The Rest of Our Week at Warp Speed.

Without too much ado, this is a very quick overview of the rest of this week - with not much rest in between!  

We drove to chunnel via Belgium and France at midday and caught our chunnel train (er... also called Eurotunnel) without any hassles.  Usually the Eurotunnel terminal is heaving, more so during term time but fortunately it was somewhat quieter when children are back at school.

We arrive in England and stayed at Meon Valley Hotel, Golf & Country Club.  On the way to the hotel we were hungry so we stopped to pick up a salad which we were able to eat in our hotel room.

Paul had business to attend to in Southampton on Thursday and left me in the hotel to continue catching up on my blogs.  I could have gone for a swim in the hotel swimming pool but decided not to.  

That evening we had dinner at Samuel's Rest, a pub/restaurant.  The meal was delicious - fish pie.  It was very filling though!

On Friday we drove up to Wales to pick up our post and stayed with our friends:  Sue, Ian and their daughter Lindsay.  It was really good to see them again - more so because they are an extension of our family by marriage.  

Unfortunately we couldn't stay any longer in the UK because Paul has a course to attend on Monday so we headed back to Rijsbergen via the chunnel on Saturday.  We arrived back at Paul's mum's place quite late in the evening but it was good to be back.  

The last few days since getting back to the Netherlands have been hectic.  Paul will be starting work at sea again soon so we had to do a few things:  clear out the caravan and take it to storage facilities (a former greenhouse), take a load of stuff in the garage for recycling, fetch the quad bike and put it in Paul's mum's garage and then finally take the car to an underground garage for safekeeping until we return to the Netherlands.

Gwenny, Paul's sister, came to visit us before we left and then it was all systems go with sorting and packing things that we will need for the next 3 months.

To Mo'orea from the Netherlands

Today we are staring our journey to Mo'orea, Tahiti, and sitting at Schiphol International Airport in Amsterdam, waiting for the call to board our flight to Heathrow Airport and then on to Los Angeles, Pape'ete (Tahiti) and then on to Mo'orea (French Polynesia, just across from Tahiti).  It is going to be a very long day ...

First leg of our flight - heading to Heathrow.

A taxi picked us up from Rijsbergen at around 7am.  Traffic was bad all the way to the airport.  I guess everyone is going back to work after a long weekend.  Just as well that we had set off early to the airport - we made it with plenty of time to spare to drop our luggage off, go through security and passport control as well as the long walk to the gate.

Now we are just waiting for the call to board our flight.

Keeping busy.

Snow at last!

Last Saturday it was Paul and his mum's (Betty) birthday.   Family members popped in to see Betty to wish her happy birthday and to wish Paul a happy birthday too. Gwenny (Paul's sister) arrived on Thursday night and we took her to the train station in Breda later that evening.  It was snowing (for a change!) so I drove carefully - fortunately with no mishaps.  It was good to see Gwenny again and also to see other family members too.

The snow was lovely but it didn't last very long.  We keep hoping that the canals will freeze solid enough to skate on them but the freezing weather doesn't last long enough.  Hope springs eternal ! ??

We had hoped to go to England this past week but didn't want to leave Betty because she wasn't particularly well and could hardly walk.  To to be idle, we have been busy sorting and clearing out Betty's garage (still so much to do!).  Paul also managed to fix the broken car spoiler and put it back on the back of the car (it was destroyed in an automatic car wash...).

We also bought a small secondhand
T@B (teardrop shaped) caravan

and brought it to Betty's place and have been getting it ready for our travels - flushing out the water system, filling the water tank, getting some linen out of storage for it; put in the camping cookware, etc.  With a bit of luck we may head over to England on Sunday or Monday for a short break and bring the caravan with us.

Spa day and a countryside drive.

Paul was on a course this past week so his sister, Gwenny, and I met up on Wednesday went to a Elysium Wellness Resort/spa.

It was pointless that Gwenny and I went in 2 cars to go to the spa so I drove to Gwenny's house to fetch her and then we could go to the spa together.  Getting to her house in Zoetermeer wasn't a problem but I got a wee bit stressed out from the traffic getting there.  Also the satnav took me via a route that I didn't recognise so I thought I was lost (which was rubbish of course).  I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally started to recognise where I was.

Whilst at the spa Gwenny and I had a lovely massage - it was so good that we almost fell asleep.  It was a matter of "can you let me stay here fore a couple more hours?" - but of course we didn't.  Instead we made most of the day, going for a swim, going to a sauna, jacuzzi and more.  By the time left I felt almost 'legless' - very relaxed!

I got Gwenny to drive us back to her place and then I would drive back the rest of the way to Rijsbergen.  As we were passing a traffic light and turning left into a dual carriage road the car suddenly 'died'.  There was not a peep from the engine.  Quick as a flash Gwenny hit the hazard light button before trying the car's ignition.  Fortunately the car started after a 2 or so tries.  Whew!  We got back to Gwenny's house but we were worried that the car might stop again altogether so I had strict instructions to telephone Gwenny if the car broke down; and she would come out to fetch me or get a recovery vehicle sent out to me.  Fortunately the car behaved herself and I had no problems getting back to Rijsbergen.  I sent Gwenny a message though to say that I had arrived.

Today's route, more or less.

Today we took a drive to Monschau in western Germany, near the Belgian border.  Paul's mum mum came with us to get out of the house and have a change of scenery.  There have been reports of snow but not where we were so it was a good time to see a bit of snow.  We took a nice winding route, trying to avoid some of the motorways.  It was getting quite late by the time we got to Monschau so we didn't get out and wander through the town.  It is a bit of a pity because the centre of town is still in the old medieval style.  I'm looking forward to visiting and exploring Monschau properly another day, if all goes well.  Unfortunately we didn't stop to take photographs during our drive - the scenery was very pretty.

Vein surgery.

Back to the Netherlands

We got back to the Netherlands safe and sound yesterday, leaving Wales at 8am and arriving here at around 4.40pm.  Paul did all the driving as usual while I zzzzz'd, yawn.  There was a bit of sleet on the way through Belgium and we learnt that more snow had fallen in Wales after we left.  Darn! 

Oh.... and Paul left his shoes behind in Wales by mistake he so may end up spending the next few weeks in flip flops until we can retrieve them (bear in mind it is winter...  But then again I, myself, spend most of my time in flip flops throughout the year even in winter.  Mad??!!!  But my African-born feet need to breathe, feel fresh air ....).

Today Paul had an incompetent vein in his calf zapped today.  Tiny valves in the vein were not working properly and he developed a blood clot (fortunately not a deep vein thrombosis/clot!) quite a while back during his last cruise contract.  He has been on a low dose of blood thinners since then and has had to wear rather 'fetching' compression stockings.

Apparently the ablation (cauterise/burning) of the vein didn't hurt.  Paul had a local anaesthetic beforehand and a small laser probe was manipulated up to the bad vein and a laser beam was used to burn and close the vein.  I had to wait in the waiting room while the treatment took place and wished I could have been allowed to go in to watch. 

After the procedure Paul had to walk around for about 15 minutes to ensure everything was ok before he was re-examined and discharged.  He feels fine, with no pain, but is not allowed to drive.  So I drove us back to Paul's mum's place.  Paul will have to wear compression stockings for the next 2 weeks at least and will eventually have a consultant review to make sure that everything is going well.

Campervan and fish.

Yesterday we were a bit more energetic having recovered from jet-lag and our travels so we took Paul's mum's car 🚗 for a bit of a spin.  The car battery was almost dead as she's not driven her car for a while.  After a hesitant start the car got going and the battery re-charged itself as we drove to the shops and back again.

Today we went to look at a campervan, the first of a few that Paul wants to see before we make a decision to buy one or not.  The campervan is in under-cover storage, looked well after and in good condition.  As I say, we will have to look at a few before we make a decision though.

While out and about we got the fish tank more water plants and a carbon filter.  The fish 🐠 are happy again, now that we have cleaned the tank and put the new carbon filter in.  We also treated them to a meal of water fleas. One goldfish tasted a water flea, loved the snack and looked for more.  The other fish quickly cottoned on.  By the way they gobbled up the fleas - they tasted way better than fish flakes!

Back in the Netherlands at last.

Schiphol Airport to Rijsbergen by train & taxi

On Wednesday early morning we arrived at Schiphol Airport without any hiccups during the flight.  We caught a train and taxi back to Rijsbergen, had a shower and crashed until dinner time.

It is now Friday morning and I've done nothing but sleep since getting back, waking up for brunch and dinner. I've been that shattered.  Paul has not slept quite as much, catching up with his mum and going through his mail.

Melvin, mum's cat, has made big strides.  He has been coming up to our room and sleeping with us! He never does, and used to go after exploring the room.  Maybe he's missed us?!

I miss those few weeks of sun and warm weather.  Dark skies and the cold don't help ☹️

Time to Fly!

We woke up early and was ready for the taxi collection at 7:15am.  Paul's mum, Betty, was awake too so that she could say goodbye.  Our taxi's arrival time came and went and Paul started to get a bit worried.  I stood and waited outside while he telephoned to find out where the taxi was.  He was told that the taxi was on its way.  It eventually arrived about 15 to 20 minutes late.  It was very foggy outside so people were driving carefully.

We got to the train station in  Breda and were well in time to catch the high speed train to Schiphol Airport.  The train was full and there were no seats available so we stood, with our luggage, in the bicycle storage area of our carriage.  We weren't the only ones making use of the space.  Fortunately nobody brought their bicycles onto the train at that time.  The train made a stop in Rotterdam before continuing on to Schiphol Airport.

We had arrived in plenty of time and were treated to self-service baggage check-in which we had never seen before.  Usually one goes to a counter to drop the bags off and the ground steward/ess will weigh in the suitcases and sticker them.  This time we had to put our suitcases into an open cage one at at time, a sticker was issued which we tied to the suitcase, the open cage door  lowered, the suitcase emptied onto a conveyor belt and the cage door opens for the next piece of luggage.  The process is then repeated. The airport is certainly becoming more and more automated.

Next, Paul went to an enquiries desk to find out if there was an opportunity to upgrade our seats to business class - if the price was right.  Fortunately the price was within reasonable limits but we would not be able to sit together.  It doesn't matter too much - from the aeroplane seating plan it looks like we will be sitting behind each other.

We went through security without any hiccups and had a bit of a wander around before going to the business class lounge for a bit of a late breakfast.  We have been able to relax for an hour or so but must head to the boarding gate now!

Time to board the flight!

Oh... about the saga with the car breaking down whilst in Corsica.  Paul submitted VW's invoice and, to chance his arm, our ferry invoice (that we couldn't cancel therefore get our money back for) and extra accommodation cost invoice to KwikFit.  They have paid it back!  Wow!  Good result from KwikFit Netherlands!

Preparations.

Over the last few days we have been trying to sort ourselves out.  Paul goes back to work at sea and flies out tomorrow; I am going with him.  We have been purchasing a few items we need to take with us, unpacking and re-packing for the next few months at sea. 

In the middle of it all, the weather has been nice so on Saturday Paul felt it would be good to take the quadbike out and take it for one last spin before we put it into a lock-up garage.  The quadbike was a bit low on fuel but fortunately Paul had a jerrycan of petrol in the his mum's garage so he could fill up the tank.  Unfortunately the quadbike's fuel cap wouldn't open, no matter what Paul did.  He eventually asked neighbour, who has a motorbike, to have a quick look but to no avail.   Paul ended up going to garage where he had the quadbike serviced and I followed behind in the car in case he ran out of petrol.  It turns out that fuel cap was broken so Paul purchased another one and then we went to the nearest petrol station.  There was a car wash across the road from the petrol station so Paul decided to get car washed - it needed it after weeks of being on the road.  It was a big mistake.  The spoiler broke in car wash, the garage owners not taking any responsibility however we were told to bring the car back on Monday back on Monday to get it fixed.  I cried on way home, very frustrated at so many things going wrong.

Our quadbike ride route.

On Sunday we took the quadbike out for a ride, popping across the border into Belgium and back again, making use of unpaved roads as and when possible.  It was a nice scenic drive.  We finally put the quadbike in a lock-up garage and the car too, where they will stay for the next couple of months while we are away. 

Today Paul and I made use of the online check-in for our KLM flight to Los Angeles.  Mine went smoothly enough however Paul's didn't.  The online check-in would not allow him to continue to the seat selection because he didn't have a USA ESTA visa.  Because he is a sailor, he doesn't need it - he has other work visas and documents.  In the end he ended up applying, separately, for an ESTA visa and it was approved; yet the KLM website still wouldn't allow Paul to check in online.  Because Paul's office had booked our flights separately (why, we don't know) it means we usually don't get seats together so as and when we check in online we look at the seating plan and try to change our seats so that we can sit next to each other.  This time it wasn't going to happen, by the looks of things.  In the end Paul rang KLM's booking office and after a long wait of nearly ½ an hour he got through only to get cut off by mistake whilst moving his hands to reach for some paperwork.  Frustration is ...  He dialled again and eventually got through after holding on for about 40 minutes.  The KLM representative managed to check Paul in and gave us seats next to each other.  However, when we looked online at upgrading our seats to extra leg room seats we discovered Paul was seated at the back of the aeroplane.  Just as well we had checked!  We managed to get seats together online and printed our confirmation tickets out. 

Betty's fish bowl needed cleaning so the poor fish were relocated to another smaller (cooking!) bowl, while their large bowl was emptied and cleaned out.  In the meantime one of the snails tried to make a quick getaway out of its temporary accommodation and I had to persuade him to turn around and go back.  All done and dusted then it was time to finalise our packing.

It's now quite late and we have an early start in the morning.

Homeward-bound & Piercings.

Our ferry crossing was uneventful and we arrived in Toulon on time.  With our satnav giving directions, we headed out of Toulon towards the Netherlands with an estimated arrival time of around 6pm.  Traffic was fine most of the time but our arrival time crept up by 2¼ hours to around 8:15pm.

Paul had booked appointments for us at a tattoo, piercing and body art studio (www.garageink.nl/) for around 7pm but had to call the studio's owner that we couldn't make the appointment because of traffic delays.  She kindly re-arranged the appointment for 8:30pm (the studio closes at 9pm) and we got there on time.  The piercing and tattoo studio is a converted garage, small but well laid out, and attention to health and safety.  The piercer is an ex-nurse who changed profession, and was very good.  I won't got into piercing details but all I can say is  ... eye-watering "ouch"!  😩

It was a short drive back to Paul's mum's place from the piercing studio and it is good to be 'home' again.

Our journey back to the Netherlands.

'Home' For a Bit.

Not much has been happening since the Amsterdam Bodypainting Day. The first day or two I just about slept around the clock - I was so tired 😟.  In a way Paul may have been glad to have had me out of his hair for a bit so to speak, but on the other hand - he had no wife! 😕

The rest of the week was spent getting much needed things done - new tyres for the car and getting the aircon sorted. It turned out that the aircon's condenser was leaking and had to be replaced so Paul's bank balance took a further hit.  We were 'itching' to go for a ride on the quadbike but put off fetching it from the garage because of the rain.  The quadbike had been sitting at a garage for the last 3 to 4 weeks, having a major service, while we were away.  Although we managed to fetch it, we didn't make use of it because of the unsettled weather conditions.

Tomorrow we are travelling to Berlin and attending a bodypainting day event on Saturday, which we are looking forward to.😊

Rijsbergen, Netherlands to Raglan, Wales

We slept in late this morning – we needed it - and woke up to another bright sunny day along with a heatwave. It wouldn't have been too bad if we were able to stay in front of a fan the whole day but unfortunately we were travelling in our personal sauna. And it was a good drive from Rijsbergen to the chunnel. Paul had booked a train and then later amended the booking so that we could catch a later train. We discovered that we were late for the chunnel check-in and had to wait an hour for the next available train. We spoke to someone at the information desk to see if we could get onto an earlier train as we felt that we had checked in on time. It turns out that Paul's amendment to the booking didn't work and we had still been booked on the earlier train – which we had to miss, and miss the next one that Paul had tried to book us on because it was full, and take the next available train.

We wondered how we would cope sitting in our personal sauna until it was time to drive onto the train but in the end we spent time in a duty-free shop (looking at books which we didn't get) at the chunnel terminal and didn't spend too much time in the hot car. Thank goodness for the airconditioning in the building otherwise we would have been well stewed by the time we left.

When we finally got on the train there was a delay by a good 20 minutes to half an hour due to a technical fault. Later when our tickets were checked, the train conductor went from vehicle to vehicle advising its occupants to complain if they wished – the fact that the air conditioning system was not working on the train and no water was handed out whilst we waited in the stuffy heat until the technical fault was fixed. We also think it was for the personnel's benefit because they have complained many times about the lack of airconditioning on the train and having to work in hot conditions but their head office don't listen to them but it may well be that conditions would improve if customers complained. The woman was pleasant enough and kept apologising but we were fine with the circumstances.

We finally arrived on English soil and headed up the motorway with the windows open, trying our best to keep cool. A couple of times I put my feet briefly out of the window to cool them down because the footwell became too hot.

We headed up to Bristol and ended up looking for a hotel or BnB to stay in overnight – it was getting late. We ended up staying in the The Beaufort Hotel in Raglan, rocking up at reception just as it was closing. Fortunately the bar was still open so Paul had 2 ice cold beers whilst I had something less alcoholic. It was good to cool down.

Unfortunately for us, the room we are staying overnight in is very warm despite having a window wide open. There is simply no breeze to cool the room down and no fans. 😓

I hope we can get some zzzzz!