India _Day 1

We arrived in Cochin airport at 2:30am cleared customs and headed over to the domestic airport. As we approached the airport we saw a departure notice..........and our flight was cancelled. We tried to go inside and was stopped by security ... No go... told to walk down the side of the building to where AirIndgo had an outside booth.

Option 1. Refund... you find your own way
Option 2. Stay and fly tomorrow
Option 3. By bus

Meanwhile we txt our India travel agent who had organised for us to get on the bus.
As Bronni put it
"So wait ... txt from agent... go to counter 22..... where’s counter22?..... inside terminal.... slight problem... not allowed inside without ticket... go back to airline booth outside ... she stamps and signs paper... please let these people in to counter 22.....back in queue to get inside.... sorry sir you cannot go in ... but read what this says.... hold up... calls for armed guard ( with gun) reads paper.... no you cannot go in.... but need to go to counter 22....guard escorts us back to outside airline booth and they have an argument... he then escorts us in to counter 22.....yes sir we have organised a bus .... go and wait outside till 6.30.   On the other hand he also asks a delightful admin person to take us to the food place... Cochii food and water.. and then had a long chat

and we wait.

Finally the bus arrives we pile on board and after a 8hr trip (said it should be 6) we arrive at the tricky airport to meet our guide. Leaking air conditioning and all.

2019 Dubai; India; Scotland

The next adventure.
Dubai, India, Scotland for Isaac's wedding.
For those not in the know Isaac is marrying Gill on the 19th Feb. This day is on record as been the coldest time of the year in Scotland  so we decided to go via India and only spend 4 days in Scotland. This give us just 21/2 weeks in India.

The country is big and the time is very short. Johnny and  Raewyn  told us takes it the first week just to start to work out how hospitality and transport function so we decided to abandon the usual wing it as we go style and have everything organised.

We also selected an area  not so popular and away from the "golden triangle" and somewhere that offers cycle tours. 

The company that helped us with the program was called Indian Panorama. A contact who my sister  Libby used and ironically is owed by a kiwi from Karamera. He actually knows the Scarlett name because the cemetery if full of them and there is even a hill called the Scarlett Hill.

I digress

First stop Dubai after a17hr flight.  Les sitting still for 17hrs is a challenge. 

Interesting city that my budget struggled to buy a cup of coffee. NZ$17 each ....no scone... they drown my long black so badly that I need a sieve to get the coffee grains...........and yes I ordered and drank before asking the price. Obviously they thought I was getting good value with the added water.

 Big building $250 to go to the top...  thanks but no

Lots of Gold.....and yes we just have had a wedding anniversary but thankfully it was only 35 yrs and jade wasn't on the menu.

A spice mecca but wait....we are going to india.

So  with that in mind back to the hotel. A quick 6hr sleep then back to the airport to fly to India. 

Adios Spain

Today is our last day in Spain before the long flights back home. We are in Barcelona and I search the faces of every dodgy character in a glow jacket ready to jump him and demand he returns my bag that was stolen some 4 years ago. Fat chance…. But it does cross your mind.

Since my last blog in Jerica, Isaac turned up on his motorbike with Renee Harris, who is from NZ and is travelling the world for 2 years. We have had a very enjoyable time seeing  Montanejos, more of Valcenia, and now Barcelona together and it’s kinda funny been on holiday with the kids (admittedly somewhat bigger)  in the back seat.

We fly out tonight, Renee heads back to London and Isaac goes back to Valcenia to fly out the following day to Turkey for work. Isaac has been amazing. He’s been our guide, interpreter, connoisseur on food, wine, sites to see and things to do.  

Bronni does the research and our google maps has looked like the stars in the galaxy as she saves the things that she would like to see. Isaac kicks into the project planning mode and schedules the day around the location, transport, opening hours of each star, crowds and appropriate coffee and food stops. Meanwhile Renee and Les just rock along 20m behind the lead team, solving the problems of the world (so I like to think) and compete on who can get the most artistic picture.

We have love having Renee in our little ‘European’ family and found her to be a very enjoyable travel mate; even in the early morning which is not exactly her most favorite time.

Thank you Renee for your company, sense of humor and being uniquely you.

This will be my last blog of this series till the next venture. I hope readers that you have enjoyed reading this blog as much as I have enjoyed writing it and until next time

Adios

Stuck in the Loo- Castell de Sagunt

Help! I'm stuck in the loo

Don’t know what to do

I twist and pull on the knob

It ignores me like a snob

I knock on the door

I knock even more

My phone I say to me

Then Isaac will come and see

The battery is low there is no plan

I cannot call oh where’s my man

The light in the dunny now goes blink

I cannot see I cannot think

I search the sky for free WiFi

Hoping the password will be ni

I log onto WhatsApp

The location to tap

I type help and press send

The battery dies and that is the end

Bronni

The illusions of age...

For my 60^th birthday I find myself in a little town called Jerica midway on the first section of the Via Verde from Barracas to Torres Torres. Today we completed the first section (60km) and hopefully be able to do the second section tomorrow. Its an easy 80km following an old narrow gauge railway line.

I have to admit it is pretty cruisy.

On Monday after quick shop for clothes…. (Yes it is amazing what my dear wife can achieve with a time limit) and a long protracted process of fluffing around filing a report in Spanish we left Valencia in our shinning new Peugeot partner and drove north to a tourist coastal town called Peniscola.  It is near a national park full of mountain bike tracks. 

Tuesday we biked through the park to the next town and back again. Probably some 60kms with around 5-600m elevation. Some of the tracks up were a bit challenging for les and down a bit challenging for Bronni. Parts were quite steep and rocky.

We splashed out and shouted ourselves a gelato when we got back…

So now we find ourselves in Jerica sitting in this little owner operated pub where no one speaks any English, I’m hungry and the dining room doesn’t open till 9.00 oclock.   (1 hour to go ) The TV is chatting away in the corner (Spanish), guests at another table are successfully drowning it out and Les is quietly chatting away on the computer…. I can do quiet. If fact compared to the Spanish…. I’m very docile.

So you critics out there if you think that I’m OTT. Don’t come to Spain. You’ll hate it. However if you love passion, energy, enthusiasm and don’t mind loud this place has it in buckets. The only thing I struggle with is their biological clocks. Everything is delayed by at least 4 hrs. Breakfast is 10, Lunch 1-5 and dinner…… at this place starts a 9.00pm. This bit is made for the Roaslie’s of this world.

I cannot understand why they bother with daylight saving.

Robbed again in Spain.... nothing to do with rain

So lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place wrong………..

We’ve been robbed in Spain again. Okay so it wasn’t in the same city and this had a lot less sophistication than last time with a lot less success.  They smashed the window in the car outside of Isaac’s place and grabbed bronni’s bag of spare clothes which including all her dirty washing (most of her clothes) and my prescription sunglasses.

………..and to be fair to Spain, Aimee P had this happen to her 3 times in Auckland.

It just annoying as we have spent the last day changing the car, filing the police report and then signing the report…..what a process ………..the police are very pleasant and very helpful but when he presses Cltr_Alt_Del and rekeys a login AB56374  3 times during the interview you know that the IT system is not the best.

Commando Bronni is now bouncing all over town on a shopping spree……………

Characters back home

One of the funny things about las fallas is that some of the characters resembles people you know with varying degrees. So contentiously I like to share these because some are just so good.  Now if I offend anyone with this post I apologies on advance.

You will note that to minimize the damage I have leftout surnames so that hopefully I will have some friends left.

Lester B

John C

Rosalie (Gardening Outfit)

Self......

Stu D

Lester R

Steve and  Steve.... Permission to propose...  legally 

Murray B

Kate A

Stacey

Ju and Heidi

Keith H

Matt P

Alex P

Aimee P

Stu C

Teresa J

Carol with Nixon

No sure who... gotta be off a cruise ship

Alex W

 Now you work out the rest