Chris hodgson

chrisandroisin

Chris hodgson

TP PROFILE

Former TravelPod Member: chris-roisin

Joined: February 12th, 2010
From: lives in Widnes,United Kingdom
Favorite Book: She says anything by Jonathan Kellerman. He says "the World". And I'm half way through chapter 3 (see favourite quote!!)
Favorite Movie: Some of his favourite movies are Pulp Fiction, the Bourne trilogy and the Godfather movies. Some of her favourite movies include Doctor Zhivago, True Lies and the Terminator movies
Favorite Music: She likes listening to Runrig, Saw Doctors and Ian McNabb and he listens to anything she has playing in the car at the time!!!
Hobbies: He likes taking trips away with her. She likes ORGANISING trips (without him!!)
Languages: He likes to think he can speak German and Swedish. She can count to 10 in Gaelic!!!
Profession: He's a lowly paid Civil Servant (and so is she!!!)
Amazing Event: He says I don't do amazing moments, every minute of life is amazing. She says I'm gonna be sick!!
Description: He's said to look like Young Mr. Grace. She's is and always will be best described as the voice of reason!

"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail" "The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page." (read on!!)

Rimini - Days 4 and 5 and 6 - Life’s a beach (but at least we’re all socially distancing!!)

Europe » Italy » Emilia-Romagna » Rimini August 23rd 2020

Chris doing nothing abroad after a hard 6 months of doing nothing at home!!

chrisandroisin

For our final day in Rimini we had booked a couple of sun beds and an umbrella on beach 21, the section allocated to our hotel. As the majority of this day was spent at the beach, where I had my eyes closed most of the time, I have merged today with tomorrow’s trip to Bologna and the following day - our journey home, otherwise the day’s blog would probably be ending after the next few paragraphs. We arrived at around 10:30 and were taken down a narrow boardwalk toward the sea. We were shown to a couple of sunbeds on the front row. These were ours for the day. We could come and go as we pleased. This is a highly organised business as there was an attendant at either end of the beach, making ... read more

Off to the beach - face masks at the ready!!

Rimini - Day 3: San Marino amazingly 80 in 18!

Europe » San Marino » San Marino August 20th 2020

San Marino awaits The Giro d'Italia

chrisandroisin

San Marino is only one of three countries in the world surrounded entirely by another country; the others being the Vatican City and Lesotho. At 64 square miles, it is the third smallest country in Europe behind Vatican (again!!) and Monaco however, it does hold the record of being the oldest republic in the world. To cap this off they are 209thin the FIFA soccer world standings just below the British Virgin Islands and above Anguilla!! Bearing in mind there are only 210 nations listed in the FIFA rankings, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that the only way is up for the men in sky blue and white. And, that’s where we went today; up 657m (or 209 places to the top – in football speak!!) above sea level to visit this tiny ... read more

The watch towers of San Marino loom in to view

Rimini - day 2: A Stroll through the Old Town

Europe » Italy » Emilia-Romagna » Rimini August 19th 2020

The mighty Olive Tree Roundabout, Rimini

chrisandroisin

After a decent night’s sleep, we both woke refreshed after the long day we experienced yesterday. Breakfast, normally a hot and cold buffet, was waitress service only. Menus were placed at each table and orders taken accordingly. It was basic but adequate. At least with this service, one can exercise a certain amount of portion control. Neither of us had any complaint about this new procedure. This morning we decided to familiarise ourselves with our first time visit to Rimini by visiting the old town. The hotel couldn’t provide a map so on retracing yesterday’s footstep back to the railway station, we called in to the tourist information who duly obliged. While we were here, we enquired about buses to San Marino. During our research, we had learned that the Bonelli Bus, the company that provides ... read more

Rimini - day 1: Stress and worry, almost back to normal!!

Europe » Italy » Emilia-Romagna » Rimini August 18th 2020

Kevin, that good 'ol fashioned Italian name!!

chrisandroisin

The virus has been around for seven months now. The UK has recently relaxed its lockdown rules. The European infection rate declined during the lock down. However, since the reopening of most businesses, the infection rate has started to creep up from three to four hundred new cases per day to just over one thousand. At a time when certain European countries seem to be having a ‘second wave’ and they have now appeared on the UK’s ‘naughty’ list, Italy has remained consistently low with two to three hundred new infections per day and as for their deaths; the daily count can be counted on one hand even if you’d lost you thumb in a freak lumberjacking accident!! Spain, France and Belgium are countries that require self-isolation for fourteen days on return to the UK. Our ... read more

Roisin on TrenItalia - her grin says it all (Honest!!)

Chris enjoying a snacky thing whilst writing the blog

India (almost!!) Khasab (exactly!!) and beyond

Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai March 13th 2020

The sun deck - still empty despite the weather being scorchio

chrisandroisin

We were up early, excited for our arrival in to India. We had an organised city tour arranged for our visit to Mumbai but no plans for New Mangalore or Goa. We had arranged to meet, once more, with Beryl and Brian to share a cab in these ports. We were due in to New Mangalore at 8am. However, we could see nothing but sea. Something was happening. Guest services had gone AWOL and those officers milling around seemed in too much of a hurry to acknowledge you with their usual cheerful smiles. We ate breakfast outside the buffet on the open deck. Two tables across, we noticed an MSC officer in what seemed to be a heated discussion with the two officials from the Indian Immigration Authority. They looked like they meant business because they ... read more

To the rescue - the Ocean Breeze - tug boat

Indian Immigrtion officials on their way home

Hello Muttrah, we're back again!!

Middle East » Oman » Muscat » Muttrah March 4th 2020

Taxi drivers versus the tourist - Muttrah, Oman

chrisandroisin

While the Diamond Princess was on all the front pages, held up in Japan and the Corona Virus was rapidly spreading and now had at a foothold in least half the world’s nations, we were docking in Muscat, vaguely aware that something was happening but, at this stage, not concerned. We arrived several hours late, due to the weather, so we were told, but during the night and this morning the sea seemed to be as smooth as a millpond. If we did have a patch of bad weather, the ship must have bloody good stabilisers as we never felt the slightest bump!! As it turns out, we didn’t lose any time here as we departed several hours later than scheduled. The capital of Oman is Muscat. We’ve been here twice before so when Beryl and ... read more

'Taxi. Tour city? I give you good price!!'

Looking down the Muttrah Corniche towards the Mosque

Where the Fak is Khor Fakkan??!

Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Sharjah March 3rd 2020

Plenty of room near the pool!!

chrisandroisin

Later that evening…our first theatre show. The whole ship seemed a little subdued. We arrived only five minutes before the curtain raised and we were still spoilt for choice as to where to sit. What a difference a cruise makes. On our last trip, people were turning up an hour before the show to ensure they got a seat and now it’s a case of: ‘What time does the show start?’ ‘It depends. What time can you make it!!’ Khor Fakkan – the city time forgot…or at least the city Chris forgot as I was ready to move on to Muscat until I read my notes!! A day at sea, our first of five during this trip. MSC is not as prolific as some cruise companies in holding trivia sessions. It depends where the ship is ... read more

Abu Dhabi, the Mosque - Ay, it's grand is that!!

Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Abu Dhabi March 1st 2020

Welcome to Abu Dhabi

chrisandroisin

Firstly, I apologise to those who tried the link to previous Dubai trip found in the last blog. They didn’t work. Hopefully, the links are now fixed so please feel free to revisit our previous trips to Dubai. I guarantee something different each time. From a surreal Halloween party that we unknowingly gate crashed in 2011 to wondering what would happen if I drop a penny off the top of the Burj Khalifa in 2014!! Back to the story...Just as the first person to catch Covid-19 in the UK and not bring it in to the country was diagnosed, a man who lived in Surrey, we were checking out of our hotel oblivious to this fact. Although today was embarkation day, the ship, the MSC Lirica, would not set sail until 10pm. For this reason, the ... read more

The reflecting pool -The Grnd Mosque (1)

Dubai: It's a a Miracle...- flowers in the desert!! (Aah!! now all becomes clear!!)

Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai February 28th 2020

The 'dos'and 'don'ts' of a public lavatory

chrisandroisin

As stated in the previous post, we have been to the Emirates several time before so won’t be sharing some of the country’s most iconic feature such as the Jumeirah Palm, the Burj Khalifa or the Burj al Arab. They can be found along with photos in previous journals: https://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-983452.html https://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-983271.html Today we are off to visit the Miracle Gardens. This is somewhere that has been on our ‘to do’ list for a while. As we have woken up to a temperature that is not much more than that of a balmy English summer’s day, we decided to travel a little further afield. The Miracle Gardens is about 18 miles from our hotel.... read more

It'a a Miracle...No! It's Dubai - flowers in the desert!!

Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai February 27th 2020

Roisin enjoying her private cabin!

chrisandroisin

I bet you didn’t expect this amid total global lockdown that has had to be enforced as a measure to deal with this modern day plague of biblical proportions – Covid-19. Currently it is difficult to travel to a neighbouring town never mind foreign travel. ‘Foreign travel’– soon to be deleted from the English Oxford Dictionary? For those of you born in 2020 and reading this in the year 2035, ask your parents about foreign travel. Travelling abroad for leisure and fun. Ask your parents about fun! It really was a part of most people’s life before the world changed forever. There are only so many boxsets I can watch or books I can read. My shoe leather had worn down from the amount of daily walks I have done. I can’t even go to the ... read more

Joined	June 25th 2017	Trips	38
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