UK Days Out - Duxford

Went to Duxford Imperial War Museum at the weekend and must say was surprised how good it was. Wasn't on my own did o with a friend but that wouldn't matter a great place to vsit whether on your own or with friends.

Arrived at around 11am and left as it closed at 4pm (winter hours), really good have done with longer had to rush around the last section.

The museum part is split into 8 sections all with their own designated builing or hanger, you learn so much and was great value for money at £17-50.

Must also mention the staff are very knowledgible and are more than happy to answer any questions.

Couple of nice cafes on the site had a smashing sandwich for lunch, not enough time for more.

Here are a few photos :-

Send a Text

If you are someone who i've given my phone number to in the past please text me if you want to keep in touch.

My phone crashed at the weekend and i lost most of my contact numbers.

Quiet Times

Haven't posted for awhile basically because not too much happend.

With no holidays planned at this time of year it can be a little boring although I have had a weekend away in Cambridge (somewhere i'd not been before) which was enjoyable.

Still not sure of my full holiday plans for 2015, looking at lots of options whether as a single traveller or with friends.

In fact am heading to Spain in March but not on my own, going to stay in Nerja not far from Malaga. I know its really nice because did do an excurrsion there a few years back while on a Just You holiday.
Its actually a birthday trip not just mine but two of us are within 4 days of each other so thought lets go for it. So two parties while we are away, great stuff.

Talking days out did venture over the hills to see Cambridge play Man Utd, as a Leeds fan it would be rude not to take the side of the underdogs, especially as the friend who got me the ticket was a Cambridge fan, lol.
Not that that i'm changing alliegence and on principle wore my Leeds shirt but kept it well covered outside apart from a cheeky photo shoot outside the Stretford end.

Of course also got my "Walking in Tuscany" holiday in April, trying to get fit for that one at present.

2015 - New Ventures Ahead

With regards to holidays it will be difficult to match 2014 as I managed to do seven Holidays all of which were very different.

1. Short City Break to Barcelona (on my own) - a city worth doing, used my Avios points for this trip got an excellent deal.

2. Slovenia Mountains & Coast (with Just You) - Enjoyed this trip with half the week at Lake Bled and he rest at the coast.

3. Kos (with solos) - My sun holiday was ok, lovely hotel but not enough for me to do, not really in to lazing on a beach or by the swimming pool, enjoyed Crete much more the previous year.

4. Scotland (independant with a friend) - got a cracking hotel deal and was able to vist both Edinburgh & Stirling lus a couple of touring days including Loch Lomond. We tend to forget the UK has plenty to Offer.

5. Madeira (independant with a friend) - sorted flight, hotel & transfers saving around £130, what a lovely island and one more off my tick list.

6. Americas Heart & Soul (with Just You) - Chicago to New Orleans, dream trip for me and do like the American Tours although wasn't at my best as bit unwell first half.

7. Christmas in Coatia (with Just You) - Enjoyed the holiday despite a few blips and think i missed Christmas. Still visits to Bosnia & Montenegro added to my list.

 You can read about these if you check the individual posts on this blog.


So how can I better this in 2015, well one is cast in stone as I've already booked "Walking in Tuscany" in April with Just You. Fancied trying a walking hol and this doesn't seem too stressfull so think i can survive it, also includes a few touring days.

Will probably do another City using my Avios points but not sure where yet (maybe even two different ones).

Would like to visit another continent as I've only done North America & Europe so far.

May try one of the other companies for single travellers, not that I object to those I've used but its always good to shop around.

Will do another American Tour I would think, sort of looking at 3 or 4 of them but the dates may be significant to which  choose.

Also considring Cuba, would just like to see it before Starbucks & MacD's arrive.

Of course money & time hold all the keys to my final decisions, watch this space.

New Year at Hinckley

I decided to do the Just You new year break at Hinckley following a change in my circumstances and previous NY plans cancelled. The timing was perfect following my "Christmas in Croatia" holiday.

Basically its two days of fun and laughs and well worth doing. Personally enjoyed the food especially the first night which offered a great choice of 5 or 6 options which you choose from a list.

2nd night is a set meal which is fine but everyone gets the same so if it doesn't rock your boat its hard luck, i enjoyed mine though.

Entertainment was a disco on the 30th and a live band plus disco on 31st, just a big party really. Plenty of free drinks (champagne, wine, etc) before & during the meals although hotel bar a little expensive for those you buy.

I knocked around with a mix of people that were there last year and a few newbies and we had lots of laughs including on the trip to Warwick. Thanks to Pete, Julie, Heather, Sue, Val & Norma plus many others for helping to make it a memorable new year.

On the downside the hotel were having problems with the heating system and first nights meal was slightly uncomfortable. Was a similar situation last year i recall but think that was because they had been closed and it took 24 hours to warm through, this year it was a system fault.

Was a lot less people there this year, reckon numbers were down about 50% for some reason but still 70ish is a good number.

Christmas in Croatia

Day One - Arrived in Dubrovnik on time this morning a bit tired after driving to Gatwick overnight. Fortunately managed to sleep on the flight which is unusual for me.
Met our tour manager the lovely V at the airport and she remembered me from a holiday I did 3 years ago in Rabac. She takes the honour of been the first TM I have had twice, even gave me a hug, now there is a bonus.


Like what I have seen of the hotel Lero so far nice and clean,
rooms good shower, etc. Just about to get ready for welcome drink and meal so will reserve judgement on the food until later.
Had a walk into the old town for bit of lunch, very impressive, guided tour tomoz so should get some good photos.
Only met a few people so should get chatting with a few others tonight.


Day Two - Thought last nights meal was fine, it was buffet style and a decent choice. I opted for veg soup followed by chicken for my mains.
Slept really well last night, bed is very comfy and of course a couple of beers in the bar helped, well got to be sociable.
Was a leisurely day today as we didn't leave the hotel until 10am for our guided walk around the old town which is an interesting place.








In the afternoon following the walk a few of us went up the local mountain overlooking the town on the cable car. Some stunning views and a nice little cafe where we had lunch. Few of us had a steak sandwich which was good.

Basically just strolled around since before walking back to hotel for an hours chill before getting ready for tonight. A bonus was on the way back got to see the sunset of the Adriatic, was an amazing view.








The evening meal was OK but noticeable that the choices where very similar, same two soups and identical sweets. Mains where different and I went for the goulash.

Day 3 - it was an early start for the 3 hour drive to Mostar in Bosnia, journey was pleasant as got sat with a nice young lady called Gill on the coach and walked around together.

Did have an incident at the border as one lady in our group forgot her passport, not sure how because V our tour manager reminded us all numerous times, some folk just don't listen I suppose. Fortunately the border guards where in a good mood and let us in.
On arrival the devastation caused by the wat of the 1990s was obvious, although they have rebuilt much of it there was still plenty of bomb destroyed ruins and other places riddled with bullet holes.

We had a tour of the city before been taken to a restaurant for an included lunch. Was traditional Bosnian apparently and I enjoyed.

 
Eventually back to the hotel to prepare for the Christmas eve festivities and what a let down the meal was, same starters and sweets added to a very poor choice of mains, lots of the group where not happy to say the least.
We did have some live music in the restaurant after dinner a a bit of singing and dancing. To get the party going V had to pick on someone to drag on the dance floor, yes you guessed, don't know why they pick on the shy ones.
Know people were not happy with the food but that was nothing to how a good few felt when they shut the bar at 10-30pm. Some Christmas eve party that was, few of us did sit in reception while midnight to see chrimmy in properly but not really good enough for a Xmas holiday in my opinion.

Day 4 - The highlight of Xmas day is often the big meal, well not at this hotel, worst meal yet. Once again for the 4th day running we had the same soups as starters and identical desserts. The main course for meal was something called beef which was more fat with cold potato's and carrots, pathetic about sums it up.
Only one lady serving and she was clearing tables as well as getting everyone's drinks, ordered a glass of wine to enjoy with my meal and it turned up when had about finished. Wasn't not even a jug of water on the tables, lots of the group not happy. Certainly nothing resembling Xmas, not even a cracker to pull (Is this really a cristmas holiday as we were led to be be believed).

A few of us are planning to eat out on some of the other nights, would rather pay and get something nice than put up with the sub standard school diners the hotel serves.

Nothing planned to fill our day so couple of us done quite a bit of walking , to the port before lunch and a good long one in some woods this afternoon which ended overlooking some cliffs. Tried to follow a footpath marked on a map only to find it no longer exists, lol.

Later that evening we were supposed to have a light supper but the hotel provided a 2nd meal, believe this was after V had had a word about the meals and peoples complaints, even got free glass of wine courtesy of the hotel. Was some nice Pork and a couple of different sweets but clutching at straws if it was meant to be a major improvement.

Had a few beers on the night, plan was to have an early night but with encouragement from Godrey, Jane, George & Gill got to bed around 1am.

Day 5 -
Sadly hotel food was again mediocre and this nice hotel is been let down by the kitchen and early bar closures in my opinion.
Think tomorrow night a couple of us are gonna eat out at a local restaurant, I know half board is paid for but the food is ruining what should be a good holiday.

Today we visited Montenegro which was interesting first going to Kotar then to Budva, both cracking places although we got a bit of a soaking as we had wind and rain for the first time. Would love to go back and explore on a nice day.
Didn't have my holiday mate Gill with me as she was not feeling too good so took day off , nothing to do with the drinks or late night of course.



 










Day 6 - In the morning we went to cavtat which is a lovely place had a gorgeous chocolate drink, well it was so thick you had to eat it rather than drink. Had a nice walk around the bay before back on the bus.

Next it was wine tasting, went with no great expectations as it was a very small vineyard. However turned out one of the best I've visited, enjoyed and thought they looked after us well.






On returning to Dubrovnik mid afternoon took the opportunity to walk the impressive city walls. Well worth doing but be warned lots of steps to go up and down.
Last night decided to abandon the hotel food and went to a nice restaurant with Gill, Jane and Godfrey. Cracking meal so enjoyed it, was then to a local bar for a few laughs.
Don't think we were the only ones not eating at the hotel, JY really need to look into this as the food can only be described as "school diners before Jamie Oliver".











Day 7 - Bit of a chilling day as weather is wet and windy so cancelled a planned walk. Did go for lunch with a few of the group at the Bosnian restaurant next to the hotel. Was Richards birthday so helped him celebrate.
Last night thought the food in the hotel was slightly better, had some beef and was more variation of veg. They seem to have tried since Xmas diner but still a long way to go. Hope they can get things sorted fo the group following us for new year, I now V was trying to get the message over to hotel management.

Had a few beers and laughs in the hotel bar last night.

So to sum up the holiday in my opinion :-

Negatives - hotel food, hotel bar closing early (especially Xmas eve), no proper Christmas diner just much the same.

Positives - Vlatka our TM, Hotel staff, comfy bed and decent room, hot water, hotel location, Places we visited (well worth it) and of course some of the people I met, made some very nice friends which is always good on a solo group holiday.



One final story was the journey home, we got to Dubrovnik Airport as planned only to find it was closed due to high winds. Our plane had landed at Split and it was eventually announced after hanging around over 2 hours that they would bus us to the plane (a four hour journey).
Was rushed through security at Split and on the plane as the pilots were close to there hours, once in the air we were informed Gatwick was closed and were aiming to land at heathrow and be bussed to Gatwick, later this was to everyones dismay announced this had been changed to Luton.
Eventually hour luck changed and Gatwick reopened and we were one of the first few landing after an earlier incident.
Still we were 7 hours late and many people missed their buses, trains and planes home, fortunately i had already planned to stay over and a couple of others from our group booked the same hotel as had missed their transport. Just got to the pub to enjoy a couple of nice British beers and a lovely mixed grill.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Hope everyone who reads my blog has a great Christmas and 2015 turns out to be a fantastic year.

City Break - Boston - Where everbody knows your name

Back in summer 2007 I decided to visit Boston for a short City Break and must admit its a place worth visiting and you can find plenty to entertain you for 4 or 5 days.
Its a bit different to the more modern American Cities, its more like a small British City with narrow streets which isn't surprising as we built it.
Its easy to get around on foot although it does have a small subway system and the centre is only a few stops from the airport which saves exspensive transfers.

Ok memory is a bit sketchy but using my photos here is a few of the things I did while over there :-

Boston isn't the cheapest for hotels in America but i found a decent deal at a small place called the Milner Hotel and it was adequate for me. The room was small but it was clean and actually incuded breakfast which was great. Location was great very close to Boston Common. Got talking to someone in a local bar and learned that it origionally (back in the day) was a Brothel and had been converted into an hotel.

 Boston Common is nice and a great place to chill out in the afternoon which i did on more than one occasion after a day site seeing.

 Wallking around Boston you come across lots of interesting places inluding the famous Quincy Market, excellent place to grab a bit of lunch.

 Around the market area was lots of street performers, bit of everything. Most impressive were a group of acrobats that actually turned out to be English.

 One day I decided to walk the Freedom Trail which goes from the Common to a Naval museum across the river.
The walk takes you through some historical areas and is about 2.5 mile long (so 5 mile as i walked both ways).

Got to mention that Boston is a big Baseball town an as a sports fan had to visit Fenway Park. To be honest though cant really understand the American love of this game, not one of my favorite sports.

 

 Another day jumped on a ferry which visited a number of small islands (Harbour Islands) where you got a good view of the Boston skyline.
You could get off at a few of the islands, some nice walks, beaches, etc. On one was Fort Warren an old civil war fort.

Remember visiting Salem on the ferry from Boston harbour as it was very hot and thought a boat ride a good idea planned to get the 4pm ferry back to Boston. I was really sticky after walking the streets in such high tempretures so I decided to grab a quick pint at about 3pm on my way to the ferry dock. Now let me tell you I don't normally drink during the day but that beer tasted so good, it never touched the sides. Well one pint led to another and I got chatting with the locals when I realised it was nearly 8pm and thats when the last ferry leaves. I was so close to missing it, almost spent the night sleeping under the stars in the home of witches.

 Of course a visit to Boston wouldn't be complete without doing lunch at the Cheers bar.
It was next to the common just opposite side to where my hotel was but only a 10 minute walk.

 While i was there think we were trying to take it back as redcoats were parading around the streets.

 Was also a big road race although not the famous Boston Marathon, but plenty taking part. Felt sorry for them as the tempretures were excessive.

Tallest building was the Prudential tower, not sure how it compares with places like New York or Chicago for height. Still it has some great city views from the top.










One thing I'll say about Boston there are plenty of Irish Pubs which is good if you are on your own as i've said in previous posts its no fun eating in restaurants unless with a group or as a couple.
Only thing I'll add is that I think most are owned by the same company as the menus are all the same.

So thats Boston, worth a trip I believe.

Holiday Calories do count

For many of us been on holiday means weight gain and for me this year has been  tough one with no fewer than 6 trips completed. And if I'm honest I've not worked hard enough between my trips so have decided i need a push before Xmas followed by another one afterwards.

One thing I'm not prepared to do is diet while on holiday, i like a drink or two and do enjoy my food especially when eating out.

Don't let me fool you my weight as always been on the heavy side but does fluctuate significantly although i'm actually reasonably fit for my age. I actually don't weigh myself i go by my clothes and how tight they feel nd must admit some of my holiday clothes were getting uncomfortable.

So my push began on my return from America and i believe its starting to take effect, its not easy but with will power i'll be able to wear all my glad rags dring the festive season.

One of my issues is my sweet tooth and thats one thing i've cut out completely, don't have anything in the house to tempt me. Bread is another thing I've eliminated at this time so no filling up on that and cheese has been limited. This s definately the right way for me.

I also occasionally would have a bottle of beer at home but not at present.

Am also trying to build up my exercise.

So how do you keep your weight in check following holidays ?

Thought I'd share this with you because I'm sure I'm not alone doing this and it is holiday related.

Americas Heart & Soul - Part 4 - "New Orleans"

First thing I'll say is that I think 450 miles in one day is too far, the interstates we travel down on this holiday arn't the most scenic in America. This Holiday needs to follow route 61 along the Mississippi for this leg of the trip and not I55, extend the holiday by one night with a overnight stop added at either Vicksburg (civil war history) or Clarksdale (birthplace of the blues), seems such a shame racing past them places.
Stephen our tour manager gave us an American history lesson on route to try fill in the hours on the road, a few listened, others plugged there music in while many tried to catch up with needed sleep.

We stopped for lunch at somewhere called Golden Corral an all you can eat buffet for around $12, was very good value i thought, plenty of choice, liked the puddings but i always like puddings.

Our other stop was at the Oak Alley Plantation which told us a bit about the days of the Slave, we also got a tour of the main house plus of course a free drink. Was ok but was there too long but suppose given the distance Ted our driver needed a rest.




As we started approaching the Big Easy we were driving through many swamps finally getting to our hotel early evening. The hotel was virtually an old warehouse but i liked it although some thought a bit far from the French Quarter (15 min walk) but ok by me was a nice area itself and i walk that to my local.

After getting showered and changed we were taken on a walking tour of the French quarter (Jackson square, Bourbon St, etc). Afterwards some returned on the coach while many stayed out to look for food which was a plenty.

Five of us found a bar/cafe we fancied and ordered our drinks and meals. When the meals came only four arrived and guess whose was missing (almost like Dennys last year). The staff were very apologetic even the chef came out to apologise and said it wouldn't be long. Others laughed as when mine came they had about finished and i was starting to feel anorexic, however i had the last laugh when the knocked it off my bill, first meal in new Orleans was a freebie. We eventually went back to the hotel for a couple more drinks before getting our heads down following a long day.

Next day was Teds final day with us, decent chap so thought most of us tipped him well and in the morning he took us over the longest bridge in the world (24 miles) over water for those that wanted to. This was followed by a City tour with a local guide which was ok but as i've said its not perfect on a coach.





The highlight of the evening was the Mississippi River Jazz cruise, enjoyed it the music ws excellent although i'm no jazz expert, the meal was adequate but not the best i've had. However do think all those that went seemed to enjoy.







Following day was the one optional excuursion i opted for, the swamp tour which was good, saw plenty of alligators and our boat driver had a small young one on board for those that wanted to handle one. However he stupidly held it on one of our ladies backs that didn't want it near her, frightend her somewhat which was well out of order and i hope someone from JY complains to the company because Stephen was made aware on our return.

On our return we had some free time in late afternoon to do our own things i took the opportunity to go to the Louisiana Confederate Museum, was small and wish i had more time to visit the much larger world war 2 museum next door. Still its a city i feel we just scatched the surfice so may go back one day.

Went out to eat in the French quarter then to a bar advertising music we had seen not too far from the hotel. Thought it would be good but sadly can only describe it as noise somewhat spoiling the last night for me, bad choice as plenty of other options in New Orleans.





Finally on the last morning before making our way to the airport some of us found time to visit the Madri Gras Museum which was basically a big warehouse where the design, make, repair and store some of the floats. Was wel worth the visit.





So summing up the holiday, it was good but could be improved in my opinion with a few little tweaks. Stephen our our manager was excellent certainly no complaints there and it was a nice group of people to travel with. My personal experience was a bit spoilt by my sore ankle and not sleeping too good through other issues in the early part but that was all just bd timing and othing to do with the holiday. If you fancy it, go for it as there are many excellent experiences and highlights on the way.