Monday 5th July
The first point of order in Athens was to resolve our problem of excess weight – not the weight I’ve been stacking on personally as that challenge will be addressed when we get back home. No it was our overweight luggage (surprise) from which we needed to shed at least 10 kg or face problems with Flybe. A repack of the suitcases suggested that posting the travel books, towels and soft luggage bags that were now surplus to requirements would probably get us there. After consulting reception we were amazed to find that there was a post office specialising in parcels literally 3 streets away that was open til late – it was meant to be! In fact it was so good that I was worrying that we would get there to be told that it would cost hundreds of euros. Fortunately though our first trip to the post office revealed that the price made it a practical option and the only remaining challenge was to find a suitable box to put everything in and some packing tape. Fate was again on our side as we were walking back to the hotel and passed a department store – with a cardboard recycling bin outside on the roadside full of cardboard boxes! Then in the street next to the hotel we found an office supplies store.
After packing the box in the hotel room I volunteered to go back to the post office on my own as it was hot and the girls were looking quite bedraggled. When I got there I printed out my queue ticket and sat down to wait. Rather than being a boring wait, the crowd was entertained by a young man who was going ballistic about something that obviously wasn’t going to plan. I couldn’t understand a word of what he was shouting but it didn’t sound friendly and was accompanied by much counter banging and arm waving as he abused the staff. When I finally got to the counter I asked the postal worker (who we had spoken to the first time and who has an aunt in Melbourne) what was going on. He proceeded to tell me there was a problem with some papers and that this would never happen in Australia as we have rules but that they don’t in Greece! I have to admit that I am pretty sure the police would have been called to an Australian post office within 5 minutes. When I left 30 minutes after arriving, with the parcel now all addressed and stamped, the unhappy chappy was still banging counters and berating the staff.
Back at the hotel it was time for a swim in the rooftop pool and a chance to get some last photos with the Acropolis in the background.
Feeling refreshed we set out in search of a nice restaurant in which to have our final Greek meal. Along the way Kath, who has been fascinated by the number and uses of motorbikes all holiday, snapped photos of more motorbikes and their riders. I also photographed a sight I had witnessed on several occasions, a group of men playing backgammon by the side of the road.
The last tasks for the night were to print out boarding passes and finalise the packing so we would be ready for our 6.15am taxi to Athens airport tomorrow morning.
Tuesday 6th July
Now if there is going to be a travel day from hell where if something can go wrong it will, then today’s the day. We left the hotel on time at 6.15am to catch an Aegean flight to Milan – all good. In Milan we had to collect our luggage and then make the connecting flight to Manchester with Flybe (we’d heard mixed reports, including some horror stories, about UK low-cost airlines) to then transit to the Isle of Man. So with three different planes on two airlines in one day everything had to go to plan. And with a day on planes and in airports there would not be any photo opportunities - how will I survive a day without the camera?!
The Flybe queue in Milan airport was about 50 English tourists deep when we joined the line and the 3 check-in stations were very slow. Kath noticed one station wasn’t being used very much so went to check – hallelujah it was a baggage drop off for travellers who had prepaid for luggage (remember it’s a low cost airline) and had checked in on-line and pre-printed their boarding passes. It was with great joy that I pulled back the retractable queue tape and walked to the front of the line. We were all checked in within 5 minutes and about to head off to the boarding lounge when an English lady at the front of the long queue said to her husband “well we’ll go to the queue where that man just pushed in”. Kath could see that I was about to turn round and have a “polite” conversation with the lady and explain the error of her comment and was asking me to just walk away when the check in lady firmly explained to her that we had pre-paid our baggage and had printed our boarding passes so she would have to get back into the long queue – I would still have liked to have told her myself!
The flight was fine and was made more interesting by a team of Italian schoolgirl baton twirlers who were on their way to a baton twirling competition in Sheffield – who’d have thought it? Anyway there was much giggling and shouting as it was the first flight for a few nervous girls. We arrived in Manchester on time and, to the relief of the baton twirlers, in one piece. The transit at Manchester was great, with a small minivan waiting for us and 3 others to take us to a small transit lounge. When we arrived there was a small but stationary queue (not many people flying to Isle of Man) due to a malfunction of the walk through scanner. Eventually they gave up on the obviously frustrated technician and did a manual frisk – very intimate. As we were not on EU passports we had to fill in arrival cards and go through passport control. The young female officer was very friendly and backed up my comments to Liz that there were officers inside the office smiling to themselves at the way she was performing and preening herself in front of the one way mirror glass! Apparently a lot of girls do it.
Once “processed”, another bus took us to the plane. As we drove along the tarmac further from the terminal the planes got smaller and smaller until we eventually arrived at our plane - with propellers. Of course it wasn’t exactly tiny and it was in excellent condition but it has been a while since we have been on a plane with propellers. Fortunately the weather was quite calm so the flight was fine and again was right on time. The last concern, whether the bags also made the transfer at Manchester, was quickly dispelled as they appeared on the carousel – praise be to the travel gods (OK Christine, to St Christopher). In no time we walked out to find Caro waiting for us. On the trip to their place the car thermometer was showing 13-14 degrees – a bit chillier than Greece! I think we worked out that I hadn’t seen Caro for 18 years so it was a very happy reunion. Back at their place, a lovely big old farm house called Ballaquark, we immediately met their sons Sam (14) and Ben (12) who had been relieved to learn that Australians speak English so they would be able to converse with Liz. Any concerns about Liz and the boys getting along vanished after 30 seconds when Ben invited Liz to check out the play room. From then on they got on like a house on fire. Once Caro’s husband Rob arrived home from work it was time for a lovely home cooked cottage pie, a couple of glasses of red and a chance to start catching up. As it was a school night for the boys, the kids went to bed at 9.30pm and the adults had another glass of wine before Kath and I succumbed to the long day of travel and also hit the sack.
Wednesday 7th July
We had a very lazy start to the day with a leisurely breakfast and the opportunity to get some washing done before finally heading out of the door well after 11am with our local island guide Caro.
We went for a drive through the countryside and over the top of the island to Port St Mary where we had lunch in the Calf Sound Cafe which has a terrific view of the Calf of Man and the Sound. After lunch we strolled down the grassy bank and had a pleasant surprise when we saw a couple of dozen seals sunning themselves on the rocks of the Calf of Man which is only a few metres away from the mainland.
Thursday 8th July
We managed to get out of the house a little earlier today as we set off to Castle Rushen for the morning. Castle Rushen is one of the finest remaining examples of a Mediaeval Castle in the UK and has been very well managed to provide a really interesting journey through its life. Informative exhibits, lots of history about the castle and the Isle of Man, and helpful staff made it an enjoyable couple of hours.
After a lovely pub lunch (gammon, egg and chips and a pint of bitter) we drove into Douglas to take a horse drawn tram trip down the main street. Unfortunately the weather was cold and windy so we decided to stay inside rather than risk the open roof level. The horse was slow but steady and I realised that horses are the ideal employees – they don’t stop for toilet breaks but just go on the job. The only problem being that the passengers behind get to enjoy the rural odour!
After another delicious dinner, Rob and I adjourned to the garage for half an hour as he showed me his Caterham 7. For the uninitiated it is a small, very light, 2 seat open sports car similar to the one below but Rob's doesn't have the yellow stripe down the middle.
Unfortunately it is currently off the road waiting for a repair to the oil pump so we weren’t able to go for a drive and experience the 5 second acceleration to 100km/h. Outside of the built up areas there is no speed restriction on the Isle of Man. Therefore as long as you don’t drive “dangerously” you can go as fast as you like. The Isle of Man is famous for the annual TT (tourist trophy) motorbike races and has a race track made up of the normal island roads. Needless to say the island is therefore a Mecca for bike and car lovers alike. Rob and Caro assured us that the accident rate is no greater than anywhere else, which is hard to imagine given the narrow lanes, blind corners and stone walls! After sitting in the Caterham and imagining what it would be like to hoon around the island we went back inside and Rob put on a DVD of the TT bike racing. The bike racers are seriously insane! They race around the 37 mile island course (normal public roads remember) comprising a seemingly never-ending series of bends, bumps, jumps, stone walls, manhole covers and telegraph poles at speeds approaching 200mph (320km/h!). As you can imagine, those speeds and the lack of normal race course safety measures, result in at least a couple of deaths or serious injuries each year.
Whilst we were watching the DVD, Liz and Ben decided to take advantage of the late sunset and play hide and seek around the house and in the fields – Ben had a decided advantage but Liz happily played along until she discovered stinging nettles and decided to come in for some sympathy!
With the kids in bed, Rob kept the red wine topped up while the adults chatted away until it was time for bed. We have an early start tomorrow as we are catching the ferry to Heysham on the mainland near Lancaster where my niece Anna lives.
Friday 9th July
Time for a couple of final group photos before Rob drops us off at the Douglas ferry terminal on his way to work whilst Caro gets the boys off to school. Hopefully it won’t be another 18 years until we see them again. Liz really enjoyed her time with her new friends Ben and Sam – it would be interesting to see them together in another 10 years! It was lovely to see Caro and Rob and enjoy their hospitality. Hopefully it won’t be another 18 years between drinks.
The ferry was a huge boat that transported trucks, buses and cars as well as foot passengers. Unknown to us, most people were taking cars back to the mainland so we were taken by surprise when the foot passengers boarded last and we found that the lounges were packed. Fortunately we managed to find a table for the three of us to sit at. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t near a window as it was so foggy and rainy outside that it was impossible to see the sea – the only indication that we were actually underway was the dull throb of the engines and the occasional movement of the boat on the relatively calm sea. After 3 ½ hours the captain announced that we were about to arrive in Heysham just as the mist lifted and we could see the mainland (and I could finally work out which end was the front of the boat).
Taxis were thin on the ground outside the terminal so the one taxi there called another one for us, which was too small for our luggage, so that taxi driver called another colleague with a maxi taxi – half an hour later we were heading into Lancaster to our B&B. The B&B was quite quaint until I discovered I needed to lug 60kg of suitcases up three flights of steep, narrow staircase.
After settling into our room and me having a cup of tea to recover from the staircase we set off to the Butterfly House at Williamson Park to meet Anna and my new great nephew Joseph for lunch. Whilst the Butterfly House was disappointing (5 years ago when we saw it with Clyde, Beryl, Anna and Sarah it was great but has gone downhill – for a start a Butterfly House needs to have more than half a dozen butterflies!), seeing Anna and meeting Joseph certainly wasn’t. Anna looked great (motherhood suits her) and Joseph was a delight.
After a nice lunch and our fairly quick stroll round the Butterfly House, associated bird house and small animal area, Anna drove us all in to the main shopping centre in town to take Liz birthday present shopping whilst Kath and I went for a stroll round the shops. An hour or so later we all met up and Liz showed off her lovely new clothes and Anna explained that even she had to veto the ultra short shorts that Liz had expressed interest in.
Back at Anna’s we caught up with her partner Dave who was back from work but unfortunately was going out again to work as a stagehand at a local amateur dramatic society performance. Before he went, though, he had some play time with Joseph who by now was beginning to get a bit tired and grizzly. However the moment Joseph saw Dave and they started playing he lit up again and was full of giggles and mischief. Liz helped with bathing duties and in no time Joseph was clean, fed and in bed asleep.
Saturday 10th July
The day started well for me with a “full English” for breakfast, including Black Pudding (basically sausage made with blood for the uninitiated). Continuing on my Monty Python theme for the holiday I remembered an episode of the Michael Palin series “Ripping Yarns” in which an anally retentive character is extolling the virtue of a particular Black Pudding by saying “it were so black, even the white bits were black!” Mine was pretty black and it was great.
After breakfast we walked into town to look at the Saturday markets (the girls enjoyed the markets and particularly loved their purchases from the Yummy Cup Cake stall as you can see below) before the others came to pick us up from the B&B for an outing to Greenlands Farm Village for lunch and a chance to play with the farm animals.
The average weather continued with occasional showers but fortunately it didn’t really impact on a great afternoon. The lunch at the cafe in the complex was delightful and the farm animal section was excellent, especially after yesterday’s disappointment of the Butterfly House. It was a real hands-on place full of a wide range of very happy and healthy looking farm animals content to be stroke, patted and hand fed. I loved the singing lamb and the lickey cow. I think I enjoyed it as much as Liz! Joseph was very vocal throughout the day and enjoyed being out and about. He particularly enjoyed the ride on Dave’s shoulders although Dave wasn’t as enamoured as Joseph tried to remove some of his hair – now I know why he keeps his hair short.
After our very enjoyable outing we went back to the B&B for a cup of tea, a rest and to freshen up before walking into town at 7.30pm to meet everyone (except Joseph who was being babysat) for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The tendency to overeat on the trip continued big time as we ploughed through a great banquet menu and once again waddled back to our overnight accommodation!
Sunday 11th July
Another fine Black Pudding with my breakfast (I am dreading the scales at home). I did manage some exercise this morning as I had to lug the cases back down the stairs before we could check out of the B&B. We also decided that a walk along the “prom” at Morecombe would be nice and provide some more physical activity – we need some more 400 step monuments to climb! Morecambe is a seaside resort which is no doubt a lovely place to enjoy on a warm sunny summer’s day. Unfortunately on a cold, gusty and overcast day it loses some of its charm. The water certainly didn’t look as inviting as the Ionian Sea! Still it was nice to be out and to visit one of Morecambe’s greatest national treasures – the statue of Eric Morecambe. Liz and Anna mimicked his trademark pose for the camera.
After being buffeted by the wind we decided to take refuge in a coffee shop and have a warming baked potato for lunch before heading back to the cars to say a final farewell to Anna, Dave and Joseph before setting off on the 1 ½ hour journey to Clyde’s. Fortunately the sun had managed to break through for the goodbye photo shoot.
Clyde has “donated” his car to us for the week whilst he is borrowing Jayne’s. I love cars so the prospect of a week in a fairly new BMW 330ci is quite exciting and the drive back to Clyde's is the first chance to get comfortable in the driver's seat. As we were following him and Jayne home though I decided that it wasn't appropriate to blast past them on the motorway!
Back at Clyde’s we settled down to watch the World Cup final, a well deserved 1-0 win to Spain.
Monday 12th July
This morning has been designated a bit of a rest morning. After dropping Jayne off at work and having breakfast, we did several loads of washing before taking a leisurely drive to Telford shopping centre. The attraction of Telford was the Build a Bear shop where we promised Liz we’d take her to buy some new clothes for her bear Marianne. We also chose and “built” a bear for Joseph. Another discovery was a milkshake shop which makes shakes from almost any chocolate bar. I had a Curly-Wurly shake with Maltesers, Kath had a Terry’s Orange and Fry’s Orange Cream (best ever according to her) and Liz had Fry’s Orange Cream with popping candy. Chocolate indulgence over, we left Telford to head to Ironbridge on the River Severn.
A highlight of the outing was provided by satnav Jane (not to be confused with Jayne). Programming in “Ironbridge” to get from Telford she tried drive us to the base of the bridge through progressively narrower lanes until we got to a steep gravel walking track. With nowhere to turn around and certainly no way forward, Kath and Liz were beginning to freak out as I reversed up the gravel road between the stone walls only inches away from either side of Clyde’s pristine white duco. Personally I had confidence in my reversing skills and in no time we were back on a real road with no white paint on the walls, Jane turned off, and following the brown tourist road signs to Ironbridge.
Ironbridge is a town whose main feature is an iron bridge! The bridge is only open to foot traffic these days but is still very impressive as it was built in 1781 from sections of cast iron. There are several lovely gift and homeware shops on the main street to browse and in one of them we found a china mug with a teddy bear on it called Dusty. We just had to get it to send to our new found American friend Dustin. Feeling a little peckish we decided to back up the “healthy” shakes we had in Telford at a pie shop in Ironbridge called Eley’s where I had a Cornish Pastie and a can of Vimto (another flashback to English childhood). Eley’s proudly claimed to have been mentioned on several TV shows including Home and Away. As if the pastie wasn’t enough, I couldn’t resist a bag of pork scratchings (crackling) from the shelf to further boost the cholesterol levels.
A stop off at a Sainsbury’s supermarket on the way home to pick up the ingredients for dinner was also exciting as we got to browse through all the prepacked foods on offer in the UK. They looked very tasty but are no doubt contributing to the problem of obesity over here as it is in Australia.
The return journey also required a petrol stop. £60 (over $100) later we pulled out – and that was just standard unleaded, not premium. I’m not complaining though as we are getting free use of a great car.
Tonight we had a quiet dinner at home with Clyde and Jayne.
Tuesday 13th July
Today was a trip down memory lane for me. We drove up to Sheffield where we lived and where I went to prep school for a few years until we moved to Australia in 1975. As part of the nostalgia trip I took the girls to our house in Causeway Gardens in the village of Dore just outside Sheffield so Liz could see where dad “grew up”. The house looked exactly the same although the gardens were not as well presented as they would have been in dad’s day!
It was amazing how many memories came back for the first time in 35 years when I saw the house – which was surprising as I have a shocking memory. I was tempted to look over the fence into the back garden but the next door neighbour was eyeing us with suspicion so we decided to leave before he called the police!
With misty eyes (mine only) we then drove into Sheffield to catch up with Paul, an old prep school friend of mine, who still lives there. Paul and I have managed to keep in contact on and off over the last three and a half decades. Although we are only in contact every now and then it is really great when we catch up and for some reason there seems to be some sort of bond that allows us to pick up from the last time. One thing we have in common is a love of rock music and Paul still “lives the dream” playing drums in a band doing regular professional gigs. As well as actively playing, Paul is involved in event management as his lovely wife Karen owns and runs a business providing entertainment for corporate and private events. As if that’s not enough to keep them busy they also have a 4 year old son Jack and a 14 month old son Billy – hats off to them as I don’t think I’d have the energy any more.
We spent a great afternoon with them at a local council run animal farm which was a smaller and less commercial (read free!) version of the Greenlands Farm Village we visited with Anna in Lancaster. The kids (and adults) also got to play on the swings and rocking horses before we decided that the cold wind howling across the park was getting the better of us. When we got back to the cars we noticed that Karen had left their car door wide open whilst we had been away – I think she had been distracted getting Billy changed...either that or it was just a “seniors’ moment”. Either way we all had a good laugh about it.
Knowing that we still had to drive back to Clyde’s we decided on an early dinner at a diner called “Yankees”. Continuing my theme of eating in moderation, I had the ribs and wings combo. I pity the three cows and 10 chickens who gave up their lives to fill my plate with a mountain of bones smothered in BBQ sauce. It was only fitting that I resolved to eat them all. I think Jack may have been a little wary of Liz during dinner (can’t trust these older women) but Billy certainly has a way with women. With his blue eyes, golden hair and cheeky smile I can see a few broken hearts on the horizon.
All too quickly it was time to head off back to Clyde’s. It was the first time Kath and Liz had met Paul and Karen but hopefully it won’t be too long until we see them again – maybe in Australia. Having said that they will probably want to wait until the boys require less maintenance on a 24 hour flight!
When we arrived back at Clyde’s it was great to see my niece Sarah and her partner Dan waiting to greet us after having driven up from London. Tomorrow we are off to a Theme Park called Alton Towers for the day. Liz, Sarah, Dan and I are excited about the prospect of rollercoasters – Kath not so much! After a drink and a catch up it was time for bed and a good night’s sleep before we hit the park.
Wednesday 14th July
The weather is not looking too good when we wake up (surprise surprise) but we decide to head off anyway. I’m quietly hoping the weather may discourage too many people going. How wrong could I be!! When we arrived, the car parks were already packed and then catching the monorail to the entrance we passed the coach parking area which was just a sea of empty coaches having unloaded thousands of teenage kids at the gate. The cars and coaches translated to long queues for the popular rides. We decided to start off with a non-threatening (as in not a high, fast rollercoaster) attraction called Hex. It seemed innocuous to start with until the room we were sitting in seemed to be turning upside down. Logic told me that it was impossible for us to be physically turning upside down and that it was purely an optical illusion. Trying to convey that logic to Kath during the ride and convince her that she was not going to be tipped out of her seat was not so easy and an escape from the room couldn’t come fast enough for her.
The next adventure was a rollercoaster called Rita which was worth the 30 minute wait although it was over in 2 minutes. Kath kindly offered to look after the mobile phones for everyone! What wasn’t worth the wait though was the newest “latest and greatest” attraction called Thirteen. Sarah, Dan and I queued for well over an hour for a very short ride that was not particularly scary – the old problem of over promising and under delivering. The only upside was that it gave us a chance to catch up on Sarah’s acting and modelling activities and Dan’s advertising career. Liz and Kath ventured on the skyrail and had an ice-cream but weren’t expecting the long wait for us to return.
After lunch we split up so Dan and Sarah could go on a particularly challenging rollercoaster (Liz wasn’t interested) and Kath, Liz and I hit the good old River Rapids. It may not be as extreme as the rollercoasters but it is certainly provides a lot of family laughs – especially when I seemed to attract most of the water, much to the delight of the girls. Carrying on with the water theme we moved on to the Flume ride for our last ride of the day. Kath was a bit reticent about this one on two counts – one the chance of getting wet and two the long last drop. What she didn’t know was that there were two drops before the end – this allowed her to get in some much needed screaming practice! So by the time we hit the second and highest drop the scream volume and pitch was deafening for me sitting directly behind her. The end of the ride also involved the boat passing under two short showers. Kath was prepared for this with an anorak with a hood. Approaching the showers she reached back to pull the hood over her head so I thought I’d offer some assistance. For some reason, and I can’t for a minute think how....the hood got caught and she wasn’t able to get it up in time....what a pity!
We didn’t take photos ourselves during the day but we did buy the family shot of us coming down the Flume – Kath’s face is priceless and I only wish the photo had audio.
All in all it was a fun outing and finished on a high note with the Flume. I have to say though that it was an expensive day to stand in queues for much of the time.
At 5.30pm we set off back to Clyde’s to get ready for dinner at a local pub called the Ash Tree. It was a good job Clyde had booked a table as the place was packed at 7.30pm on a Wednesday night – possibly due to the 2 for 1 main course deal. Although we had to wait quite a while for the food to arrive it was well worth it and we had plenty of time for chatting. By the time we were ready for dessert the pub was practically empty. Obviously the locals had come for an early dinner – this is one example of the very different cultures in Europe as the Greeks would only just be thinking about going out for dinner as the English were arriving home after finishing.
Hard to believe that tomorrow is our last day after 7 weeks (50 days) of holiday!
Thursday 15th July
Clyde and Jayne will be taking us to a hotel near Manchester Airport tonight as our flight home leaves at 9.15am tomorrow morning so we didn’t need to say goodbye to them yet. We did have to say goodbye to Sarah and Dan however as they were heading back to London and we were off to the movies to see Shrek 4. The plan was then to visit family friends Mary and Alan whose daughter Jenny lives in Sydney with her family. Mum and Dad see them quite regularly and have a soft spot for their girls Katy and Becky.
Shrek 4 almost didn’t happen as we got caught on the M6 motorway in the obligatory British motorway roadworks which Jane didn’t know about. Fortunately we made it in time and, in a stark contrast to yesterday’s crowds at Alton Towers, there were only 2 other people in the cinema with us. We all agreed that the movie was a definite improvement on Shrek 3 and that it suited the 3D format.
On the way to Mary and Alan’s I decided to further educate Liz on her dad’s history by visiting our old house in Kilmorie Road, Cannock. This was another blast from the past for me after 40 years. The house looked unchanged after all that time and even the old chestnut tree across the road where I used to source my conkers was still there! When we pulled up we noticed that a lady was sitting in the front room so I felt a little uneasy about pulling out the camera. Eventually we decided that the best course of action was to knock on the door and explain who we were. This ended up being a great idea as the lady who answered the door had lived there for the last 35 years, having bought the house off the people who bought it off us. When I started to explain that I lived there as an 8 year old and shared some of my memories of the house and the back garden she obviously realised that my story was genuine and invited us in to see the house. It was immaculate and mum and dad will be thrilled to know that it is in such good condition. Just like the house in Sheffield the memories came flooding back. The only changes are a new conservatory out the back and a couple of stumps where the old cherry and apple trees I used to climb once stood. The owner was so kind that she even offered to show dad through when he comes over in a few weeks time so I took her phone number before saying thanks and goodbye.
It was time to have a late lunch before heading off to Mary and Alan’s so we went into another pub for a counter lunch. Kath and Liz chose to share a “double up” chocolate brownie and ice cream sundae for desert. It was ridiculously huge – even the waiter laughed as he set it on the table in a glass bowl the size of a small bucket! Even the brownie/ice cream twins had to admit defeat about 2/3 of the way through.
Arriving at Mary and Alan’s we were pleasantly surprised to see Jenny there. She had been travelling in Slovakia and was spending a few days with her parents before heading back to Sydney. We had a lovely afternoon catching up with them and Mary really doted on Liz whilst she showed her our Greek holiday photos on the camera. Time got away from us though and all too soon we had to leave to get back to Clyde’s so he could get us to Manchester for the night.
A couple of attempts were required to find the best way to stow all our bags in Jayne’s car but around 6.30pm we were on the road to Manchester. The hardest part of the 90 minute journey was the last 500m when we initially struggled to find the entry to the hotel carpark in the network of roads around the airport. Finally negotiating our way in, it was time to say a final farewell and thank Clyde and Jayne for the hospitality and the transport during our stay.
Check in at the hotel was easy and tomorrow’s 6.15am shuttle bus to the terminal was booked after the receptionist said we needed to check in for our flight three hours early. The only thing left to do was to use the computer in the foyer to print out the boarding passes. However, after paying to log on I discovered that the printer wasn’t working properly. When I explained my dilemma to one of the girls on the front desk I was amazed and pleasantly surprised when she said if I was quick I could come round the back of the counter and use one of their computers – a hotel guest even came up to me and asked about booking a shuttle bus seat!
The last task was to set two alarms to make sure we woke up at 5.15am – after a successful 7 weeks of travel it would be a shocker to miss the last flight.
Friday 16th July
So here it is, our last morning in England. Everything went so smoothly that we were at the airport, checked in and through security in about 45 minutes! Plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast – one last “full English” for me, but unfortunately the early start is too much for Liz who just wants to go back to bed rather than eat!
After a slight delay our Singapore Airlines flight is called, we are on the plane and taxiing down the runway on the start of the 24 hour journey home.
And so our epic 7 week adventure comes to an end. The three of us have been in each other’s pockets 24/7, we’ve had lots of laughs, a few tears over Hannah, made some great new friends, caught up with family and friends, seen some amazing sights, had memorable experiences and most importantly enjoyed sharing the adventure together. Time to start planning the next one........
To all of our family and friends who have read/skimmed/looked at the pictures of our blog I hope that there was something there for everyone. It was fun for me to write and will provide us with a permanent diary of our time away, which with my memory will be a godsend!
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