Wednesday 19th & Thursday 20thApril 2023 OTARU 10.00am – 5.00pm After another sea day, we arrived at Otaru about 9.00am. We had to go through the rigmarole of re-entry to Japan, with fingerprints and photo taken so we weren’t off the ship until about 10.45am (and that was early because we had ‘booked’ a trip with Al & Cruise Critics so we were ‘Priority’!!) Unfortunately we were unable to meet up with Al because we were herded through Immigration and onto a bus that took us to Mt Tengu for 480JPY. Got off the bus on the 5th stop, along with other passengers that hadn’t made it to Cruise Critics Tour and went up 271m past the snow line, in a cable car. Admired the view (it was quite murky!!) rubbed a goblins nose (It will ... read more

Japan – Vancouver 6th April – 15thMay 2023 Up at 2.45am on the 6th April 2023 to catch the 4.00am bus to Heathrow! The plane (that was huge) took off on time for the 13-hour flight to Kuala Lumpur! It seemed a very strange way to go to Tokyo as there were a lot of people on the plane going to Australia ……and that was only another 8hrs to Melbourne, whereas we also still had a 7-hour flight to do! AND we also had a 7 1/2 -hour lay-over as the London to KL landed early!! All things have a silver lining, so instead of sitting around in the airport, we managed to find a travel agent, in the airport, who arranged for us to have a 2-hour sight-seeing tour of Putrajaya – the government district ... read more

Monday 20thFebruary 2023 After five days of Chris driving, it was good to have a break and we spent the day walking instead!! Dropped the car off in the back streets of Paphos and wended our way, via old Byzantine churches, mosaics (that we hadn’t seen before!) at Chrysopolitissa Church and St Pauls Pillar back to the Archaeological Park. We had allowed a whole day for it and kit was just as well that we did! It was huge!! The House of Dionysos is shut until Sunday, so we will probably go back and see that then. But we did see House of Aoin (Roman period) Theseus ( 2nd – 6th C AD) and Orpheus (2nd/3rd C AD) – all complete ruins with fantastic mosaic floors. Went to the lighthouse and then onto the City Walls. ... read more

TUNISIA 13th January 2023 – 20th January 2023 Just a week in the sun with a TUI package tour £300.43 All Inclusive!! It seemed rude to stay at home and we couldn’t resist it – especially as it wasn’t in the Schengen Agreement ( Not in Europe either so we had to take out more Insurance – another story!!) We eventually left Manchester Airport about 1 ½ hrs late due to someone phoning in sick, which meant we didn’t get to Tunisia until about 4.00ish! First impressions of Enfidha Airport is…well enough to say we were the only plane arriving!!First impressions of Tunisia is …well its very dry here! We were staying in Paradis Palace Hotel (3rd drop off!) which seemed pretty palatial! Sent for a drink at the all-inclusive bar before we were taken to ... read more

France & Spain Sept – Dec 2022 Wednesday 14th September 2022 We are off!! At last!! We had decided to drive to Spain a) because Chris wanted to see his brother in Chassignolles, France b) his cousin Lynn was in Montpellier and c) hire cars have suddenly gone ridiculously expensive in Spain! We left early so that we had chance to visit another of his brothers in Lewes and duly arrived at the ferry port, Newhaven. Uneventful crossing – it was just so nice being back on a ferry! Watched the sunset over the sea just before we docked at Dieppe where we drove to Ibis Budget Hotel (secure parking with hotel if booked 10 Euros) 124611 -124808 197miles Thursday 15th September 2022 Left hotel and had uneventful drive to Bonneval where we parked up outside ... read more