“I’ve managed to book a week off around Easter,” husband announced last week.
“Great,” I replied, fingers poised over the keyboard ready to start browsing, “where do you fancy going?”
“Not sure, maybe somewhere warm for a change?”
“Ok, we’re talking end of March, beginning of April: too early for the Med. How about the Canaries?”
“We’ve done Tenerife a few times now. Last time it wasn’t that warm at Easter.”
“Maybe we were a bit unlucky. Lanzarote?”
“Lanzarote had a lot of dogs on the beaches…and it was windy.”
“Right, let’s not bother with the Canaries.”
“There are flights and hotels open in Cyprus?” I suggested.
“Hmm, Cyprus was great last time, but expensive with that hotel you booked. And it was nippy in April.”
“Egypt would be warm,” I offered.
“Everyone I know who’s been to Egypt comes back with diarrhoea,” replies Dr Dougie with conviction.
“Ok, Egypt’s off the list.”
“Actually I’m not sure I want to just lie on a beach anyway.”
“Ok. Let’s start again. Copenhagen was wonderful at Easter. Fancy a city break?”
“Yes, that’s a better idea.”
“Any criteria before I get started?”
“East Midlands or Stansted. Maybe Luton. Can’t be hassled travelling any further just for a short break.”
“I’ll search on Skyscanner, see where we can go.”
“Oh and I don’t want to have to get up at some ungodly hour.”
“Not at all picky are you! Skyscanner suggests we can go to Amsterdam, Budapest or Prague.”
“I think Rory would prefer going to Amsterdam with his mates in a year or two. The other two are possibilities.”
“I’ll check with my blogging friend, Libby. I know she’s been to Budapest and Prague”
Having emailed Libby, I am now armed with more information.
“Libby enjoyed both cities, her husband preferred Budapest.”
“Do you know, I’m wondering whether we should just stay in this country.”
I’m staying remarkably calm throughout this exchange. More internet browsing ensues. Eventually I think I’ve cracked it:
“I’ve always wanted to go to Dorset: Lyme Regis…Durdle Door…Lulworth Cove.”
“No, we can’t go there,” says Rory as he saunters into the room and sprawls on the sofa.
“Why not?” I whined, those images of Meryl Streep and her Scottish Widows cape beginning to fade.
“That’s where I’m going for our Geography field trip later in April. You hadn’t forgotten, had you?”
I had.
I was becoming a little frustrated by now, so wandered off, muttering to myself. I picked up the pile of Christmas cards which were still on the coffee table, waiting for me to transcribe change of addresses, emails etc into my address book. Out popped a letter from one of my oldest friends, Marion. Marion and I met on our first day working for John Lewis, in Oxford Street, in 1985. I read the words “Yet another year and we haven’t managed to tie up. Would love to catch up with you all.” Perfect. Why hadn’t we thought of this before? Marion and her husband Henry now run a shop/delicatessen which is part of a the Mains of Taymouth Estate in Kenmore, Perthshire: luxury self-catering cottages and apartments on the edge of Loch Tay. The chance to have a few days in Scotland, stay with Mum on the way there and back, and connect with an old friend I haven’t seen for about 8 years. They have two boys, both teenagers, and I know Rory will enjoy meeting them again.
“Scotland. Perthshire. Two-bedroomed first floor apartment. Three nights. Booked”
“That’ll do nicely,” said the boys.
We live those conversations daily…we just never settle on anywhere!
I could so easily have given up but we've been having similar discussions about summer holidays and getting nowhere so I was determined not to let this one drop.
Oh that sounds like the best of both worlds……fabulous idea. Rory going to Amsterdam in a few years 'with the lads' eh? looking forward to you blogging about that Trish!
Thanks so much for your advice, Libby. I will keep it in mind as I'm sure we'll be back to European city destinations fairly soon!
Can you imagine a guest post – Son's Gone To…!
I cannot believe you did not even consider Germany!! xx
I'm not sure Germany came up in this discussion but it's certainly a possibility for a longer break, most probably a summer trip. But then we argue about which bit to visit and whether to fly/drive or take our car all the way.
Oh lovely! I DO like something to look forward to!
Me too. Now I have this booked I can look at the photos online, have a nose at what people say on TripAdvisor about it, think of ideas for what to do each day… It won't be long now.
that's the constant muttered undertone in our house, too! although Himself is not longer allowed to start planning the next trip on the plane home from…
It's usually me who's planning before we get home. I don't know why I kept listening to Dougie, he's not normally that fussed and leaves the thinking to me!
Scotland???? Scotland??? Seriously Trish, I'll be passing you on the road south!
WE shall have to wave at Scotch Corner.
Perfick……and you can visit House of Bruar while you're here……you'll love it….lots of Scottish stuff!lol If you were nearer, we could meet-up but to get there, I have to negotiate a couple of particularly large roundabouts and a hefty iron bridge – I'm not very good at either, I'm afraid. Come to Edinburgh next time.x
How funny you should mention House of Bruar. Marion and Henry worked there for a time after they left John Lewis. We visited them once when we holidayed in Scotland many years ago. I still have a lime green anorak I bought from the House of Bruar.
Haven't been to Edinburgh for a while. Should really visit Dougie's cousin there sometime, she owns a flower shop, Simpsons. Have you heard of it?
I was about to say "come over here" but it's a bit far for a week and it will probably be cold.
BTW – I worked on Oxford Street from 1988-90.
If Chicago had been a cheap flight destination from East Midlands, we could have been on our way to see you!
Just missed you in London – I moved in 1988.
That's funny…and how lucky you are to have so many options that you could travel to on a whim! 🙂
I feel quite bad that we chucked destinations off the list at the drop of a hat.
Sounds like a great solution, and so handy. Fingers crossed the weather is kind! 🙂
The last time we visited our pals in Scotland the weather was miserable but somehow you're prepared for it. When it's dull in Tenerife then it's a disaster.
I love Scotland but haven't been for years. One of our most memorable hols was on the isle of Skye. And one of my Great Grannies came from Inverness. (not sure what that has to do with anything, just felt like mentioning it!)
We had a super holiday on the West coast before Rory was born – very happy memories. We visited more regularly then as Dougie's parents still lived in Edinburgh. They retired to live near us when Rory was born.
Dougie did some of his training in Elgin near Inverness. He was at Uni in Aberdeen.
That sounds like the perfect answer! 🙂
I'm quite excited now. It looks a gorgeous place and I can't believe I've left it this long to try it out.
And that is why you should never tidy up. If the Christmas cards hadn't been lying around then the idea may never have surfaced. I can add this to my 'reasons why I haven't tidied up!
Haha! Love your reasoning. I feel so much better for my slovenly ways now. Thank you!
Conversation sounds familiar. You could be one of Brit's top diplomats how you managed all that. I remember us all being so excited to go to some luxury island at Easter (just remembered now it was Mauritius) and just as we flew our I checked the temps…to find it wasn't even warm enough to get in the pool.
It's quite exhausting trying to whittle down a whole list of places, you do end up making some very sweeping judgements. Planning to go somewhere hot like Mauritius, only to find it's not, could easily happen. I don't mind the weather being iffy in Scotland because I don't expect it to be!
Just wanted to check – I don't know anything about Google plus – what is the advantage to being on it?
Jody I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm told it's the way forward, and it's easy enough to link a blogger blog to google plus, but it just seems another extra thing, like Facebook and Twitter, to share blog posts. I suppose the more people I link with on it, the more sense it will make. But at the moment I'm just tagging along.
I would pick Prague, I haven't been yet and it's high up my todo list.
Prague is still on my list too!
I was plumping for Egypt – until I read the part about the diarrhoea. And coordinating family travel is always tricky -we had to knock London somewhere down our 'travel to' list since Cullen was just there last May; now MrL is demanding Bali for Easter Break and claims he gets priority since it's his birthday. I think I like it better when I just make the plans and tell everyone where we're going.
Exactly! Once you start asking for opinions it causes all sorts of bother.
I can't tell you how many patients Dougie sees returning from Egypt with tummy troubles. It's put him off. I do tell him there must be patients who go there and are fine and therefore have no need to visit the doctor on their return – he sees only the ill so his view of the country is skewed.