Angela Cave

Travelling is never time wasted

A new Indian Journey

The start of any Indian holiday is always a bit breathless.  A long flight – always, in my case, sleepless as I can never join the happy dozers around me- body clock on 3 am and there we are whooshed out of Chennai airport and into the buzzing, humming throng of early morning, rush hour Chennai- but not as quickly as usual.

Did we take advantage of the new online very quick visa system, indeed we did.  However, sadly that did not translate to a super new quick system once landed. We felt rather pleased as the huge queue on our left snaked towards the visa control, only seven in our queue, hurrah.  Smugness rapidly turned to glumness as the head of the queue seemed rooted to the spot in front of the young man charged with approving our visas.  A lot of stamping was heard, not from impatient feet but from a variety of inky manually applied rubber stamps, and then, the necessity to have fingerprints taken.  This might have been ok if the fingerprint machine worked, it didn’t.  Didgets were pressed, rolled and cajoled to no avail and so our’ fast’ queue rapidly became the only queue as everyone else disappeared into the luggage hall and the airport became strangely quiet apart from the sound of stamping.  Eventually we were processed and wandered into baggage reclaim where our two lonely suitcases circled.

Our meeter and greeter from Kuoni was on hand to shepherd us and our luggage to our waiting car and driver for our two week stay.  Meeting the driver is always a key moment as we share a lot, and rely on them totally and we were charmed by Mithul who was warm and engaging from the start – and a really great driver.  His presence of mind and fortitude were tested hugely by a variety of challenges throughout our journey – and if I say that not once in those two weeks did he use the horn, if you know anything about Indian roads, that says it all!

Off to our first hotel the rather wonderful Vivanta by Taj Connemara – an historic hotel which we know and love.  No time for a quick kip – that just delays acclimatization – so off to the pool for some relaxation and, if I am honest, maybe just a five minute doze!

Top tips for new cruisers- cruising for beginners.

If you think that cruising is not for you, you may want to think again!  There are so many choices – from ships that offer a ‘country house afloat’ experience to ships with real grass on the putting green and a climbing wall!

A little investigation will reward you, so pop into your local travel agent, do some research and see just what cruising might have for you.  However be warned, once you have been you will be hooked, don’t say we didn’t warn you!

As with many things, size matters.  Royal Caribbean have an ever growing fleet of larger ships which offer a dazzling array of dining options, themed bars and amazing entertainment with stunning shows and even an ice theatre, so for families this is a great option and the ships are wonderfully designed so that you never feel that you are sharing with the full complement of passengers – a very clever feature indeed. www.royalcaribbean.co.uk

For a more low key, intimate feel with superb, award winning service Fred Olsen are hard to beat – in fact they have just winning accolades and as many of these are voted for by the public it gives you an indication of the high esteem in which they are held.  The ships really feel and look like ships and being smaller can dock where larger ships can’t – a big plus in a place such as St Petersburg where you sail past the bigger ships out at anchor and moor alongside which makes for very interesting people watching!  www.fredolsencruises.com

P & O www.pocruises.com  and Celebrity  www.celebritycruises.co.uk offer great destinations too and there are also low budget options with Thompson www.thomson.co.uk/cruise and even Easy Cruise  www.easycruise.com

River cruising is yet another option, smaller ships and quite a different experience but a fantastic choice for an unhurried and fascinating holiday  www.travelrivercruises.com.- and some of the regular smaller cruise ships such as MS Baemar from Olsen also venture up some of the rivers- am joining Braemar myself in September 2016 for some French river exploration!

Hurtigruten offer the chance to cruise the Norwegian fjords right up to the Arctic Circle on a working ship but in great comfort – a truly wonderful experience and one which I can wholeheartedly recommend having taken the round trip twice, once in stunning autumn sun and once in the chill of winter, both fabulous and yes I did see the Northern Lights on the winter trip – amazing! www.hurtigruten.co.uk

Now we hope you have booked – so here are a few tips which may further enhance your trip.

For those of you who, like me, could get seasick in a deep bath those nifty wristbands are a fabulous solution – I lent mine to a ships lecturer who was turning green on a lumpy Bay of Biscay crossing and made a friend for life!!

Shore excursions are optional and you may choose to do your own thing, which is great where you have the option and knowledge, but if you are new to a country or want to do something specific, trust me, shore tours are great – they have been there, done that and got the tee shirt and why would you want to haggle with a taxi driver or find your way to the museum with a map and a prayer!!  Shore tours offer some amazing options too, there are some really fun and funky trips as well as the more usual but nonetheless interesting city and countryside  tours – I have canoed up the Orinoco, quad biked to the Russian Border, taken a helicopter trip over Bergen and watched pink river dolphins as dawn came up over the Amazon.

So what are you waiting for, get out there, pack your glad rags and see you on board!

Caribbean cool

Caribbean cool

Kirkenes Norway shore tour

Kirkenes Norway shore tour

India disarms!

How I love India, however jaded, jet lagged and cynical you are, India will disarm,  occasionally alarm and, most certainly, charm. Having spent the best part of 20 hours travelling, the hairdryer heat of India was a momentary distraction as I settled into my cool, air con car and idly stared out of the window anticipating a quiet rest of the day acclimatising myself with some gentle unpacking and a cool drink in my hotel. Exactly as anticipated, a charming greeting, a necklace of fresh flowers and, at last, the cool quiet interior of my room- except, except for the addition of Mr Bo, my room butler. Bustling Mr Bo immediately took charge, swishing curtains back and forward, flushing loos to demonstrate their undoubted efficacy and, bewilderingly, supervising my unpacking! Each item was scrutinised, considered, viewed from a number of angles- and then moved from wherever I had put it with an accompanying mutter of ‘placement Madam, placement’  – and the addition of a small square of white linen on which to sit the offending item. Hairbrush was irrevocably separated from hairspray, toothpaste marooned in the middle of the coffee table in splendid isolation until at last, exhausted by our enforced collaboration, I went in search of supper. Climbing the stairs, slowly, my legs felt as if I was wearing diving weights, and there was the irrepressible, Mr Bo heading downwards. Rather ungratefully I experienced a moment of relief, least he wasn’t going to supervise my makeup removal. Arrived at room, opened door and headed straight to the bathroom for a quick shower- to be greeted by a freshly drawn bath, at the perfect temperature and crowned with a blanket of fresh rose petals floating in a fragrant kaleidoscope of reds and pinks. See what I mean, India gets you ever time, maximum respect Mr Bo.

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship

Fabulous Faroe Islands

‘In the middle of nowhere, in the middle of nowhere’ – that was the description of our location as we journeyed by coach from our floating home from home MS Braemar. I had been expecting spectacular scenery, tick, the usual comforts of our favourite ship, tick, and less than tropical weather, tick! However, our sail from Dover had been blessed with calm seas and a following wind so the two days spent reaching the Faroes had been a very pleasant mix of winding down after a hectic time at work, finding a quiet spot to catch up on reading – and enjoying seeing our hardworking yet ever cheerful friends among the crew.

We sailed in the capital of the Faroes, Torshavn, early in the morning and it was a delight, the little red and white houses, some of the older houses with turf roofs, and a busy harbour full of purpose and bustle. It was also really windy, my rather elegant oilcloth hat proved of no use whatsoever and was unceremoniously bundled into my rucksack -and lovely and well prepared husband provided a woolly alternative, might not look great but hey I had warm ears and my hair wasn’t whipping about like a demented medusa, what’s not to like!

We enjoyed our walk around this very small capital – it was a testimony to where it was, no room for fancy and decorative but the practical was executed in a way that rendered it full of integrity and in fact very pretty. It reminded me a bit of a 50’s children’s town toy, colourful square houses, green, green grass and people doing the everyday stuff, fisherman, dustmen, delivery vans all spic and span and purposeful, no dawdling about just getting on with it!
There were some lovely items on sale, wools and felt and glass and ceramics – not cheap but not tourist tat either and I am sure pairs of gloves and woolly hats found their way back on board! We found a warm and cosy coffee shop on the harbour. as the door opened a smell of coffee and fresh bread escaped so we found a corner, got our coffee and watched the Faroese world go by. Bread is obviously a really important staple and it looked delicious as we watched the locals tucking into rolls and jam for a mid morning snack – really good coffee too, and as many refills as you want for the cost of a cup – yeah, my kind of place.

The afternoon was spent touring on with a coach – I am not a huge fan of coach trips but when one has a day and want to see as much as possible it is best to go with the flow – and the experts! We were amazed by the isolation of some of the communities, life lived in a very different way from anything we know, totally self sufficient and pared back. Our delightful young guide was immensely amusing about his island life – comments such as ‘I haf no idea why they live here, must be near a pizzeria!!’

The rain rained and the wind blew but in a way it added to the mood of the places we visited, snug turf roofs, beds built into the walls by the fireplace for extra warmth, and the ability to make and use to its best what is at hand – skills we have lost. The church we visited had small model boats hanging from the roof, testament to parishioners who went out to fish, and didn’t come home and we went back to the ship with a great admiration for these islands and their people – and the guide did remind us that their team beat Greece at football!

Much more to tell and photos to share- been a while since the last blog, BT decided to cut us off for days and then I went on hols but back now and trying to get the photo thing sorted so they appear in nice little blocks, doh, sorry!

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