Rindy has been talking about the local holidays in his blog.
The first time I went abroad for a holiday was in 1980. We went to Spain by coach.......not because we were scared of flying or anything like that. It was because it was cheap. I can't just remember how cheap, but I do remember it was cheap.
We went with a company called 'Club Cantabrica' I don't know if they are still in business or not.
There were 13 of us in our family party........I don't know if that's an unlucky number, but on the whole we had a great time.
We boarded the bus at Melbourne St and headed off to Dover.
It was a long ride down there and there were quite a few children on the bus......so not conducive to sleeping while travelling. Once we arrived at Dover we were going to do the Channel crossing by hovercraft.......by this time the weather had turned nasty and it looked like the hovercraft would not be leaving port as the sea was too rough. We waited a couple of hours and then the sailings resumed. The sea was still very rough and the hovercraft seemed like it was being tossed around.
I looked out of the window......one minute all that was visible was sea, the next minute all that was visible was sky........it just felt like a ride on a roller coaster. I loved it, but my daughter was turning paler by the minute........ then she went a kind of 'woodbine green'.......those of you who ever smoked woodbines would recognise the colour instantly.... it was the same colour as the fag packets. she reached into the seat pocket in front and spent the rest of the journey clutching a sick bag. It seemed to take a long time to cross the channel, but at last the journey on the hovercraft was over and we were back on terra firma.......French terra firma at that.
I am not sure what I expected France to be like, but I wasn't impressed with the outskirts of Calais.......it was grimy and tumbledown.........a bit of a disappointment really.
The coach travelled on to Paris.......this was more like what I expected france to be like. The roads were hectic and the driving was scary. French drivers just seem to spot a gap in the traffic and aim for it......no mirror signal and manoevre over there.
We didn't venture into the city proper, but stayed on the ring road.
It was tea time and we stopped for a meal break at a chain called 'Flunch'........it was a self service place and because it catered for the coaches, it was very busy.
We chose steak and chips for our meal........and a glass of what we thought was mint tea.
The steak was not a great success, when my hubby put his knife to his steak......it mooed. The steak had only been threatened with a hot pan. We took it back to be properly cooked and were told to use the microwave oven.......these were dotted about the place for re-heating food. Microwaved steak is not good. Never mind we could still eat the chips and drink the mint tea....... the mint tea tasted like mouth wash and the chips were cold. there was no more time to heat up the chips as we were being called back to the coach for our onward journey.
More about this later.......!
The first time I went abroad for a holiday was in 1980. We went to Spain by coach.......not because we were scared of flying or anything like that. It was because it was cheap. I can't just remember how cheap, but I do remember it was cheap.
We went with a company called 'Club Cantabrica' I don't know if they are still in business or not.
There were 13 of us in our family party........I don't know if that's an unlucky number, but on the whole we had a great time.
We boarded the bus at Melbourne St and headed off to Dover.
It was a long ride down there and there were quite a few children on the bus......so not conducive to sleeping while travelling. Once we arrived at Dover we were going to do the Channel crossing by hovercraft.......by this time the weather had turned nasty and it looked like the hovercraft would not be leaving port as the sea was too rough. We waited a couple of hours and then the sailings resumed. The sea was still very rough and the hovercraft seemed like it was being tossed around.
I looked out of the window......one minute all that was visible was sea, the next minute all that was visible was sky........it just felt like a ride on a roller coaster. I loved it, but my daughter was turning paler by the minute........ then she went a kind of 'woodbine green'.......those of you who ever smoked woodbines would recognise the colour instantly.... it was the same colour as the fag packets. she reached into the seat pocket in front and spent the rest of the journey clutching a sick bag. It seemed to take a long time to cross the channel, but at last the journey on the hovercraft was over and we were back on terra firma.......French terra firma at that.
I am not sure what I expected France to be like, but I wasn't impressed with the outskirts of Calais.......it was grimy and tumbledown.........a bit of a disappointment really.
The coach travelled on to Paris.......this was more like what I expected france to be like. The roads were hectic and the driving was scary. French drivers just seem to spot a gap in the traffic and aim for it......no mirror signal and manoevre over there.
We didn't venture into the city proper, but stayed on the ring road.
It was tea time and we stopped for a meal break at a chain called 'Flunch'........it was a self service place and because it catered for the coaches, it was very busy.
We chose steak and chips for our meal........and a glass of what we thought was mint tea.
The steak was not a great success, when my hubby put his knife to his steak......it mooed. The steak had only been threatened with a hot pan. We took it back to be properly cooked and were told to use the microwave oven.......these were dotted about the place for re-heating food. Microwaved steak is not good. Never mind we could still eat the chips and drink the mint tea....... the mint tea tasted like mouth wash and the chips were cold. there was no more time to heat up the chips as we were being called back to the coach for our onward journey.
More about this later.......!
Another tale is starting, l'll pull up a cushion to sit at your feet.