Philip John Mayor
I started going on solo holidays in my mid-forties in 1998. I thought this would last until an accident or illness took away the enjoyment. My "top ten disasters" suggest that stupidity has outweighed common sense.....PhilM
Travel Blog Posts
9. 18th August 2000 Presov, Slovakia
Published: January 24th 2012Europe » Slovakia » Presov Region » Presov
January 24th 2012
I should have guessed it wasn’t going to be my day when I balanced my sunglasses on my head in Levoca and then smashed them in half getting onto the bus. The day was planned to be one of life’s rites of passage – going to see my first football match in Europe. I had identified Tatran Presov v Artmedia Petrzalka as the occasion for this event. In anticipation, on arrival in Presov, I checked into the most expensive hotel in town – nearly £20 for an unrivalled view of Tesco. I spotted posters on lamp-posts advertising the game and walked the route from hotel to ground. The only decision now was how to fill the 24 hours until the match. But first a late-afternoon snooze. When I woke at about 6, I put on the ... read more
Top Ten Disasters: 10= 29th July 2008 Denver Airport
Published: January 10th 2012North America » United States » Colorado » Denver
January 10th 2012
The flight from the UK to Denver was delayed by a couple of hours, so rather than at 6 p.m., we landed at 8 (i.e. about 7 the next morning on my body clock). After the usual delay for US border stuff, I was then the only person taken out of the queue to have my luggage searched. (Something similar had happened when I left the US in 2007 – if not my face, there’s something suspicious about random facial hair that's not in the passport photo). When I finally took possession of my vehicle, I was in a hurry to get to bed, so I set off in one of those 1940s Chrysler retro-vans without trying to shut the window. The next morning I had to go the 30 miles back to the airport (still ... read more
Top Ten Disasters: 10= 7th April 2007 Interstate 95 near Durham-Raleigh, North Carolina
Published: January 9th 2012North America » United States » North Carolina » Raleigh
January 9th 2012
On arrival at Washington Airport, I took delivery of an impressively large and sharp-looking red Pontiac, definitely an upgrade from what I had booked. I drove this diagonally south-west across Virginia and (without adequate maps) down into Tennessee, at one past Dollywood. On Easter Saturday, it seemed like a good idea to get back to Virginia, so I had a day of driving the longest distance I’ve ever done (beating Warwick to Arbroath the previous autumn by 6 miles). At the north end of North Carolina, a pebble flicked up from a vehicle in front and I watched as it sped towards my windscreen. Had the glass given way, I wouldn’t be writing this! In the event a small crack appeared at one edge of the screen and I drove on. Overnight it snowed and by ... read more
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