The 1st of May was going to be a cleaning and packing day but we were woken up by the loud bangs of the rockets at about 8.00am.........a signal that ‘something would be going on today’!! Walked down to the roundabout where there was an assortment of vehicles and trucks amassing, with a lot of horns blowing, green flag waving and crowds of people all wearing emerald green. Saw our Spanish neighbours who explained it was a romera and they were all going out to the ‘campo’ and coming back at about 12.30pm. Well it was about 1.00pm they actually arrived back in the town and about 100 vehicles zig-zagged the main roads on the town, causing mahem, despite the police trying to control the traffic! It was absolute chaos, trucks and cars waving green flags, ... read more

Wed 12th March 2014 To blog or not to blog!! That was the question! It was only going to be a quick belt down through France to Spain, where we were receiving visitors, and hoping to see friends and do some walking so could be a bit the same as our other trips, but we have decided to keep a blog just so that we have a record of where we went, places we saw and maybe we would want to re-visit at a later date! It wasn’t a particularly good start to our trip as we informed that the ferry was delayed by two hours which meant it wouldn’t leave Portsmouth until 01.00am and then make up the time overnight! Had a good nights sleep by the deluxe couchettes on Deck 7 (Seven Sisters!) albeit ... read more

SINGAPORE – 8th / 9thFebruary 2014 I can’t get excited about Singapore! I don’t know why – it just doesn’t seem a very exciting place – maybe because its too westernized or maybe its because we have been here before? I don’t know! Anyway, we cruised across the Andaman Sea and then the Straights of Malacca (the busiest shipping lane in the world!) between Malaysia and some Indonesian Islands and reached the Marine Bay Cruise Terminal (MBCCS) 61, Marine Drive about 2.00pm. Disembarked through a very efficient system and decided to walk to the iconic Sands Hotel as it didn’t seem too far! Big Mistake!! Its further than it looks, crosses (at the moment!) a huge building site, and it was also about 33C and very humid!! Eventually got to the Sands Building, on our knees, ... read more

COLUMBO – SRI LANKA Thursday 6thFebruary 2014 Got up at 07.00am as we wanted to do our mile around the deck and go to the gym before breakfast – and also see if we could see any whales as Blue Whales are somewhere off the coast of Sri Lanka! There was quite a strong wind whipping the sea up so predictably no joy on the whale front!! The sea calmed back down by about 9.00am and the wind dropped leaving another scorching hot day and after a lazy day we got to Columbo about 14.30pm. (Docked at Passenger Terminal Ports Authority 19, Chaithya Rd) None of the palava of the Indian Ports and we were able to stroll off the boat at around 15.00pm where we walked into town to negotiate a tuk-tuk for the afternoon. ... read more

26th / 27thJanuary 2014 Where do I start?!!! The journey to Gatwick was uneventful, arrived, checked in our luggage – that was a new one as we usually only take hand luggage!! The plane left on time ( A huge Boeing 777!) and after a delicious 3 course meal we tried to sleep the remaining four hours of flight (6 ½ hrs altogether!) Managed to doze for a while but woke up in time to see a beautiful sunrise across the mainly sandy terrain and we landed at about 7.00am Dubai time (3.00am UK time!!) The airport was impressive – large as are most things here! Full of pillars, mirrors, coloured glass and palm trees. A guy was waiting for our taxi transfer to Cassells Al Barsha Hotel, and we were whisked off for the 40 ... read more