First Trip Overseas 2005

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Our first trip overseas was in 2005 until then we had only toured Australia, we set off from Perth and flew Malaysian Airlines which weren't bad back then, stopped the night in Kuala Lumpur then up the next morning and onto London.

But before any more travel details something that shaped this holiday greatly (two weeks before we were about to go) was that my dad got a phone call late one Friday afternoon saying it was the International Red Cross and that they had a gentleman named Josef Roos looking for him and his family, dad had been out at the time and by the time he got the recorded message they were closed and he had to wait till Monday morning. So first thing Monday morning he rang the International Red Cross and found out that his mothers youngest brother was alive and well and living in Germany. He had not heard from him in 65 years they had lost contact during the second world war when Germany was retreating from Russia and the Ukraine, my father and his parents had to flee to Germany as they were German nationals who had been living in Russia had fled communism had been living in Dnepropetrovsk in the Ukraine and now were fleeing from the Russians again. Dads mothers family lived in Crimea and they stayed where there and were treated badly by the Russians the men being sent to Russian work camps etc. After the war they were relocated to Kazakhstan where they lived till communism fell in 1991. They then with many other people were sent back to their countries of origin for them not Crimea but to Germany to start all over again they had to leave their homes and land and only could take what they could carry. The German government gave them 7,000 marks which wasn't a lot and they all had to start again I cannot imagine how hard that would have been and even though they had good jobs back in Kazakhstan their qualifications were not recognized so even there they had to do what ever they could find work. Dad then rang his Uncle Josef Roos and had a tearful reunion after 65 years, he arranged with Josef for us to visit with them first and he followed 3 weeks later. Thankfully we had leased a hire car in Calais so we drove to Germany to meet this long lost family.





So back to our trip we landed in London and spent a couple of nights in a dingy hotel in Piccadilly Circus (which was recommended and pre- booked by the travel agent in Perth) then we caught the train to Dover and a ferry to Calais, something we learnt don't buy any tickets before leaving you get better specials there, had a heap of problems trying to use the tickets on the English ferry so we made sure when we got to Calais that the return ticket was ok no problems there. We picked up the lease car a Renot Clio no petrol only enough to get to a service station then where do you put the petrol in and which one with a lot of hand gesturing we found out and then after filling up were on our way. We stopped the first night in Bruges in Belgium was rather worn out from all the driving on the wrong side of the road. The next morning we caught a bus into the centre of Bruges and had a look around and got some money changed over. Then on to Germany stopped the next night on the border between Belgium and Germany in a lovely B&B. We had to laugh expected to see a sign or something to say we had crossed the border the next day but nothing at all thankfully in a road side stop we met a nice German gentle man who gave us a map book and showed us where we were. The next stop was Gommersdorf where my Great Uncle Josef lived, I don't think I will ever forget the look on his face when he saw me for the first time there were many tears and hugs. We spent 3 weeks there visiting with him, his daughter Valentina her husband Jacob and their daughter Irena. Great Uncle got on the phone and organised us to visit with the many other relatives living nearby. We had one problem they spoke Russian first which I and my hubby don't speak, then German second with a Russian accent and other than the younger relatives no English we had such fun communicating. I had some German but only basic words like sugar salt etc and the usual swear words you pick up as a kid, so there was a lot of hand actions and drawing to communicate. When their daughter Irena came home for a few days it made it easier as she spoke some English. While in Germany we visited Old Heidelberg, the walled city of Rothenburg, Aachen, Stolberg, Bad Rappenau, Fulda, Bad Mergentheim, Krautheim. We saw quite a few castles and churches and many old buildings and enjoyed meeting all the family I had never seen before.

We spend 6 weeks in total visiting family and sightseeing, we drove back to Calais and dropped off our car and got the ferry back to Dover where our English holiday started and this was another adventure, as this was the first time David had been back to England in 30 years he was born just outside Hull and emigrated to Australia in 1968 he went back twice when he was in high school but the family came back to Australia as life here was better.

Before we left for our holiday we had also arranged a hire car to be picked up in Dover, we got a fantastic deal from a guy in Ulladulla running a business called Crown Holiday Cars International, the guys when we picked up the car could not believe the deal we had. We had 6 weeks to tour England so after picking up our car in Dover headed north towards a place called Reepham, we had met a couple from there when they were over here in Australia touring around and we swapped email addresses and kept in touch, so we spent a few days with them and they showed us around their area. From there we continued up the coast to Hull stopping in at Skegness which is a sea side holiday destination. We spent 2 weeks in Hull staying with family and catching up with David's Aunts Uncles and cousins, which was great for him. We visited all the places I had been hearing about from his parents, like Bridlington, Scarborough, Withernsea, Whitby, went to where they film the tv show Heartbeat.



From there we used B&B's didn't book anything because it was out of season which made it a lot easier, it was fun what different kinds of accommodation we did find, got just over the scottish border and the owners of the B&B were not scottish but english and had been living in Kenya was a bit disappointed was looking forward to someone scottish.



From there we made our way up to Edinburgh and then across Scotland had to see Loch Ness where the lochness monster lives, went over to the Isle of Skye and then started our way down the west coast, loved the Lakes District and the country side there, Gretna Green was on the list too interesting place. We drove around Wales, went to Bath which was a very pretty place, Weymouth another sea side town, met some interesting people when we stayed in B&B's.





Made our way over to Warminster where a friend of our sister lives, she was going away for a few days and said once she was back we were more than welcome to stay with them. So we looked around and thought why not do one of the holidays we kept seeing advertised in the travel agents right around England. What they have set up there is really good you pay for your airfares, accommodation and breakfast and dinner, or there is other package deals where lunch and drinks are included too. We did what is called a last minute deal we booked and paid one day and then flew out the next. We went to a place called Crawley which is near Gatwick airport, booked ourselves a week in Majorca for 400 pounds which was $1,000 our money for both of us. We had accommodation, flights and breaky and dinner catered for which was great. On arriving in Majorca they had a problem and had to put us up in another hotel for one night then move us for which they gave us back 80 pounds which is $200 so for $800 we had a good deal. We were based in the town of Can Picafort which is on the opposite side of the Island to the capital, we had a great time wandering around looking at how the people lived there, the beach area was full of tourists from England and Germany, they have huge hotels there that cater for either nationality and that was interesting too. Came across a bar where German guys were singing american country music and pubs just like in england catering for the english tourists. Because we had the hire car we had to ask the company could we leave it with them there at the airport till we got back, took a bit of persuading but they did so in the end. While on Majorca we learnt a way of getting to go on scenic bus trips which didn't cost you a cent, they were called Blanket Trips, what you did was you went to a factory and listened to a half hour spiel on woolen underlays and memory foam mattresses and pillows which was quite interesting, got to sit on a fork on a mattress and couldn't feel a thing, they also gave you a small glass of local wine or maderia and biscuit to try, I was also given a man made pearl necklace which was rather lovely, then we would wait while anyone wanted to buy mattresses etc then back on the bus and they took us for a trip around the island to do the tourist thing.

Back to England and stayed at Warminster with Audrey and Colin they were wonderful hosts, did some more exploring then it was back to Heathrow and home via Kulua Lumpur. We had decided to have a day there, so once again off the plane this time we got a local bus from the airport to the hotel, and did we see things we must have toured most of Kualua Lumpur by the time we had gotten to our hotel, actually I was starting to get a bit worried it was taking so long. We enjoyed the walk around and the city and the night skyline was quite spectacular especially the Twin Towers we viewed this from the roof of the hotel. Found the food there unusual beef bacon instead of pork since it is a muslim country.



This was the first of our trips overseas and we enjoyed ourselves very much, must admit being the first time pretty scary at times but we did ok. We found by saying we were Australian it helped heaps, people would help us especially with the language differences. Learnt a few things try not to pre purchase too much here as there is always specials going and some companies don't like vouchers.

The best part of the trip was seeing my Great Uncle and all the relatives and finally meeting all my hubby's family. I am sure there is more but brain has buried it somewhere.

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