooling off in the sea sessions we took the ferry back to the ship and had a light lunch followed by an afternoon nap.

We went up to the Photo studio at our appointed time. We were once again sat down and all yesterdays photos were shown to us. We were given choices between similar pictures. We never have individual photos but the photographer had insisted and there were some very nice ones of us both together. He had us select 20 in total. Then came the crunch ……..I did say that the photo session had been complimentary didn’t I??

ummmmm…well ….we were given a choice of either a photo album or the photos on a memory stick …. And our 20 selected photos at the discounted price would ONLY cost a $1000 on a memory stick…….well!!!!! ……They might have had to of put one of the individual photos on our coffins because we both nearly dropped dead……The photos started at the discounted price of $99 each but the more you bought the cheaper they got. So if you bought 20 they were discounted to $50 per picture. Absolutely no way …..he tried several combinations with us eventually saying that we could have an album with actual photos, plus a memory stick plus two canvasses with our 2 favourite photos on for the bargin price of $650 ….. I am not certain which bit of “ we’re not in the market for buying photos at that price and anyway how do we get the canvasses home” he didn’t understand. I was all for walking out at that point, but the COMPLIMENTARY PHOTO SESSION had been a big part of our special day… he asked what we would pay and we agreed $200 for just 2 photos on a memory stick.
I asked which part was complimentary and he said the photo session, to which I asked wasn’t that complimentary to ALL guests which he agreed it was. …….we said the letter was a scam to which he replied that Princess Shoreside gave them the names of all cruisers celebrating an anniversary or a birthday and they sent the personalised letters out to each of them. So we have been to guest relations and told them how we feel the letter scams people….it is ambiguous in the fact it leads you to believe you are being gifted a photo …in-fact nothing at all is complimentary because the photo sessions are free to everyone…..I can’t think of anywhere in the world where complimentary doesn’t mean free of charge…..it’s a bit like saying your bingo game is free but you have to pay for the prize…..So at the moment we have two lovely pictures at a huge price …but they are a memory of our special day…even though we will always think that Princess Cruises has pulled a scam on us….we will wait and see what guest relations comes back with but we’re not holding our breaths.

After our massively disappointing session in the photo studio we went for supper and enjoyed some nice seafood antipasto …Ernesto knows us well!!! …when I said that it was a much bigger portion than usual he just laughed and we knew he’d given us one and a half portions….. we both had veal escalope as our main courses and John had a soufflé whilst I had the sugar free option of a coffee moose desert. Feeling much more relaxed again we settled in Princess Live lounge for a quiz before having an early night.