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

Monday 2nd Dec 2013 – Friday 6th Dec 2013 I think Iceland is one of the strangest places I have visited!! It is the worlds 18th largest island and has a total population of just 320,000 people! We happened to be there when an old 100 year old record was broken and a new record of ‘the coldest first 5 days of December’ was made! We were experiencing temperatures of -12C to -20C in the day time, and even with a slight breeze, it was uncomfortably cold! We stayed at the Ramada Plaza, Three Bridges on the Monday night for the bargain price of £55.28 which included 3 days parking at ACH Parking near Cobstone. It worked very well as we walked for 30mins into Crawley on Monday afternoon and found a lovely old pub (The ... read more