Arrived

 

After dragging myself out of bed at 1am to be ready for the taxi at 2.30am, you knew/hoped your day would get better.

Well the predicted road works on the A1 were virtually non existent, so bonus and meaning that by 4am I was following my law of travel and having Champagne

On the plane and in the sky on time and may have had a couple more glasses of fizz.

We arrived at Malaga in calm weather, not the thunderstorms forecast. And after a long wait on the coach we were off to Mijas, well to be honest if the driver had been any slower, we'd have been due back at the airport.

Arrived at the hotel after coach driver nearly installed his bus and passengers in the real estate office, trying to get round the roundabout.

We were checked in, changed and on sun loungers in 10 mins.

A dry martini and black Russian were soon in our hands and then HE arrived, grumpy Gabriel accompanied by  lovely Alejandro (our favourite barman at Christmas). True to form he ignored me but not to be deterred we had far too many drinkies and ended up having a wavy walk into the village for dinner.

I finally got my pasta with gorgonzola and walnuts, and cannot remember what it tasted like.

A stagger back to the hotel and bed.

And now another day begins

Going on holiday

 

2am the sound of the alarm,

The ensuing moments are nothing like calm.

Have I got passport, tickets & money,

36 handbags, 400 dresses and soft toy bunny,

My phone, my charger and travel adaptors

20 bottles of sun oil to cover all factors.

Leave the house and head to the airport,

Into the car park, a space being sought.

Cases checked and nearly through,

Only one more obstacle to do.

Body scanner looming before some peace

Hope my underwires don't trigger armed police,

Finally through to the airside domain

And get settled down with a glass of champagne.

Let the holiday begin!

A year on

 

Well its a year on from what was to become the most surreal day of my life.

After  nearly 6 hours of writhing around in  pain in my hotel room in Mljet,Croatia, I was transferred to the National Park medical station, and after being dosed up with mega doses of tramadol, I was then shipped and ambulanced to a hospital in Dubrovnik ( 3 hours away).

More tramadol, and diagnosed with gallstones, told my gallbladder would be removed that afternoon,

 well no it wasn't!! I got patched up and supplied with 'drugs' to get me home. as I requested.

Being let loose in Dubrovnik  absolutely unaware of what day it was, let alone where I was, I managed to book myself a room in a guest house in the old town and get there. That was the last I knew until waking up the next morning.

Its hard to believe it was a year ago, so much has happened in that time.

I feel like the last year has been one of those 'flip books' you made as a child, and sometimes you flipped too fast and missed a page, spoiling the effect.

At other times I feel as if the year was on a go slow or on hold until I had my operation ( June).

Other things that happened this year have pretty much stopped me in my tracks and made me take a long hard look at life, this year has been a year that keeps on giving and not giving kindly.

And so one year on, I've made peace with a lot of things that were out of my control and I am forging my own way forward as I like to do. Sometimes it takes a few knocks in life to push you back onto your path.

quick weekend away

 

When I should have still been fast asleep in bed on a Saturday morning, I was actually freezing to death ( slight exaggeration there), on the platform of Darlington station waiting for a train to take me south and back 'home' for a party.

And not just any old party, this was to celebrate the 100th birthday of my friend Harrys mum.

That is some achievement and a reason enough for a celebration.

I tried to make the best of an early start and had provided myself with champers for the journey and a mini charcuterie  breakfast. Well there are standards to keep and I now feel that the law of having champagne at the airport  should now cover any form of transport for travelling , obviously the exception is if you  are the driver of a car, when coffee or peppermint tea needs to be the order of the day.

Not only was the party in my old home town ( Moor Park/ Northwood), but also in my old work place ( Merchant Taylors School).

The party kicked off at 2pm and was scheduled to finish at 9pm, I now feel that this is going to be the template for any future parties for me, it is very civilised

Ellen looked stunning, belying her 100 years

And she was obviously enjoying being surrounded by family and friends.

I was back at my B & B before 8pm, it had been a long day.

I stayed in a lovely house in Kewferry Road in Northwood which was wonderful, the lady in charge of all things was called Jessica and was efficient and very friendly.

With feather pillows and duvet, I slept so well that I felt like staying another night..................and how I wished I had.

Sunday dawned with a red sky, I should have known!

Set off on the Met line to Kings Cross and then it all went wrong, cancelled trains, so many people trying to get on any train, an hour after my original time to leave I finally got a seat on a train and was off.......................only to then end up in Leeds, York and finally nearly 7 hours later arriving in Darlington the home of Steam, which had this weekend been celebrating 200years of train travel.

I felt like I had been on the go for 200years and honestly if I was travelling for 7 hours I really would have wanted to be somewhere other  than Darlo!!!!!

And as for getting a refund from LNER, well there website is experiencing high volumes ( no!!! how on earth!!!) so I doubt I'll every see a penny back.

Last holiday of the year sorted

 

As if I needed any excuse to book another holiday!!!

Well  I have decided to take myself away for Christmas, and why not.

It involved some early morning calls to and from Australia, and just like that everything is in place, and I have also booked a city break at the end of January. All very exciting.

And in true Lainey style I am not disclosing where I am going, but its really going to be a busy few months. After my op in June and being unable to fly, drive for longer than an hour at a time or go any distance on a coach, I am filling every month with an 'away ' trip.

I'm away in October and for my birthday in November and now filled up December and January.

I might as well just keep a suitcase full and pick it up as I need it!!!!

I also have some other exciting plans going on before the end of the year, but more about that later.

At the moment I am emptying the wardrobe onto 'guest room1' bed ready to be packed.

'Guest room 2 ' is currently the ironing room for said holiday!

Happy Weekend

Lanzarote the debrief

 

Well what a pleasant surprise, I have always shied away from the Canary Islands, ( usually for  hols in Africa), in fact in recent years I have shied away from the Balearics, and this is due to me loving mainland Spain, so a long weekend in Lanzarote has been a bit of an eye opener for me.

We were far enough away from the mad nightlife, to have peace and quiet, but close enough if we wanted to dip our toes in.

Weather was exceptional and that's a huge bonus for me

Atlantic  swimming is highly recommended.

Even though we were  close to the airport, the 99 flights a day never really bothered up, it was just interesting to see them come in nearly piggy backing each other.

No fighting over sunbeds here, there was plenty of room for everyone, and a seawater pool  too.

It was probably easier to tread in rocking horse poo, than find a Dry Martini, come on Lanzo, get with the programme!

Food in every restaurant I tried was exceptional.

Jazz Bistro  in Tias/Matagorda, exception, highly recommend the Chicken breast in port and mushroom sauce. Great location , 5 minutes stumble back to the villa.

Emmas Cantina in Puerto del Carmen great service, and great Mexican food.

Serenity, Puerto del Carmen, roof top dining and a great array of food to suit all. Perfect evening out.

O'Sheas Irish Pub , Tias/ Matagorda. You know what you will be offered and it was typical pub grub. Steve and I  had a roast dinner, which was great , lots of meat and good veg assortment. Service was very poor though, would not recommend in the height of summer.

Supermarkets were incredibly reasonable, and I do love a supermarket abroad.

I loved this break,  and have no doubt that I will be going back again.

And next time I will venture out to see more of the island.

Last day came too quickly

 

Well my mini break was over too quickly and as Tracey and I headed up to get me a taxi to the airport at 7.45am, I was close to turning round and going back to the villa, it was definitely going to be a scorcher.

We said bye and I was off to start my journey home, oh joy!! first thing I see when I get into the airport is that the Leeds/Bradford flight, delayed! I was through security in record time ( typical) and then decided to head to the loo, I was feeling quite tearful a it would have been my sisters birthday. A bit of a cry in private was just what I needed.

I had nearly made it through the door to the toilets, when I was stopped by a lady from the Lanzarote Tourist Board, asking me if I would fill in a survey, I politely said no and headed off for a blub. I emerge from the toilet cubicle , red eyed and ready to fix my make up, and I kid you not, she was waiting for me. 

She thrust a piece of paper and pen at me and said ' fill!'.

I looked at her and politely said 'no'.

She then followed me to the basins and said 'you must'.

By this point I was nearly on the verge of tears again. I told her in that I did not want to fill in a survey, I wanted to have a cup of coffee.

I escaped and went to the far end of departures, got a coffee and sat down to just soak up the chaos that was the airport.

Five minutes later she sat down opposite me and thrust the paper and pen at me again.

I was by this point rapidly losing my patience with her, I asked her why had to fill in this survey, she just kept repeating 'you must'.

Well very long story condensed. I got up and walked away I kept finding somewhere to hide from her, I watched her harassing other and chasing people up and down.

They called my flight and I headed to gate 9, closely followed by persistent Lanzarote woman. She was still thrusting the paper at me as I got my passport stamped and was trying to get through to the plane.

Not a great end to a fabulous few days.

Sadly the return flight seemed to be so much quicker  than the fight out, and I was back in Blighty in the blink of an eye.

And that's it for a few weeks at least.