Sadly a setback for the trip

Well I was just sorting last minute paperwork out when during a visit to run through the vouchers Sue my travel agent informed me that Virgin had cancelled the flight home from Shanghai to Heathrow and my choices were to cancel and have a refund, come back a day earlier or maybe a day later but that I would need to pay extra for the costs involved myself. It did not seem to bother them and the effect on me when I am starting the trip next Monday.

It has taken nearly 12 months to get this package together so extra stress now is the last thing I need to cope with, plus having to sort out replacement accommodation and transport all adds to the pressure.

I have spoken to one of the solicitors at Which Legal services, she gave me some advice so I have contacted Virgin via e mail to see what response I now get, on her advice I will also contact my credit card and see what they have to say as it seems they maybe jointly liable, plus it also seems there may be some way through EC legislation to argue my case, which I have also put to them, but if not solved now, I will deal with on my return.

Also i have posted on Facebook both my profile and Chicos because its not right that a company such as Virgin that tells us how customer friendly it is, can just cancel flights I presume because they cannot fill the plane but then walk away without any responsibility to the public as far as they are concerned, whilstsomeone such as myself have to pick up the pieces and spend more time trying to re book elements of the trip with only a couple of days to go before I start on the holiday.

One more week to go 26 October 2014

It seems so long ago since my first chat with my son about a trip to the Grand Canyon, that developed into this marathon of 30 days away with over 60 hours in the sky, 5 countries and 10 destinations for me. Now there are three of us the latest addition is Gulliver Chico Glasser, see previous blog for more about him, dont forget to follow him on Facebook, he hashis own profile and will keep you up to date with his travels as well as photos with me.

They will be with me on my first leg to London that origionally was just a train trip, but thanks to you Maggie is now going to be an exciting adventure, with visits to the Poppy garden at the Tower, then a trip down the Thames by boat, a meal at the O2, then cable car across the river before a train trip to Docklands.  If I time it right it will then be a trip to Heathrow after rush hour to rest before the start of the real trip with our first adventure in New York.

So far it seems we are going to visit staten island ferry, the Statue of Liberty, the memorial to the Twin Towers and the Air Sea museum, but the first adventure there will be to find our hotel, as it involves a trip into the centre first.

After a few days there we travel to Vegas hopefully to visit the Grand Canyon, it came as a surprise that it gets cold in Vegas and the Canyon so it could affect our ability to get there and my sons planned bike ride on the Rim, but we will see. I am still hoping for the chance to meet up with my Buzzer friend Geri if her health is up to it. My son informs me we are having a look at casinos and the Strip is obviously going to be included, think may need to hire a scooter to help cope with distances.

My son then travels back home then its me and my new trusty friend Gulliver Chico Glasser for the rest of the journey. If you read back a little you will read about him, he is with me to promote ME Chronic Fatigue Syndrome awareness and promote our local group as well as encourage people to sponsor him on the groups behalf.

The next leg is to Auckland for a couple of days, then to Oz, Port Douglas, Ayres Rock, then Sydney. I have found a place there to stay where  whem I come in on the ferry there are spectacular views each day of the Opera House and Bridge at each destination it will be an adventure.

Then its onto Malaysia with a trip to visit my friend in Penang followed by a trip to Singapore and finally to Shanghai before returning back to London again for the last leg home.

Its thanks to Sue at Ace Travel2 that its all been possible,  thanks Sue for all your time and patience over the months in the planning and sorting out paperwork for the trip as well as encouragement with the mammoth task, I must stop making lists as my luggage will be overloaded with them.

My visas are in place,  Sue is coming this week to go through all my paperwork to make sure I have my E tickets transfer and hotel vouchers, my GP has sorted out my prescription and  I should have a letter from her, so there are no issues for the medication I will be carrying for pain relief. I have had all necessary inoculations and more recently my flu jabs and just to make sure, have travel insurance to cover the trip.

After I thought about the cold in New York and possibly Vegas and the Canyon, I have made sure that I will have sufficient clothing that will cope with the hot and cold weather, I have tried packing my case and everything I can think of is going in and it is still under weight,  sorry have not included yet all of Chicos clothes some kindly donated by Caroline and  Mandy, do another task for me. I have decided as I am travelling with Chico that this time I will not take my SLR camera rather, my tablet, compact camera and recently purchased camcorder to record what I see on my travels and also to copy onto my blog but also to keep copies to show when I get back home. They will take up less room and be more inconspicuous I hope as I travel around.

Although it is now so close I still have not sorted out the best way to deal with money in the various countries, despite advice from my friend Paul which has been helpful on the subject and other aspects of my trip. But will finally resolve this week, its so complicated with a range of currencies to deal with in particular when I first arrive at destinations in the different countries and the first few hours whilst I find my bearings, so different as a lone traveller than with an organised trip, but much more exciting I hope.

Well I will close for now, hope you enjoy the read and will continue to follow the adventure as it unfolds.

An update on the next trip

I thought I would give you readers an update on the big trip as it is getting quite near now. All the flights and hotels are booked, although there has been a slight change from Auckland to Cairns, seems that there is no longer a direct flight on the day I want to travel. It seems so wrong that they can just do this at short notice, but it just means I have an extra flight to cope with.
I have now sorted out mine and sons visas for US, application is in for trip to Oz and I am waiting to find out if I need a Chinese visa as will be there for just over the 72 hours that I would not need one.
Have booked sons flights from Ireland now and need to sort out train to London for us both and for my return at the end of the trip back home. We have decided to spend a little time in London on the first day as son has not visited there other than when working.
An extra issue now is with son, that he needs to carry equipment on board for his sleep apnoea, so I need to contact the airlines to make sure what we are best doing about the fact he needs to carry this in the cabin.
I am trying to organise all the paperwork for the trip and create a diary to remind me of things I need to do along the trip such as reminding self to contact airlines 48 hours in advance to re confirm flights, this seems a rather strange practice, surely once we have booked and paid for tickets that should be it.
Have a series of links to different websites to help with exploring the different cities along the way. With so many places its hard to know just what I can fit in given the limited time I have in each place, plus there is jetlag  and my ongoing health issues to cope with.
If you have read my last blog you will be aware that besides my son in US I now have an extra travelling companion namely Gulliver Chico Glasser, he seems to be a great success with people so far, in the groups of friends and family he has been introduced to as well as bringing a smile to people along the way, my problem may be keeping up with the Facebook profile I have created. I have not yet worked out how best to use him for fundraising for our Bury Bolton ME CFS group but I am sure in the weeks to come everything will fall in place and for me personally he will act as an icebreaker as I travel on my own.
At present it seems that I will be travelling by plane over a period of 30 days up to 70 hours in planes and waiting in airports for at least 30 hours, just as eell I have my lounge pass to gove me a chance to relax whilst waiting for flights. I have asked for assistance at airports due to my mobility issues do I am hoping this will make it easier for me getting from check in to the plane. It has only just occurred to me that I need to find out about the best way to obtain my boarding card for the various flights as I will not have access to a printer.
Well still lots to do I think son is excited about it but for me I am still working on the practicalities of the trip and it is getting quite near now, so will close but give an update nearer to the time of departure.

Gulliver Chico Glasser My Story 27 August 2014

Chapter One
Hello, my new travelling companion Jeff has asked me to tell you a little about myself, so its where to begin. I was born at an early age, people say I actually look much younger when I tell them how old I am,(whispers 21) but I think its having my 20 lots of fruit a day helps and until recently all the fresh air and good company. I do struggle that for some strange reason people will insist on feeding me bananas, I know they are good for me, lots of good things, but they do get boring, so now have found a whole new sort of foods that I enjoy much more. My birth sign is Leo so according to what I have read that makes me a lion, no that cant be right but on the other hand.

Chapter Two
Now what other words describe me, handsome, brave, arty, big hearted, inspirational and soon to be famous, yes me in a nutshell. I am very distantly related to one of my famous forbears, I believe he was also a traveller and I hope to visit a few of the places he went such as the Empire State Building, you may of heard of him Mr Kong, I just hope I don’t have the issues he did, don’t expect me to be exploited by Jeff in this way. It would be nice to meet up with a young female who could adapt to my life style but I am in no rush to settle down at present, far to many adventures to have first.

Chapter Three
I started life living with friends and family at a safari park, it was a pleasant place to grow up, plenty of food and company and a fairly constant stream of visitors, but they could get boring with their cameras so its just as well that we had a large fence to keep them out most of the time. As with most young monkeys I got fed up in my teens and decided to have a change and explore more of the world. So one day when nobody was watching I hitched a ride on a passing vehicle out of the gate, luckily nobody noticed and off I went.

Chapter Four
I had not realized though that food was not so easy to obtain on the streets and people laughed because I had no clothes on and did not speak their language. Being the monkey I am I quickly learnt to cope, previously I had watched videos of Curious George, Jungle Book and others so had no problems understanding how to fit in, it was just a problem of learning to speak this odd language. I must say my writing is quite poor but I am getting the hang of this voice recognition and operating a keyboard on the computer. It has been said I have to say that already, when I sent this to my so called friend Caroline (more of her later) that she has been criticizing my spelling and grammar WHAT I am a monkey and think I am doing a great job so far

Chapter Five
I tried a few jobs but found the pay was peanuts, so quickly moved on, I finally found my way to a place called Bury, there was a vacancy for a live in job at a place called Build A Bear Workshop, all I had to do was to sit, look my usual debonair self and let the people see me model clothes. The only problem was I had to share with a range of rather odd looking animals of all shapes and sizes, but it was warm, the staff were pleasant and during the day lots of people came to visit us. Oh again there were no wages just as much food as I could eat, I discovered a taste for strawberries and now cannot get rid of the smell, it’s quite embarrassing.

Chapter Six
Well time passed and I did wonder what the future held, then one wet Sunday three odd looking blokes came in, I listened and they were explaining to the staff they were looking for a pleasant travelling companion for one of them who was fed up of being on his own when he went on holiday, so he wanted a friend who would go on a long trip round the world with him later this year. Well I put on my most smiley face, but no he was looking at some rabbit that had caught his eye, but there seemed issues to do with the clothes he had for his holiday. Well I have a whole wardrobe available to me, so I waited and waited, well he chose a distant relative of mine first, but then found they were a little overweight, so at last it was me. Now as it happened all my clothes were hanging up to dry and they seemed in a rush to go some other place for a drink of coffee and some carrot cake.

Chapter Seven

The pleasant young assistant said no problem and sorted me out a spare outfit that was someone else’s, plus a pair of sunglasses to cope with the glare out on the street, they even mentioned I had proof of age in the shape of my birth certificate plus my passport. Well as quick as they could sort it out, I was off. I did notice money changing hands but who cared, a new adventure for me. An even bigger shock was to find he had decided to take the rabbit who I was not acquainted with also, I must stop ignoring him and find out what his plans are. Don’t want him upstaging me.

Chapter Eight
Already I have met some of Jeff’s friends and been introduced. Now we have a problem because for reasons I don’t understand he wanted to change my real name Chico to something else. WELL what a cheek, but if it gets me out and about who cares in the end. He has been running a name the monkey competition(cheeky so and so) for a week on Facebook, with some very odd names being put forward, wonder where they find these and how would they feel about being called these names themselves, and I was beginning to get worried that maybe this was not a good idea and that I should be making my way back to the Workshop. But finally he has chosen a rather posh name, but insists that I change my surname to his, so henceforth I will have to change my name by deed poll to Gulliver Glasser, at least it’s the name of another adventurer. I bet he has forgotten my passport needs changing to. He has agreed that I can keep Chico as my middle name.

Chapter Nine
Already I have been on a couple of short trips with him, and he is taking me to some famous place called Blackpool at the end of the month to meet some more people, so its all getting exciting. Even more so in that he is planning a round the world trip with me and initially some other person he is related to. He has explained that he is hoping that I will be willing to model for him at some of the sights (hope I get well rewarded for this) but at last a chance to see where my ancestor spent some time in New York, wonder if I can do some gambling in Vegas, not sure about the Grand Canyon though as I don’t have as good a head for heights these days, but then, a trip to Auckland, not sure whats there, but then the Great Barrier Reef, Ayres Rock and Sydney.

Chapter Ten
He tells me he wants me to meet a friend of his in Penang and show me the Christmas lights in Singapore(what for, I am 21 you know, but not sure if Santa will call if I don’t though), then on to some odd named place Shanghai, before travelling back. I hope he gets me good seats for when we travel to all these places and a suitable wardrobe of clothes, for the various climates, I did notice a pleasant young woman was passing on a posh dressing gown and spare top for me the other day when he explained all my clothes had shrunk in the wash.


Chapter Eleven
Oh dear there goes that Caroline again, she said I was to mention that they are expecting me to help them with fundraising for their local group that supports people with ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia, emotionally and practically. Its called the Bury Bolton ME & CFS Support Group, seems soon it will be a charity so you can be sure it’s a real cause, I am told that Jeff has this so will enquire more at some point and pass onto you. They are setting up the fund that hopefully you will contribute to, but more of that soon when I have managed to sort out the practicalities.

Well I hope you don’t mind me telling my story, I hope some of you will become my friends on Facebook soon and enjoy hearing of my adventures as they unfold.

My Next Big Adventure 10 August 2014

10 August 2014

Hello folks, well now the safari is over, its time to tell you about the next adventure I have been planning for some time now, I made a passing reference to it in a previous blog, but now it is reality, I have booked the flights and hotels, now it’s the transfers and what to see when I go on the trip.

It t came about initially as a result of discussion with my son regarding a special event to celebrate his 40th birthday. He told me he had always wanted to visit the Grand Canyon, so was this possible, I said yes we could do this, but it would involve going to Lasd Vegas as a base, he was happy about this and to see some of the gambling casinos and the famous “Strip” unfortunately due to the cost I was going to be unable to involve the whole family in this trip, I did feel guilty but it will be a one off holiday that we will have the time to be together away from all the usual stuff for a time on this adventure. Whilst thinking about it I had another thought about whether we could include New York also as I had always said one day I would return, after some thought he was happy with this also.

Whilst looking at Google Earth I thought what about my extending my trip although I was aware that my son could only be away for up to two weeks and would be returning home. I considered Hawaii where my friend Sofi lives, I tried a number of times unsuccessfully to contact her so in the end discarded that. I had felt I would like to meet up with my long term friend from childhood Paul who now lives in Penang with his wife, something I had promised myself for a number of years. I t was not a difficult task to now think I could also visit Australia and finally get to Singapore as part of the trip. So the idea was born, my son said later on in the year was a good time for him, plus I later found out Vegas is less busy and a little cooler and I could see the Christmas lights in Singapore if the trip there was late on in the year.

So far so good, next task explore how to achieve it, I looked at recommended travel agents from Which and looked at what Flightbookers could do, I struggled with the hotels they had on offer, so then contacted another from Which Audley Travel, initially they were very good but for reasons I did not understand did not work on the routes I wanted with the airlines I wanted. I therefore went back to my friendly agent Sue at Ace Travel2, we sat down and looked at the options to do the trip, considering my health and mobility issues, she went away with my wish list. Well I could tell you in detail of all the time we spent trying to refine the trip, but in the end we had dates destinations and flights. Not quite the package I set out for but now with a couple of extra stops. Oh I forgot I must thank Gail my favourite physio for her suggestions about the trip, more of her later.

The trip was now to be to New York, then Las Vegas including a trip whilst there to the Grand Canyon, my son wants to go for a bike ride on the rim, so will have to sort this out soon, then he returns home and I then go to Auckland for a few days, then onto the great barrier reef staying at a place called Port Douglas, from there I travel to Ayres Rock for a night, then to Sydney for a few days. After this is a trip via Singapore to Penang to meet my friend for a few more days, then back to Singapore to explore the sites and lights, then a lst stop at Shanghai for a few more days then back to London, in total its 30 days away.

I spent a lot of time exploring Booking.com and Tripadvisor to find hotels that met my needs and budget and all being well they are now booked and suitable for me and the places I want to visit. Along the way I found that someone I know on the internet lives in Vegas so I have been in touch and am looking forward to meeting up whilst there if possible. Its only recently I have realized that after my so returns I have a further 20 days partly on my own apart from at Penang, so I am unsure how well that will work out, as I found on my recent trip to Africa the man next to me going was not good company and on the way back I sat alone. I have added up that I am flying for at least 60 hours and will be in airport lounges for over 20 hours at least(just as well I have bought a lounge pass for free access) it was invaluable on the last trip.


I have made sure travel insurance is in place for myself and son, he informed me recently that he now has been diagnosed with sleep apnea and needs to bring special equipment with him on board so another thing to deal with, fortunately its only a small item, oh forgot I need visas for three of the places I am going to so will sort these out soon, I am going to make sure that there is assistance for me at all of the airports due to their size and my problems walking long distances, I think if I am going to be in a long queue in USA then at least hopefully I will be sat down.

Back to my issue of travelling alone, those of you that know me are aware that I enjoy listening to others and occasionally saying a little to contribute to the conversation, okay then I am a chatterbox, so unsure how I will cope with my own company, made worse by the fact my hearing is poor these days, so far I have nobody interested in accompanying me unless I pay for them uuumm so I thought there must be a answer, well I may of found an answer but also a way to fundraise at the same time.

Today I met my travelling companion, at the local shopping centre, we hit it off at first sight, he seems a quiet sort of soul at first impressions seems to have a cheeky grin and hopefully a disposition to match, there is quite a complicated story to him which I will tell you of in the not to distant future, I introduced him to my friends Andy and Brian who felt it was a good match. My new friend is interested in fund raising for our local ME/CFS Fibro support group, so I have talked him into joining Facebook as part of this and my friends Caroline and Mandy are hopefully going to help me make it feasible, plus he will write his story of any trips he does before and including the big one, we are hoping that he will be able to establish his own profile on Facebook so you can follow his travels, I am anticipating a whole series of “Selfies” to show where he gets to on his travels.

I had better close for now but will give updates as things fall into place or any progress is made to do with the trip I hope you have enjoyed the read. Sorry so far no photos but promise to put some in soon.

Final thoughts now I am home

Its now a few days since I finally got home, the washing is all done, clothes put away, photos and video downloaded and at least the photos are sorted and listed, still need to work out how to sort out video, I have already found some of my deliberate mistakes with the times I forgot to switch off camera whilst travelling.
At the time I felt I had coped quite well with it all and particular the trip home which was getting on for 24 hours in total, but not sure now whether it is the heat and humidity here at present or at long last my body has had enough.
I am trying to catch up with programes I recorded whilst away, bad sign of my life when I think I did not miss TV whilst away.
People have said would I go again, well maybe not to the same place, as it would be trying to recreate what has gone and it will never be the same as those first viewings of the animals in their native situations and environment, it would be a mixture of different staff and other travellers. I would pack differently whatever time of the year it was, I would also pay extra for the better seats on the plane.
Some thoughts about the trip, I enjoyed meeting some of the people particularily Frank and Dot, who truly welcomed me and made the whole experience pleasanter, as well as Andy and Terrie, Andy if you ever read this you were the highlight of my trip, always willing to have a go at new experiances and what a spotter you were, as well as a great travelling companion, almost as good as Given, along the way there were others who I enjoyed the conversation with, Eve, thanks for the relationship advice I received from you, sadly not everyone was as kind pleasant or willing to chat in the way some were, but each to their own holiday I suppose.
Visiting the other lodgers gave a better idea of what sort of place I would like to visit in the future, something similar I feel. The animals, well I do feel for them having to put up with mus humans, they showed incredible patience at times whilst we were photographing them, wonder how we would feel if someone photographing me whilst I was eating our food or becoming friendly with our partner.
I have e mailed the foundation to see if there is anything that can be done that is more constructive to help the local children, when I get a response I intend to contact Saga for their comments, it was quite worrying about what the local landowner was putting the people through, a reminder that not everyone has a decent like, at times I was embarrassed at how much we had to spend and the waste of food, I do hope whatever we left went to people locally rather than in the bin. I must whilst I think thank Saffy for her advice and Maris for her encouragement, as well as Vicki for her support, and all of you who have taken the time to read my blogs, even more those of you who have taken the time to comment

The trip home 15 July 2014

I could not sleep, so got up early and finished most my packing, had a bath then went taking some photos before breakfast, it was unusual to have nothing to do, apart from sit around and chat, breakfast was, as usual, a pleasant experience, our ranger Evan I’d offered to let us have copies of his photos, whilst waiting for him to do mine. We chatted about photography, I had not realised that it was Evan the Rangers last day, but he was moving on to a new job after this day, some of these photos were quite stunning, after we had something to eat, then off we went after saying our goodbyes for the trip to Johannesburg, we had a short drive until we reached the transport to take us there. Interestingly, the ride in the vehicle was worse than the four-wheel drives, we were travelling around in during the Safari, it seemed a long trip with only a short break for the toilet and a snack, it took nearly 4 hours, part of which I slept through.

When we arrived at the airport it seem much more disorganised than Heathrow, with poor signage, eventually I found my way to the desk, but this time it seemed to take a long time in the queue, on the seem to be some problem with the conveyor. For reasons I do not understand I was told I could no longer have the seat I wanted, so was offered another one, on that particular row, it seemed that none of the three seats had been booked, so I could choose which was most convenient for me. I mentioned that I could cope without assistance at this airport but would need help at Heathrow, so this was logged, I then went through security and passport control, then up to the lounge to relax. There were problems with my card, but I was surprised at the lack of efficiency at this particular desk, I mentioned wanting a shower so was given three packets wrapped in polythene and pointed in the general direction, quite different to that at Heathrow. I had my shower, then relaxed in the lounge with a drink and snack, then went to board the plane.
There seemed to be a long disorganized queue waiting to board, eventually it was my turn, and I was directed to my seat, I now understood why the people did not want to see it in the seats, this was because they were immediately next to the toilets, I decided I would sit in the middle seat, which seemed to be the most spacious, when a flight attendant came along, he said he could move me to a better seat, which also would have more legroom, so I took advantage of this. Yet again I struggled with the sound system and then gave it up as a bad job and had a read of the paper. The evening meal was pleasant and afterwards I settled down to go to sleep, I slept for a while, but then found for the rest the flight I had brief periods of sleep and wakefulness.

Finally we arrived at Heathrow the rest of the passengers disembarked apart from those of those who needed assistance. They seem to have a crazy system to get us to the exit, it consisted of a wheelchair for part of the trip, then an electric vehicle to take me on the next leg of the trip, finally and another wheelchair through to the baggage hall, unfortunately at passport control, there was some sort of problem, at the two passport desks, there seemed to be some sort of difficulty. So we waited for nearly quarter of an hour before finally passing through, my case was ready for collection. So I set off to find the vehicle to take me home, it was a different driver and vehicle to on the way out, not quite so luxurious this time, but the driver was pleasant enough, it took about four hours to get back home, so in total. I’ve been travelling for over 20 hours, first task was empty the case and do some washing, then check my mail, yes the holiday was finally over.

Our Last Day 15 July 2014

Another early start, just for a change, we received no wake-up call, it seemed warmer this morning, I went for a walk round the grounds and took a few more photos whilst it was peaceful and quiet. Eventually other people arrived, and we went in for a drink, and cake before setting off, a few decided not to come on this last trip out. It was much pleasanter on the drive because it was so much warmer, as usual, there was a range of animals, in some ways it had reached a point where it was normal to see, wildebeest, zebra and certain other animals on a regular basis, we had never seen a more baboon since the first day when we arrived, nor did we see leopard.

Return for breakfast, then afterwards because the weather was much improved, we sat outside in the sun chatting, I explained to one of the others about Wi-Fi and how to connect to the Internet without using their own allowance, it was a relaxing morning. We had lunch at 1 o’clock, then later went for another Bush walk, we ended up high overlooking the valley. The scenery was absolutely stunning, the only amusing point, was that I and another person got into discussion about our hearing difficulties, not realizing everybody else could hear us, but waiting to move onto the next point of interest. On that subject, I suddenly realized that there is little hope for people who have hearing difficulties on the Safari’s maybe it’s worth a letter to saga about this.

Then it was back to the lodge for high tea, again it was a chance to chat to the other people on the holiday and to wind down, for our evening meal, we were served in style at the Lakeside Boma, after the first course, we were entertained by the staff by singing and dancing in a native style, we then finished the meal and spent the rest of the evening at the bar chatting, that night the weather seemed much milder, on my return to the room. I started all of my packing to make it easier for the following day.

Warm at last 14 july 2014

I woke up early and it seemed not so cold, checked outside and already it was warm at 8am to put a lighter shirt and shorts for the first time before venturing out for a wander before breakfast, then spent a little time catching up with e mails, how did I manage before free Wi Fi.

Then chatted to some of the other guests for a while. One of the things we had been warned about was to keep doors closed to avoid the monkeys getting into the rooms, well the nice couple next door to me had forgotten to lock their back door so a monkey had got into their room and stolen a packet containing insect repellent, before they got rid of it, just as well it was not needed.  We had breakfast then I went back to my room and there was a monkey outside the window, so got my camera and found a group of them around the rear of the properties, they seemed to be oblivious to mine and others presence as we took photos, later it appeared they had no problem opening doors if not locked, as another couple had fallen victim to their theft that morning.

It as a free morning so we sat chatting outside which made a refreshing change, after lunch off out to the wildlife centre,  by now on the holiday we seemed to of got into the habit of sticking with drivers, in my case it was Given and usually we tended to sit in certain seats, today our vehicle was full, obviously some had wanted a change so I ended up with Even as driver so i sat in the back row which unfortunately did not help my spine but also restricted what i could see due to my height. first we saw the rare white lions, they had been rescued when young and brought up in the reserve, they would be encouraged to mate but, it would be unsafe for them to be released back into the wild,  but that hopefully any young would be, they were beautiful beasts,  such a shame that people had hunted them, that now there are so few left alive and needed protection to survive.

We then visited the replica Pedi village and had an informative talk about the people explaing their background the strict rules how the village was run and oddly that the women of the village had been masters of poisin making, to use as punishment, we were offered a range of traditionsl dishes to drink and eat, I only tried a couple one was catapiller which was quite nutty. We then went to see the buffalo but they also now are very rare, but also we were warned that they were dangerous, well it may of bern the wrong day but they seemed quite laid back and oblivious to us taking their photos, we finished off by having high tea and looking at a range of birds including peacocks and parrots.

Then on with the drive,  a sighting of rhino was made so off we sped, it was a family of 4, it seemed that it was the day that the male was going to procreate with the female well I thought this is going to be exciting, but sadly not it seemed to go on and on with little real activity, he mounted the female a couple of times whilst we watched,  maybe it was us watching and recording with our cameras was what put him off.

Then a further drive it was now getting dark, eventually we reached Ranenside Lodge and our latest meal, then after we went into the Astro boma for a talk from Giiven on how to find south and some of the star formations,  before returning to our lodge, for a chat and a drink then off to bed, as we had a long day the next day, I forgot to say earlier the weather was much warmer so the room was not as cold as it had been previous nights.

A slow start but what trip later 13 july 2014

Good morning readers I am sat here all on my own in some stunning scenary with only the sound of the birds, the water pump and the occasional hippo.
As you can tell it was a slow relaxing morning, as usual a chat with others when they arrive, wonder why they only appear just before breakfast, then the full meal to prepare me for what was going to turn out to be a long busy day.
After spent time with other guests, its surprising the lives some have lead and how well they have coped with adversity but also seem to still have lots of plans for the future. Also discussed tablet computers and photography, before it was time for lunch,  oops forgot to say weather is getting milder and I should of been putting on sunscreen so not really sure why aftersun was used instead.
We set off for lunch at Boekenhout, no idea where it was, unfortunately my usual seat was taken so I ended up sat at the back corner seat in the other vehicle, which led to a much bumpier ride and more restrictive view. I forgot to say we all seemed better at dressing for the trips, it was a beautiful setting and there was a good choice of food, plus there was a river which was ideal for photos, then off on our drive. I found the people in this vehicle much quieter and they seemed to concentrate more on the photography.
As usual we saw a whole range of animals, by now wildebeest were plentiful so of no interest, in the distance I spotted  firstly an ostrich then a  girafffe, but it seemed we were after other animals, firstly we came across a crocodile sunbathing in the middle of the road the prescence of our selves and others did not seem to encourage it to move, so we had to reverse along the road for the next photo opportunity, this was a couple of small well maybe large lizards, but until they went past our vehicle due to the angle I was unable to see them.
Next that we saw, we were told was a very rare situation, firstly we came across what turned out to be 4 hippos, in the water, we stayed a while just taking photos as they raised their heads then suddenly one decided to venture out in front of us onto the grassed area, we had to move our vehicle because it seems getting in the way of a hippo  heading for the water is not the thing to do.GsDWqjE/U8v5JCy_zvI/AAAAAAAAA4Y/DvMiMctmGHg/s320/afternoon+evening+safari+saturday+(17)+(Small).JPG" />
Even better another came to join this one, that we were told is a once in a life time sight, they seemed happy to just graze, other vehicles had been alerted by radio,  so now there were a group of us also. I wonder what the hippos made of these strange creatures disturbing their meal. Well surprise surprise another hippo decided it was hungry or wanted to know what was missing, so it lumbered out of the water, to be quickly followed  by the last much smaller hippo. They seemed totally oblivious of all our cameras clicking, later we realized we had been there over half an hour. Eventually I think it was the younger one, became bored so had a little play with one of the others, then set off back into the water quickly followed by the others and our magic experience was over.
It was now getting late but ovet the radio came a message thay something else was going on so we decided to go and have a look delaying our trip back. It turned out to initially be a female lion, it was now very dark but the spotlight illuminated it in the fields, we spent a few minutes spoiling its peace and quiet before going searching elsewhere for what I did not know,  until we came across a huge male lion eating a huge piece of red meat. It was very inconsiderate in that it was in the middle of a field with poor lighting, I tried various settings and one could only obtain black and white which at the time seemed rather odd, but later I rembered I had not re set the camera after a previous session.

Finally we set off back to the lodge it got much colder and was a very bumpy ride, it also seemed to take for ever, we were very late back for the evening meal so I feel appreciated it much more than usual, then tried to catch up a little with FB and e mail before retiring to bed, luckily the next day was to be a relaxing slow start

What an exciting but long day 11 july 2014

Could not settle after waking about 2am kept nodding off then waking again after a brief sleep, finally I got up at 4 45 and started to get ready for our early start. Yet again no alarm call, we had been told to bring our spare blanket to help keep warm when out on safari, mine was enormous,  I joined some of the others and we had a coffee and a cake before starting out, by now on the trips out people had got used to which driver they preferred,  Dot the elderly lady who had sat in the front of our vehicle said she would prefer to sit further back with a better view so I suggested they use my blanket instead. Given, our ranger got her to go in the front so we wrapped her up in my blanket to keep warm and off we set, I had put extra clothes on but it was still very cold and dark when we started out, but soon brightened,  we saw again a range of animals as we travelled to the Legend Centre for breakfast,  it was far removed from where we were staying and had a world famous golf course, it was very luxurious, must check the costs of a stay there. Again a range of photo opportunities with the animals we saw along the way.
Next we went to visit the Cyclad centre where a young woman explained about the work that is being done to preserve these rare endangered species of plant from poachers.  It seems they are prized as giving good luck and power to those who possess them in the country, so by their rarity are worth much more to people. Until recently there was no law in force to protect the plants and even now the police are reluctant to take action to prosecute offenders,  it seems when disturbed the plants struggle to survive so are brought  to the project to revive them.
Back to Legend Centre for lunch, not sure why but it seemed a short time before we were off again, this time to the shop for sweets for the children at the community centre, when we reached the exit there was a barrier and the young woman would not let the vehicle through, our group decided to leave it behind and walk there, I said I would stay with it. A little later everyone came back with treats and off we set.
We arrived at a place where there were some local teenagers playing cricket but no sign of the rest of the children.  The leader explained that the other children were away as it was school holidays, this upset some of our group as they were looking forward to seeing the effect on the children when given gifts, my thoughts were that surely it was known in advance, the man also took the gifts of pens pencils notebooks etc, but said that they had shelves of them, so would sell them to the high school so they could purchase items on their own proper wish list.
He went on to say that they had written to Saga with this list but could not understand why we were still being given old information. He also explained that,  they are having problems with the present landowner where the school is, he srems to want to get rid of them so has cut off the electricity supply. Luckily Legend has donated a new plot of land and are supplying water and electricity to the site,  but obvioudly they now need more, money and resources.
I asked who was best to obtain the list of items needed, he said would get e mail address sent to me, so we could discuss and I could contact Saga about the matter,  Terrie one of the other people in our group also wanted to write in and discuss what would be helpful to the community centre,  layer rebievef do will gollow up on return from holiday.
Later when out again Given mentioned that there were 2 eagles, I said I could not see them, as the helicopter was distracting me, he kindly explained there was no helicopter it was the eagle's I could see soaring about, it has now become a standing joke with the others on that vehicle, jeffs credibility has gone again sob sob. As usual a range of interesting views of animals, and some beautiful scenary as we travelled back to the lodge, the temperature dropped quite rapidly.
Evening meal then a chance to relax and catch up with some of my e mails  as well as other sites and FB,  later back to the room and to write up this blog.

What a day its been 10 july 2014

The title says it all, maybe I should commence by saying it is 9 45pm its minus 2 outside and I am typing this in bed as its the most comfortable and warm place to be.
Maybe not, lets go back to the beginning of the day, I had one of the best nights sleep I have had for a long time, when I woke I looked at my watch thinking it must be early because I had not had my wake up call at 5am to prepare me for the trip, err umm, my watch said 5 30am so I had overslept.
I quickly sorted myself out and dressed, got all the important things together and rushed to the dining room. Its the fastest I have ever done it was 15 minutes, I met a couple others who informed me luckily they set their alarms for 5 but there were no staff about, we went inside and just then Even arrived, we explained so he went off to sort it all out after finding some rock cakes, for us to eat, which were,  plus we made ourselves a drink as slowly in drips and drabs people appeared,  finally everyone that was going was ready to depart.
It was dark and freezing cold as we set off,  I tried to take a couple of photos with no success, plus I struggled to keep warm despite all the extra layers of clothes.
Soon it brightened up and we could concentrate on looking for game. One of the things that confuses me is that we are told not to make a noise,  in case we frighten the animals, well the noise of the diesel engines must warn them plus the sound of the various walkie talkie that they use to communicate. But back to the story, we saw a range of animals as we moved about, the most interesting was a group of elephants on the mountain side, we saw them first by the branches of trees they were disturbing as they wandered along,  we only saw brief glimpses because they were across the valley, Given our ranger Givern said he had never seen this sight before with them.
Eventually we moved on and saw a range of animals, there was still a chill wind despite the sun shining, then back to the lodge for breakfast, never have I been so ready to eat and get into the warmth, we had a rest before setting off for our lunch at Figtrees, on the way seeing more animals in their native setting, including giraffe, rhino,  wildebeast, to mame just a few.
Figtrees was pleasant with tables and chairs and a pleasant selection of good food in a beautiful setting, also people seemed to join in the chat, more surprising was that there were toilets for us to use out there in the middle of nowhere. We had an unusual visitor namely an ostrich, it did not come to close but maybe ut was just checking us out.
After our meal we continued on in the the vehicle finding a range of more animals to take photos of and some beautiful scenery,  I must admit I was getting quite tired out and nodding off only to be awoken at the next rut in the road, in fact it seemed to get rougher and rougher until we reached a peak where we stopped to admire the view and had a chat with our ranger Given.
After this we made our way back to the lodge, to freshen up then have our evening meal, which was pleasant enough, then just before I was going to leave we heard the sound of drums and singing,  it was the staff putting on a display for us, it was pleasant enough,   after I went to the bar area to do some work on the Internet, but others wanted to chat about Tablets etc, after a while most had gone to bed so I made my apologies and left also, so here I am its now 10 30 so I think I will finish and hopefully have a good nights sleep ready for a very long day tomorrow.
I do hope I can solve the issue to do with photos on here

Our first proper day 9 July 2014

Well what a comfortable bed, but how cold it was in the room, there is only a small panel heater, luckily there is an electric blanket on the bed,  so I slept reasonably well.
I decided to have a bath the water  was a nice light brown but hot, thought mudt be ok just dont drink it, plenty of goodies for the bath, when came to use wash basin,  there was no hot water but managed.
Breakfast was 9am and plenty to eat both hot and cold, then talk by our ranger on the use of cameras and taking wildlife photos, we then had time to relax and chat, it seems one of the couples Frank and Dot decided I was their new electronic expert,  proved by the fact I sorted their alarm clock out, it has been nice to chat to most of the group they are a mixture of single and couples, some more chatty than others.
In the afternoon we went for a bush walk, one of our rangers Given led the group and gave us some information about plants animals and the environment.  A little later we went on a boat trip round the lake and came across a family of hippos which was quite exciting,  unfortunately the temperature dropped so was glad to gey back to the room to warm up and wash and change before our evening meal served in the boma.
it was quite warm due to the large fire in the centre, afterwards we moved to the bar for a drink before retiring for an early night as we were up at 5 30 in the morning for a game drive, we were told we would get a wake up call at 5am, I read for a while before going to sleep.

An Apology

Dear readers, it seems that there is a problem with the Wi Fi here so I am struggling to post my Blog on a regular basis, plus we seem to be so busy its hard to fit it in with everything else thats going on very definately not a relaxing break, but most of the group seem good company.

Lakeside Lodge Entabeni 8 July 2014

Finally got off the plane, young mand took case and escorted me, not sure what point was, luckily it helped with queue for passport control, collected case and found Saga group, there seemef a distinct lack of organisation,  as we waited and waited for the rest of the group to join us. Finally we moved to the area for the coach, but where had our guide gone it was now gone 10 am, finally he arrived, not quite the coach I was waiting for, rather a hgv with seats in, seems previous driver had not filled up with fuel so this had to be done before we departed.
Luckily seats were better than they looked, so I fell asleep for a while. As we travelled the countryside looked much as other places in the world. We stopped for a while at what suppose was a service area, there was no McDonalds but there was a Wimpy, better still toilets and somewhere to buy a drink, we set off and the roads slowly started to become more rutted and niw understood that a conventional coach would not of coped.
At long last we seemed to of reached our destination, err no in fact we changed to 4 wheel drive vehicles for the last leg, problem was they were high off the ground, so quite a climb into but not such a bad ride given the state of the roads. Along the way we saw a few zebra and a young giraffe, a good sign for the days to come, only problem was I had left camera in case. 
Finally we were there at Lakeside Lodge, I was pleasantly surprised on entering we were offered a drink and a snack before going to our rooms. These were individual thatched units by the side of the lake with stunning views, rooms spacious but not very warm and quite dark. I unpacked, oh forgot to day outside was not that warm made worse by the cold wind, so now glad had packed extra warm clothes, only had a limited amount of time before welcome meeting, had a shower,  for some reason there was no curtain so water went everywhere, and no hot water to the sink, but at least I was clean and refreshed.
At meeting our Ranger explained he would be with our group for the duration of our trip, he explained how we would be spending our time, seemed very busy,  some days with a 5 30am start, luckily not tomorrow LOL, this evening we were going out for our meal but to remember to wrap up well, went back finishef dorting out then to the bar gor a drink and a chat with a couple of people, then off for the meal, was only a short drive but in the dark, in a traditional structure( cant remember name) had meal and chat, then back here,sitting by fire in lounge to keep warm, others were here to watch football on tv but  problem do all gone, think when finished this will go to room also,  hope you are enjoying the read.

The trip to South Africa 8 July 2014

Well I left you readers at the lounge, things from there did not go quite to plan, I duly went to the desk at 7 45pm but no assistance, the nice ladies offered to contact the service that would take me to the plane,  unfortunately someone had disconnected the phone, so it took a little while for her to find out I was not registered for assistance, but that this would now be resolved.
Whilst waiting  I was sat by the desk so it was interesting to watch the people arriving,  they came as you would expect in all types, but it was the ones who wanted to bring  families in without paying the extra money per person that seemed involve the most debate, it was only at that point I realised to use the lounge on a casual basis was £35 each, a room was £120 per night or £20 per hour with a minumum of 3 hours to pay.
After 3/4 hour someone came yo collect me it was just as well because I would never of made it otherwise  to the plane in time.
The staff on the plane were pleasant, I found my seat but an elderly man who obviously had the window seat was blocking my access therefore nobody could move past me, he seemed oblivious to the chaos, I moved a little further down the passage to enable others to reach their seats until he finally was settled. 
He fid not engage in conversation so I decided I would explore how the sound and audio system worked,  it was quite complex with little in the way of instructions as far as I could see,  but worse was that either their headphones or my hearing were not up to the task,  so I gave up and had a read instead. 
It did not seem that long before my evening arrived it was fruit juice, then a cucumber salad with dressing, followed by a chicken pasta dish which was quite pleasant and finally a mousse desert and to finish off cheese and biscuits, I was offered  tea or coffee but felt they would keep me awake not sure really that the Pepsi was any better.
The elderly man had finished his meal before me donned his eye mask ear plugs and blanket and was fast asleep,  when I looked at the clock it was past 12 so decided to follow suit. I must of slept for a couple hours, as everywhere was dark and quiet. I had a further go with the music but  quality of sound put me off. I slept on and off for a number of hours.
At some point the staff came round with breakfast,  I had a full english, this also came with fruit juice, a danish pastry and a yogurt so according to , my friend Brian thay constituted a full 4 courses LOL they were stingy with the coffe so only got one cup. There wad an announcement I did not quite catch so enquired it seemed someone had taken ill and the staff were seeking someone with the skill to assist, obviously not me.
The elderly man woke so I mentioned he had missed breakfast, this was brought and finally we got chatting he was telling me he does a lot of travel round the world and has bought a property in New Zealand. I mentioned to a member of staff that I would need assistance when we arrived,  she said she would sort out but for me to wait until others had disembarked,  which I was happy to do. On landing it was explained that we would all have to wait until the medics had dealt withe the sick person.

The Adventure Begins 7 july 2014

Well the driver arrived early in a Mercedes saloon, very posh, loaded case, then even opened the door for me, off we set, just for a change I chatted to him, maybe if he knew would of preferred I had fallen asleep.
Time passed quickly very comfortable drive, very few delays, only took just over 4 hours in total.

Had case wrapped in cling film but forgot to lock it so lets hope nobody is that desperate for my clothes, security swift, oh forgot to say had mentioned at check in about help, but also was going to lounge first, it was agreed I would ask for help there to get to the plane.

Lounge again posh but quickly sorted, mentioned help needed they said if any delay that they could resolve. Next nice shower and change of clothes, so diffetent to normal hanging about at airports connection with Wi Fi ok just had portion vegetable ragu, plus camomile tea, quite different to my usual Boots meal deal, seats comfortable man opposite asleep at first then onto his mobile, luckily now gone, hear now and then loud young child but otherwise not noisy, could get used to this, think I have about another hour before I have to leave so will relax and check my e mails gosh its a hard life

One more Day to Go On My Adventure 6 July 2014

Good evening to all you readers, well its here at long last, another tick on my bucket list being achieved, case is finally packed, I have never had such a long list of things that I need to take, from swimming cossie to scarf and winter woollies, Bright clothes to drab green, hope the animals appreciate my efforts. Hope that South Africa is worth it all
I start the trip hopefully at 1.30pm with a kind Saga driver taking me to Heathrow, don't know yet if there will be others in the vehicle, hopefully we will stop somewhere along the way for a break. I have found an app that is called Evernote and have listed things I need to do when I get to the airport, just have to remember to use, maybe will do a couple of Post It notes in case, firstly have to to get the case wrapped in what seems to be cling film in the hope it discourages theft, then to check in or drop case off, I have tried to check in today but it seems Virgin will only let me do 24 hours before and already I cannot have a window seat, even if I try.

Then I want to use the airports support service to get me to the lounge where I hopefully can have a shower then relax, having something to drink and eat whilst waiting to board, I believe they have free Wi Fi so I may take the opportunity to let you know how the trip down went. Then its onto the plane, unfortunately I will have to refuse the champagne and settle for something else. I have plenty of reading matter as well as a supply of music, hopefully I will need neither and be able to use what the plane provides to keep me occupied until I fall asleep. It seems by the time I eventually get to my destination I will of been travelling for over 20 hours, for most people not a problem but the trapped nerve in my right shoulder is still causing issues and possibly sitting for all these hours will set off my bad back. Gail my physio has told me to keep doing the exercises she has given me, just hope other passengers and crew do not find it an issue. hopefully my flight socks will help cope with preventing DVTs. Hope there are no screaming children or drunken adults to cope with, not sure if will prefer someone sat next to me who is chatty or quiet

Only 2 more weeks to go to safari 22 June 2014

Well its not long to go now before the big adventure,  I think I have most the things I need like insect repellant, South African Rand money, I have just paid for a lounge pass for the airport so I can relax and have a shower hopefully before the flight, but also ordered flight socks and sorted out my seat on the plane. Just found out my international plug adaptor is not right, so back to thr shops for another.
Think I have all the leads and adaptors for camera etc and hopefully have enough memory cards for my camera and camcorder. How times have changed over the years,  when we used to send postcards from our destinations and never thought of being in touch whilst away whereas now by the magic of technology I will be able hopefully, to keep you readers up to date with the help of the internet and Wi Fi.
I have yet to check everything will go in my case, I would prefer to take the one, but have a luggage allowance to take either a larger case or two smaller ones. It's going to be hard to decide just how many and type of clothes that I will need, for the variation of temperature and environment, plus sunscreen,  aftersun extra shoes and layers of clothes. I have yet to put a range of music on the tablet for the trip but have enough in E books to keep me going for a long time.

Safari here I come 9 June 2014

Well folks the safari to South Africa is not far away, I did worry last month when I had problems with my health,& mainly my back started to play up but also I started getting something that felt like electric shocks down my right arm. Luckily due to Gail and Andrea the physios things have improved, just now have to do more exercises to prevent a re occurrence.
I have had all my inoculations, I had read about monkeys being about the lodge so decided to have the rabies one as well but after buying it was warned I could have a bad reaction to it, so at present have vaccine in my fridge, sob sob. I did contact Saga who are arranging the trip, their view was, if I dont bother the monkeys, they will leave me alone, maybe I should of contacted them first.

I have bought a camcorder for the trip, couldent believe how small it is but can be used as conventional camera also. I have had to buy extra clothes for the trip, that are dark colours for when on safari, but also needed a mixture of warm for the early and late trips out but lighter for the middle of the day, have a list of things need for the trip such as special adapter for their electrical sockets, insect repellent, luckily was able to get this trip in a malarial free zone so one less tablet and adverse reaction to worry about, but have strong painkillers from GP just in case I need them for other aches and pains.
I had decided that when I found out I was travelling with Virgin that I would upgrade on the plane to their economy plus both there and back, because it would give me a better seat and more legroom on the 10 hour flight, I also joined their frequent flyer scheme in the hope it would help for future trips, also Saga had arranged for me to be picked up from home by car and transported to London by them. It was only the other day that I realised how much travelling was involved on this trip. I am being picked up at 1 30 pm on the day, then down to London for the evening flight at 9 30pm, then there is a trip of approximately 3 hours after to the lodge so it looks like in total is will be in excess of 20 hours before I reach my destination.
Well I will close for now but give more background on the trip as I get closer.

The big trip later this year

Some time ago I mentioned about a long complicated trip I wanted to do whilst I could this year. It started with wanting to do a trip with my son to belatedly celebrate his fortieth birthday, when he said he would like to visit the Grand Canyon. This should of happened a couple of years ago but for my health problems, but they made me realise that this was a chance to fulfil some of the places on my Bucket List as well.
So on investigation it seemed we would have to travel to Las Vegas to do this, which suited me because although not a gambler I had always wondered what it was really like,  plus the shows and the Strip intrigued me. Son was only able to have a number of days holiday, plus it needed to be towards the end of the year.
I decided if I was going to do a trip such as this why not do a little more whilst away, so the plan for the big adventure started, I then thought well why not stop off at New York on the way, because previously I had not managed to see all the places I wanted and for reasons I cannot explain I had always wanted to travel on Staten Island Ferry and see the Statue of Liberty close up. I contacted son and asked would he like to add this to the trip, he did not seem to need much encouragement to do this also, so now we had two destinations.

When I looked at Google maps I thought maybe it would be a good time to travel further, so considered Hawaii and a visit to my friend Sofi, who had met up with me over here some years ago. I e mailed her a number of times but have heard nothing, so decided to cancel that but to continue the trip to Australia,  somewhere I had planned to return to many years ago but not got to again so far.
I thought about this and decided again on my list I would like to visit Sydney,  Ayres Rock and maybe the Great Barrier Reef, I then had another look at maps and decided I could indulge myself elsewhere and visit my friend in Penang which I had wanted to do for a number of years, also to see the Christmas Lights in Singapore,  which again had been on my list for many years after a brief trip there back in the 1990s when they were starting to put them up.
WOW this was going to be some trip, but I had realised if I did not do it soon, my health age and travel insurance costs, may prevent me from carrying it out, at this time I had not planned a particular length of time for the trip or a budget, so decided to contact my friendly travel agent Sue and talk it through with her as I did not think I could visit the places I wanted with conventional tours. She came to visit me and gathered information on duration of visits and the path I intended to take and went off to explore options for the trip, it now lookef as though it was on.
When I had time to reflect I thought that there were a few negatives for the trip, firstly, after my son went home I would be on my own with no travelling companion to share the experiences with.But previously when I had hoped to do it with someone special it had fallen through, so maybe doing on my own and seeing who I met on the way would add to the experience, the other things I have had to consider relate to my health, firstly how will my back and pelvis cope with all this travelling, also as I now wear hearing aids it maymake it harder to hear and fully experience some thongs, plus it may make me more vulnerable ad a lone traveller

The Ups And Downs Of Health 2 June 2014

I am sorry readers that I have been so quiet for a while,  but my health has interfered yet again. About two months ago my back went into spasm  and I kept getting pains down my right arm that were like electric shocks. I was aware at the time that I was spending far to long on the computer trying to sort out my holiday in November,  but more of that later in another blog.

The effect on things I could do was quite dramatic, I cannot explain how troubling the pains down my arm were, luckily if thats the word I had had a similar pain in the past and that prompt physio usually resolved it. So off to my two favourite physios Gail and Andrea for treatment, these were topped by Silvain another physion if and when the others were not available, despite their best efforts the pains down the arm did not abate for some considerable time, i am still getting twinges now in fac, it was possibly six weeks or more seeing one of them at least twice per week before there was a lot of change,  but at least they managed to reduce the pain in my lower back. To help  I was taking strong painkillers but only when pain was really bad because I knew the effect they would have on my quality of life and the limited quality of life I would have, also they did little to help with the pains down my arm. The other thing I was doing was having hot and cold compresses frequently through the day to try to reduce the inflamation.

This was all a wake up call and from discussion with physios I realised that I needed to do more exercises myself at home and also to work on my very poor posture as that was making things worse. It seems my right shoulder is coming forward due to this and my arthritis and needs a lot of effort from me to slow it all down. Also I now worry about what would happen when on holiday particularly when I go for my long holiday in November.

The other thing I realised was the need to cut down on computer use and to look at using Dragon voice recognition software more often to carry out tasks. This is quite ironic as I have been doing a fair bit of work with a number of charites etc to do with Cardbox a database facility, in fact for one of them I have now been appointed as Database manager, not quite sure yet what this involves. For some reason the effect of using the tablet does not seem at present to have as much effect on hand and arm, so doing this on it.

Therefore only today I  have Sean  from Sue Jensens company to do some training with the Dragon, coming to help go through better ways of carrying out tasks on the computer. I have only just realised, that the position that I sit in when watching tv and the angle is making my back and posture worse, so I have now ordered a bracket for the wall to raise it to a more sensible height, I wonder why they make these stands so low when as I have now found the middle of the screen should be at the same height as my eyes when sitting, no wonder my posture was worse, there is nothing with the tv to warn of this. More generally when out I am trying to improve my posture,  but after a lifetime of it being so poor its hard to change and sit properly.

My latest trip to London for the wildlife photographer of the year award exhibition 21 March 2014

My latest trip to London for the wildlife photographer of the year award exhibition 21 March 2014

I joined our U3A photography group, a little while ago, we have visited a number of venues, but this one to London seemed particularly interesting, given the fact that I’m going on Safari in the next few months, so I was hoping that this would give me inspiration as well as be a pleasant trip out in good company. The first thing I realised was I would not be ale to achieve a full day with such an early start, so common sense made me realise that I should that I should travel down the day before and then meet up with the others.

Because I have done this trip before it was going to be easy to book the train tickets and hotels, while the train tickets were not a problem other than the fact that I adopted for E tickets and had problems printing them out, but that was quickly solved, trying to find a hotel in a suitable location, at a reasonable price was a much bigger task, but eventually I booked one with travel Lodge, which was not too far away.

I did as I had done previously and went on Facebook to where a group of friends I have in London post I mentioned my trip, for most of them, unfortunately they were unavailable on the day that I was free, which was a shame booked, I was would find other things to do, fortunately close to the date a man called Dave volunteered to meet up and show me round and Maggie, who was been brilliant in the past, at showing myself and others the sights of London, said she would also meet up, but suggested the Tower of London experience as a good place to spend a couple of hours, I had had confirmation from my U3A friends that we would be meeting on the Saturday lunchtime going for a meal and then to the exhibition, so all was arranged.

On the day there were no problems on the train, I met with Dave at Euston, we decided because I only had a backpack not to go to the hotel first but instead to travel to the tower bridge, it’s funny how the brain does not work sometimes properly, the bus we were getting on was what I believe is called the Route Master, a real old boss, complete the conductor that you boarded at the back, it wended its way through the streets of London but then seem to get stuck when we looked out of the window realise we were close to the tower, so you might as well get off, it was only then I realised the bus was something to take a photo of because there are so few of them now, unfortunately, by the time I had got my camera out it had sped off into the distance, never to be seen again.

We walked over to Tower Bridge bought our tickets and spent a couple of pleasurable hours looking at the various exhibits and taking photos, it was interesting to listen to Dave about his various trips and career and life, I had sent a text to Maggie to confirm where we were so we met at about 5 PM, just as it was starting to get dark, which gave me the opportunity to take a series of photos of the tower, Tower Bridge, the Shard and various other places illuminated at night. We then went from meal, which was quite pleasant but in the short time we were there, it quickly filled up and Maggie explained this was typical of London, I felt it was time now to book into the hotel, the other two decided they would travel with me, part of the way which was very kind of them, I could not believe the length of the queues for a ticket on the underground, but once bought there were no problems and Maggie parted with us. I think at Victoria, I really do appreciate the effort she goes to to make these trips so memorable. Dave offered to see me all the way to the hotel, so we continued to Euston and then walked to the hotel, luckily he was able to use his phone and Google maps to find it for us, once booked in I parted with Dave and said I would be in touch when I got back home, but thanked him for his time and effort and kindness.

Went to my room it was a very basic compared to some I had been in, but there again, given its location, not too expensive, luckily it had a bath so I could have a good soak and a drink of tea before resting and watching TV before going to sleep. The hotel did say on its website that there was some traffic noise, even without my hearing aids with the window closed, it was still intrusive, but initially I slept quite well,despite the strange bed that seemed to rock, but woke in the early hours, so found it difficult to get back to sleep again. Eventually did. I got up about eight get washed and dressed, then went looking for somewhere for breakfast, those of you know me will not be surprised that I ended up at McDonald’s. I then went back to the room to sort my things out, then travelled back to Euston to meet up with my U3A friends. We could not believe the queue to get down to the underground and how many people wanted a ticket, including me. Eventually, this was sorted, luckily one of us knew where we were going, so off we went. It was decided we would have a meal first which was very pleasant and again those that know me will understand when I say how pleased I was to find carrot cake was on the menu, I think if I remember correctly it was a Lebanese restaurant.

We then joined a great big long queue to get into the museum, eventually we were inside, again , lots and lots of people and lots and lots of noise, we first went to a talk by a young man who, when he was 14 had been the young wild life photographer of the year, for one so young. He was exceptionally talented and knowledgeable about his subject. We then went to look at the photo exhibition, I had never realised how dedicated some people are to their photography, the time and effort some spent looking for that elusive photo was truly incredible, having said that some of the people lived in areas of the world where it was more conducive to the photos that they took than others. After this we parted with one member who was going on elsewhere, we had a short walk round a small part of museum before it was time to go back to Euston for our train.

We had a drink and cookie there then it was time for the train, we chatted on the train so the time passed quickly, when we got back to Manchester. We got the Metro to Piccadilly gardens and just by good luck the Fountains were working, and displaying in a range of colours which were quite spectacular, so we took a few minutes to get photos before going for the other tram, at Bury. I had just missed my bus so got the taxi, then the task of unpacking doing washing and catching up with those usual day-to-day tasks. It was all a very enjoyable trip in good company, I think I would like to go back to London again maybe spend more time looking at the buildings at night time, but we will have to see.

A Totally New Adventure A Safari At Last 23 March 2014

I promised I would write a blog about the plans I had for a Safari to Africa, so here goes. I had been talking for years about a trip to go on Safari, whilst at Disney, I did go on their imitation Safari, it did have Lions, elephants, giraffes and all sorts of other animals and even had imitation poachers firing guns, but the animals seemed totally disinterested, so I thought the other thing to do is the real thing.

I started to look at holidays and the first problem was to do with medication and travel insurance because of my health issues, in particular, malaria and and malarial medication and its effects on me, the other problem was I was still being investigated for various health issues so was unable to go at that particular time. Last year, I looked again, but unfortunately needed an operation and then something else came up which would have prevented me from travelling that sort of distance, so again the trip was cancelled.

At long last, my health seems to be not too bad at present, I feel my back with the help of painkillers if needed will cope with the holiday so all I had to do them was book it. Not quite so easy as I thought it would be, it seems most people, book their holiday a year or two in advance for this sort of thing, so with only a few options with Saga who given my age and health seem to be the safest option as travel agent, as I was travelling on my own. I contacted them and discovered they had the sort of holiday, I wanted this year. In June, it would be in South Africa for nine nights (two nights flying there and back) so effectively only seven nights, this wasn’t a problem as I felt I would not be able to do a Safari every day and could rest in between.Also I decided to upgrade for the very long flight as it is 10 hours, so now in Economy Plus, bigger better seats,

I also wanted to visit Cape Town on the advice of my physio, so I mentioned this when making the booking as it seemed an exciting add-on to the holiday. The company was able to accommodate me, but the cost for three nights would have come to £1000, I did explore through the website, The Man in Seat 61 travelling from Johannesburg to Cape Town by train which would have been a 24-hour journey, but what a fantastic experience to see, unfortunately the dates did not fit in with the holiday, so in the end I decided to discard the Cape Town element maybe to look at that another year if I have enough money.

The holiday will be in the month of July, originally was going to be June, but it appears they did not have enough people, then came the next shock in the letter confirming the holiday, when it explained this is this areas winter period, so don’t forget to bring winter woollies, but also not to bring bright, white, or black clothes, so that was my wardrobe of outdoor gear totally unsuitable, but never mind. It was an excuse to buy some more clothes, while mentioning about buying it has also been a good excuse to buy a new very clever camcorder for the trip. (Still trying to work out how to use it, it’s me not it) I have made an appointment to see the nurse at the GP surgery about any inoculations etc, so I will be ready for the trip.

Well that’s a taster of the planning, I’ve paid my deposit just need to pay the balance, and wait for July to arrive, well actually, maybe not. I am sure there are other things I’m going to have to deal with between now and then to do with the holiday so will keep you up-to-date over the coming months, as usual I hope you enjoyed the read.