One of our sons was to travel with my husband and I, but so many little challenges were thrown at us in the days leading up to the trip. One of our cats was knocked down and our sons work commitments could not be rearranged to enable him to travel with us. The decision was made the two of us would travel on our own. Our son would remain at home administering medication to the the fluffie one and working 12 hour shifts at his summer job. Sounds simple :)
My husband and I left at approx 5 am to drive to the airport. We had travelled a few miles and he predictably said to me as he always does "HAVE WE EVERYTHING WITH US". I obligingly dived headlong into my handbag ensuring all documentation, money etc dwelt in the deep well of doom :) I suddenly realised...NO PHONE !!!
So we turned the car sharply on the country road, drove home and sitting at our back door was my suitcase. I kid you not !!! I grabbed the phone and threw the case into the boot of the car. We were shocked to be honest and we headed onto the airport reciting a litany of what ifs to each other!!!
We arrived to find that the line of people to pass through security was ridiculously long, we could easily miss the flight. This was one of the busiest weekends for departures ... we should have realised that.
I approached a member of staff and explained that we were going to miss the plane if he didnt allow us to purchase Priority which allows one to avoid the mass of holiday makers. He point blankly said NO CAN DO. New airport policy has been implemented and you have to purchase this privilege before arriving at the airport. We stepped into the mass acknowledging the inevitability of a missed flight. My dreams of sipping the rich red were fading away.
After a few minutes I watched him allow a couple to skip the herd and pass through into the Priority. I approached him again questioned how and why :) He firmly said that the gentleman was in pain and found it difficult to stand for a long time. Deep breath taken and the begging began. I explained to him about 'my' very painful hip and that I was finding it just as difficult to stand in this queue too !! I neglected to add it was due to heavy digging in the garden that I twisted my right leg a few days previous.
He then looked me in the eye and said in a broad local Antrim accent "ARE YOU TELLING ME THE TRUTH"?
Now it was a Sunday morning and if I were to lie about such a thing and especially on a Sunday there was no hope for my soul :) I locked into his doubtful gaze, gave him my word and he graciously let us bypass a few hundred people. We gratefully passed through security in a matter of minutes. Only it was so early in the day I would have swiftly downed a very nice glass of wine. With relief we made our flight on time...just ... In hindsight and considering all the drama, maybe if we had have missed the flight it would have been a blessing...
This photograph was taken as we walked from the bus stop. The air was delightfully warm and the light soft. I was so happy.
Basically this is about the highlight of our holiday. To cut a long story short our accomodation was awful. We had booked via BOOKING.COM as always but we were disgusted by the dirty apartment that we had paid good money for. I will pop in a few pics below ... after 24 hours of not being fit to breath in a hovel. we made the decision that we would fly home. We would have to wait another 24 hours before we could actually do so. For us to transfer to a good hotel would have cost us approx £200 more than it cost for us to return home via England. The decision was made we were going home !!!
I can still smell this place !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So we fled the hell and walked most of the day. We ate gorgeous food and drank very pleasant red wine. Bordeaux has a delightful old town but many homeless destitute people are scattered through the surrounding streets and shopping areas. Mostly African and looking very desperate.
It was sad to see so many people just trying to survive. The shopping districts were guarded by an army of soldiers with heavy guns. We travel extensively and we are seeing a massive change in European cities. So many desperate people trying to stay alive. We actually saw a man that would not have looked out of place in a concentration camp photograph after the end of WW2. He was not African but European and he lay in the street with his faded, dirty t shirt half way up his chest, He was skeletal and his abdomen sunk into his back. His facial bones sticking out of greyish skin. I have seen many people down on their luck but this deeply distubed me. He was completely still totally unconscious. People walked by as though he was a leaf lying on the road and police patrolled the area ignoring him. I genuinely would not like to be on those streets after dark.
All in all our little dream of drinking rich red wine at a street cafe was not all it was meant to be ... I sincerely was never as glad to see Luton airport in all of my life. I knew we had one more flight and then we would be back home. We landed in Belfast, the air was fresh and boy did it feel good to be home. I gratefully climbed into a lovely clean bed and slept like a log. On day 2 of returning home I became extremely ill. Severe vomitting and exhaustion. One of the nails on my hand had swollen with a sickly green residue seeping out of it. I am not a germaphobe or a fussy person, I can cope with a bit of dirt but this was different, it was disgusting. I believe that the bed linen was unclean and I suffered for it. This is a woman that gardens, takes care and cleans for an elderly relative and loves to get her hands dirty on an everyday basis. Clean dirt comes to mind :) All in all it seems that our son was the lucky one .. he stayed home.
There is no place like home :)
FOOTNOTE
BOOKING.COM never refunded us even a single penny...I emailed them approx 30 disgusting photographs but they didn't think it was their problem. We should have sorted it with the owner of the apartment was there final analysis. Words fail me and I will not be booking with them again.
To 'sort' that apartment would take a week even if a team of clinically diagnosed OCD cleaners attacked it. !!!
