07 July 2019

Our daughter moved from her university area of Devon to the Midlands. On her birthday we thought we would go and visit Kenilworth Castle, as I am interested in history and just may have an ancestral connection to the people and the place, though I didn't know this when I went to see the castle! The castle became a ruin shortly after the Civil War. It had been in existence since time Norman times

06 July 2019

We went on a Norwegian cruise in June one year. This was on one of the large Princess Cruises ships. We sailed from Southampton, visited Stavanger, Tromso, Flaam and Voss, Alesund, Olden, Trondheim, the Lofoten Islands and the Port for the North Cape and Bergen. We were sailing to land of the Midnight Sun. It sounds fantastic, but the weather was definitely not playing the game! For most of our

05 July 2019

We visited Old Sarum, an English Heritage property. We have been to Salisbury itself several times and were interested to see where it started from! We were extremely lucky in going on a lovely summer’s day, with a gentle breeze, which was ideal, as the walk from the car park is a fair way and uphill! It seems the reason for moving this place was the difficulty of obtaining fresh drinking water,

03 July 2019

I love Scotland so I thought I would write about this country. Much of my heritage contains Scottish ancestry, although the nearest person to me who was actually born there was my parental grandfather who I never met. He was born and grew up in Edinburgh. I have been studying my family history for a few years now. My grandfather, however, came from a family based mostly in Ayrshire and western S

01 July 2019

When I was married (in the middle ages!) we had a church service, followed by a wedding breakfast at a nearby hotel. This started at 11am in the morning with the church service. We left the hotel around 4pm to head off for our Lake District honeymoon, and to visit my grandmother who was too upset at the loss of my Dad the year before, to come to our wedding. But this compact type of occasion is n

12 June 2019

We regularly go to Stourhead. It belongs to the National Trust. There is a Manor House on the site, but Stourhead is best known for its lovely grounds. It is beautiful at most times of the year, but my favourite time is Autumn when the trees look fantastic in their Autumn colours. It is a pleasant place to wander through the trees or along the lake, within the grounds. There is a duck pond and,

30 May 2019

We have been on this cruise itinerary twice before, but on the Queen Victoria on the previous occasion. This time was on the Queen Elizabeth. We went from Southampton. Cunard are now using a different terminal and once inside we were directed towards the embarkation points. I don't remember much about the check-in, but it was different from the previous very crowded terminal. There was a bottle

29 May 2019

It was February. We thought we would really love some winter sun, so headed to the Caribbean island of Grenada. We always go to the airport the day before we fly, having been nearly missed a flight due to a motorway traffic jam. We flew from Gatwick via St. Lucia in Premium Economy. We were only on the ground in St. Lucia for about 45 minutes and didn’t leave the plane. The crew opened the door

22 June 2018

I was invited to visit the Regent Seven Seas Explorer with a group of Travel Counsellors in Southampton. We met in the Mayflower Terminal, around 9:15 am, where we were offered tea or coffee and something to eat if we wished. The very friendly staff checked us in, handed us a lanyard and kept our passports, which we were to collect when we left the ship. Going through security and boarding the

05 June 2018

We stayed overnight at London Heathrow before flying to Vienna the next morning. We shared a private taxi to our hotel with another couple, as our driver was stuck in traffic due to the many road works happening at the time. They had been to the hotel a few times before. When we arrived at our hotel we were allocated our room on the 6th floor. It was very nice. The weather was pleasant. We went

18 January 2018

It has become a ‘new’ tradition with us now to go away over New Year, having spent Christmas and Boxing Day with our daughter. My husband said he was quite keen to do a similar cruise to the one we did a couple of years ago. This left from Southampton and was due to sail to Zeebrugge, then Amsterdam and finally Cherbourg. We checked in at the Ocean Terminal, but had to wait for a while to board

18 January 2018

My husband had a significant birthday in September 2017. We have been away a few times this year, but my husband did mutter that it would be nice to go somewhere sunny. This gave me the idea to look at possible places to go. After much research, I decided on Antigua. This was to be a secret until his birthday. I booked it before the hurricanes hit the Caribbean. I was a little worried when I he

09 August 2017

We recently went to Scotland for a week on a ‘family fact finding’ holiday! My daughter and I are trying to find out ‘Who we think we are!’ Our first port of call was Ayr. We stayed with some friends, had a lovely time, visited a castle which is part of the National Trust for Scotland, called Culzean Castle (pronounced Colean!). My daughter and I also visited the Ayr Carnegie Library, where

03 August 2017

We decided to have a few days in Italy. Having been to Rome the previous year we chose Florence and Pisa for this holiday and went in early May for a few days. We flew from London Heathrow to Pisa arriving around lunchtime. There are shuttles buses running regularly into the main town of Pisa. We boarded one to take us to the main railway station, where we were due to catch a train to Florence.

24 May 2017

We decided we would like to visit Switzerland again, after eleven years. Going by car we took a mid-day ferry from Dover to Calais. The weather was fine and the sea not too choppy. Rather than drive all the way we arranged to stay for one night near Reims. It was a new hotel and comfortable. We used the French motorways. They are now mostly automated, a little daunting as the passenger in a UK car

24 May 2017

This year we went to Dubai, a place we had never been to before or really considered, as we are very fond of scenery, such as mountains and lakes. We had many air miles we had to use them or lose them and Dubai seemed a reasonable choice! We flew Upper Class, which was a touch of luxury provided by our air miles. We went into the lounge at Heathrow, which was very nice, except when my husband

07 November 2016

In April this year we went to Rome for four nights and then to Sorrento for five nights. I had been to Rome ages ago, but my husband had never been there and neither of us had been to Sorrento. We flew from London Gatwick to Rome and took a taxi transfer to our hotel, which was not far from the Coliseum. We were made very welcome at the hotel and were helped with our luggage up the few steps i

05 November 2016

We spent a very nice weekend in St. Ives and the surrounding area in April this year. We left home early in the morning to make the most of the two days we would be there. St.Ives is a very popular place and finding a hotel was a challenge for the four of us. We had found and booked one overlooking the sea on the hills above the town. We reached the hotel early, parked the car as there were

02 November 2016

Staying at Mystic, Connecticut we visited The Museum of America and the Sea at Mystic Seaport, which is a Living history museum consisting of a village, ships and 17 acres of exhibits depicting coastal life in New England in the 19th century. We ate one night at Mystic Pizza, which became famous as it was featured in 1988 film. Hyannis, Massachusetts has many connections with the Kennedy Family

02 November 2016

We flew to JFK airport, New York, travelling premium economy, and were offered a Bucks Fizz or orange juice once we were seated! Arriving in the USA early afternoon we took a taxi, which was very easy as we did not pre-book our transfer, as we understood that this wouldn’t pose a problem. The taxi driver was very good, but said he would have difficulty getting to our hotel the Affinia 50, as th

01 November 2016

We visited many of the other geysers, including one called Steamboat which seems to be spouting boiling hot steam all the time. The colours of the rocks were varied, some really bright orange, there were reds and yellows as well as greys. There were little pools which were very bright blue and steaming, all fascinating to watch. We spent some time in Mammoth looking at the hot springs and visit

01 November 2016

We had always wanted to go to Yellowstone National Park and see part of the USA West Coast on the way, so we were really looking forward to our trip. Our journey started in San Francisco and after collecting our cases we boarded the AirTrain to the Rental Car Centre to pick up our hire car and start making our way up to Crater Lake in Oregon. Our first stop was at Santa Rosa in California

01 November 2016

In February last year I was treated to a weekend break in Edinburgh. This was a Christmas gift from my daughter and my sister. The three of us travelled from Bristol by EasyJet on a Thursday evening. As my daughter hates flying I suggested we book their Speedy Boarding, so we could board first and sit together. When we arrived at the airport in Edinburgh, which is small enough to find your way

31 October 2016

We travelled from Heathrow to Athens. We were concerned as we were departing from Terminal 5, but the experience was a lot better than expected. We decided to only take cabin baggage. Athens was sunny and warm when we arrived. We took a taxi from the airport. It was quite a long way into the centre of Athens. The driver was very pleasant and drove carefully. We stayed in Athens for two nig

30 October 2016

We flew to Seattle a couple of days before the scheduled departure and stayed at the Grand Hyatt in the centre of Seattle. Then we flew to Fairbanks, staying in Riverside Lodgel for 2 nights and chose to eat the haddock on both nights, as it was delicious! This was in June and it was so odd to go to bed in the light! We went on the gold panning tour at the El Dorado Gold Mine and on the Tanana

28 October 2016

We decided to go away for New Year last year. The itinerary was Amsterdam for two nights and Bruges (Zeebrugge for Bruges) for one night. We sailed from Southampton on Cunard's Queen Victoria in the afternoon. As it was winter it was dark as we left, rather windy and cold out on the deck, but fascinating watching the twinkling lights of the south coast drift away from us. Our balcony cabin w

16 February 2013

After everyone had finished eating, the hotel put on evening entertainment, different most nights, the staff being the performers and some of them were excellent. We visited the Piano Bar more than once as it was quiet and peaceful, even when with the playing of the piano, when the evening entertainment on the Terrace wasn’t quite in our line. The hotel supplied beach towels every day, so we di

16 February 2013

We returned from a lovely holiday to St Lucia, which was a welcome break from all the UK weather. As we had an early morning flight we decided to stay at Gatwick Airport the night before, so we took our time getting to the airport and didn’t have to worry about traffic jams. The hotel had its own parking arrangements. We flew out in Premium Economy, very comfortable. The plane we were on had ju

20 August 2012

I booked a cruise as a surprise for my husband for a special birthday and kept it a secret for over a year. When I finally told him, we decided to stay for a few days in Florida after the cruise and a couple days before. We flew to Miami from Heathrow but returned into Gatwick. This wasn’t as straightforward as it sounds! At the last minute my husband had to return for an important meeting on t

09 July 2012

Continued: We waited in Colon for the people to return from their excursions. We didn’t embark, as it was pouring with rain and apparently there wasn’t much to see there except a shopping centre. We sailed overnight to Limon in Costa Rica. As we didn’t have any excursions booked we stayed on the ship and relaxed. The view from our balcony showed an eerie scene of constant falling rain on the R

09 July 2012

Continued: Busch Gardens is somewhere we hadn’t been before. There are trains, a red one and a yellow one, that go round the park to see the animals such as wildebeests, giraffes and zebras in a grassland situation. There are other animals such as Asian elephants and both tigers and white tigers in their own compounds. On our last day we went to Disney. I am a Disney fan. We took our daughter

01 December 2010

San Diego was suffering from the ‘June Gloom’. We strolled along the waterfront past several ships. The vintage Star of India, one of the sailing vessels, is one of the oldest working ships, dating from 1863. We decided to visit the USS Midway, built as an aircraft carrier, now a museum. They show how the sailors lived and worked on board. The top deck was full of aircraft used when the ship was i

01 November 2010

When we left Heathrow for San Francisco in June, the weather in London was warm and sunny. It was pleasant when we landed, though cooler. The flight was good and it was on time. As we were spending 2 nights in San Francisco we decided not to collect the hire car at the airport. Previously we had driven from the airport and parked at the hotel and this had been quite expensive. We took a tax

14 September 2008

We try to go to Greece at least once a year, and the place we have visited several times is Crete. It is a beautiful place with spectacular mountains, hidden beaches and a lot to see. The island has changed a great deal since the first holiday we spent there in 1970s, the roads have improved out of all proportion over the years and the food is much better than it was. The holiday usually fo