HOLIDAY BLOGS

Going Home

2007-12-22T09:48:00.000-08:00

We are travelling back to Birmingham today. We gave in our ski suits and boots and had a quick breakfast of biscuits and crisps and went to the coach. We got to the airport which was packed with people going home and I saw the next lot of poor souls arriving for their holiday. Do they know what they are in for? Probably not but i hope it is better than what we had.
Kiearn isn't feeling well and managed the journey from Kittila airport to Birmingham and back to Plymouth. He fell asleep part of the way aI took him to the emergency surgery as his temprature had risen to 38.5.
One thing about this holiday is that we will remember it!
It has been a very interesting few days. Washing Machine and tumble dryer broke down, let down holiday but what the heck, I have had 3 wonderful days with the most amazing people in my life, my children. They make every day worth living.

Santa's post office

2007-12-21T09:06:00.000-08:00

Kieran had been very physically and emotionally abusive yesterday and I think he was tired so when the excursion to go to the Artic Circle celebration was arranged for early morning I left him sleeping. Siobhan and Rich were with him and were happy to sit with him when he woke up.

This was a total disappointment as I had got on the coach thinking we were going to celebrate and enjoy the culture of Finland and ended up at Santa's post office. I was cross about that as not one rep had mentioned that the intinary we were given by Cosmos had been changed. All anyone was ever told was look at the poster in the foyer of the hotel. I could not find a poster detailing any excursions and I made a point of looking for it. I could have cried as I knew Kieran especially was looking forward to this. It was a very busy place with coach loads of people all enjoying the sites and wanting to get into the buildings and see Santa's bedroom and the post office. When I got back and told Kieran he was really upset. The reps were not interested and didn't seem phased. They said there was nothing they could do.
I went to the artic circle celebration that was now in the afternoon and was taken to one of the highest points in Levi fell. The view was beautiful and well worth going up to the point.

When I got back, we got ready to go to the husky farm. We expected to see a real farm with all stages of dogs there and watch them training on how to pull the sledge and maybe see a few puppies. I have to say it was more like a doggie concentration camp. The dogs were chained to the ground and each had a box they could go in if they wanted shelter. It was so sad to see.

We got onto our sledge and Rich had voluteered to drive it. It was really good. I have never seen a dog run and poo at the same time until now. Rich did really well but I have to say that this did not warrant another £325 that Cosmos ask for. We were on the sledge for around 10 minutes and the best part of it had to be the exhillaration of the ride and the scenery it is a shame it was marred by the memory of the dog camp which was similar to battery hen farming.

In the evening we went out to a local pizza bar to get something to eat as the food was not to our expectations. We got back to the hotel were we were seated at a table with another couple who were also disappointed with the intinary and the way this excursion is run. It is so mismanaged. We were called in to see santa and all recieved a gift. One thing I did find disappointing is that I didn't get the chance to add a gift from santa that the children would like. This was supposed to be one of the things the company offers. Siobhan and I had candles, Kieran had an MP3 player and Rich had a magnetic game compendiam. I must say I will be glad to be going home as we have not had the experience we thought we would have.

My travel agent was very good and asked ( while I was in the office) about Kieran's Birthday, the meals and the gifts from Santa) this was added onto the booking form and not passed on to those concerned which amounted to disappointment and as for Cosmos, I will never travel with them again as I didn't like the way the dogs were treated and the way the reps help (or don't help) customers. I paid a lot of money for a once in a lifetime trip and it wasn't what I expected.

I have to say though that Finland is beautiful and I am so glad I made the journey. I don't know what we will be doing for 2008 but I will be contacting Cosmos and letting them know my feelings.

Excursions

2007-12-20T08:44:00.000-08:00

We got up early and had breakfast, got into our ski suits, mine is enormous....!

We went to our coach and travelled to the area where the reinderr sligh ride toboganning,husky ride and snow mobile ride would take place.

The reindeer sliegh ride was a little disappointing as it was a man in a penn pulling a reindeer with a small wooden sledge on the back. it lasted all of 3 minutes.

The tobogan ride was the children taking a toboggan and sliding down a small, snowy hill. Kieran and Rich did it, Siobhan and I watched. We then went on to do the snow mobile ride, apparently as I am the driver it had been agreed by Siobhan and Rich that I would drive it.

I was so nervous but willing to take on the challenge. It was ok bit very hard to control as the machine wanted to veer off of the track. We managed the short course and ade our way to the husky sliegh ride.

I was at the back then Rich and Siobhan and Kieran at the front getting the best view.

The dogs were ready to go and kept pulling at the sledge. when they were allowed to go they stopped barking. We decided to have an extra as one of the things we could do was visit a husky farm. This sounded good.

We got back to the hotel and toyed with the meals again. We went to the local supermarket and bought some things to eat. I have to say the Cosmos reps were most unhelpful.

Happy birthday Kieran, off we go

2007-12-19T08:04:00.000-08:00

Bleary eyed faces stirred and woke to the alarm call from the hotel and to greet Kieran who is 11 years old today. We had ordered breakfast to be delivered to the rooms. We got ourselves together and left the hotel and waited for the shuttle to take us to the airport. we arrived there and checked in and were greeted by Hal the husky and Rudi the reindeer. A very jolly lady with Christmas hats for the children was also there.

If this was what was going to happen with the whole holiday it will be wonderful but unfortunatley that was the end of the festivities.

We boarded the plane and there was no Christmas music, no happy stewards/stewardess's and just like any other flight. What a shame as the website for Cosmos promises the Lapland experience.

This didn't matter though as I was with my children and we were off to enjoy our break.

We landed at Kittila airport and the scenery was beutiful. We were met by Cosmos who directed us to a warehouse to get our ski suits and boots. I had already advised the company of this and didn't understand why we had to get measured up again.

Well...Siobhan was given a green ski suit that fitted her, Kieran got a smaller one, Rich was measured up for a man sized outfit and me, I got....a man sized one as well.

(Later when I put it on, it was HUGE! The crutch came down to my knees!)

We struggled to the coach with a white bin liner containing 4 pairs of ski boots and 4 ski suits. Rich and I just managed to carry it.

We then made our way to the hotel and this place is stunning.

As we entered Levi Fell we saw a large Christmas present and a Christmas tree which were monuments on a roundabout. This is a stunning looking place. It was covered in snow and children were out on toboggans enjoying the 3 foot of snow before they go back to the UK where 1/2 centimetre of snow causes disruption everywhere.

We got to the hotel and I asked about arrangements for Kieran's birthday as my travel agent, Jim, had asked Cosmos about it. (We had the flight details with the birthday and meal options mentioned on it).

Cosmos reps said they didn't know of anything and said maybe he could have happy birthday sang on the coach tomorrow. That was dissappointing but not to worry as I asked the hotel if they could make him a cake, which they did, The cake was wonderful although they had written "Brewer 11" on it instead of Kieran but that didn't matter as they were so helpful, more so that Cosmos reps.

The hotel room was something else. The children were pleased to see that there was a ladder leading up to the top floor, like an attic, and there were 3 beds up there, that was good as there would be no arguments as to who would sleep up there. I was left on my own at the bottom.

The TV in Finland is terrible. Daylight is around 3-4 hours a day and Kieran found this difficult to deal with. His behaviour changed dramatically. He was hard to deal with at times because of his autism. We tried to not let it spoil this trip.

We went out to eat at the restaraunt in the hotel and the food was a hunters paradise, all reindeer steaks and fish. As 3 of us are vegetarian, we found potatoes and salad, Kieran doesn't like either and I paid the hotel to make him a pizza which he loved.

We will be starting our excursions tomorrow, Kieran had a camera for his birthday and enjoyed taking pictures of everyone.

LAPLAND

2007-12-18T07:48:00.000-08:00

We will be travelling to Birmingham today as our flight leaves at 7:30am on 19th and we will have to get up very early to travel from Plymouth to Birmingham. We will be staying at the holiday inn, Birmingham, over night ans will leave at 5:00am to get the plane.
Kieran asked if he could perform his nativity play at school as it would be his last Christmas there, he will be moving to another school in September 2008.
We left Plymouth at 12:oopm and had a really good trip up. We used VIP travel, who are very professional.

http://www.vip-cars.org.uk/

We had something to eat at the hotel and and then settled down for the evening as we has to be up at 4:00am to get ready for the flight.

It's over!

2007-08-09T08:31:00.000-07:00

Well....that is it. As the sun sets on these holidays and I have to say they have both been fantastic. One has been to a country that is rich in everything and the other to a country not so well off. It was quite a contrast and I enjoyed every minute of it. I am glad I was able to enjoy them both to the full as who knows how long it will be before I am disabled by this disease. Theo behaved very well on both holidays. Thanx Theo!

I saw one little creature that definatley needs to be included in this blog. A dragon fly, he was on some flowers outside the cruise ship and stayed there for quite a while, long enough for me to take some shots of him.

Thankyou for taking the time to read my blogs and if there are any questions or just need to chat then, please contact me.
Debz
Phu_phita@hotmail.com

Back in the UK

2007-08-05T07:44:00.000-07:00

We arrived in the UK at 1:30am and waited an hour to collect our bags. We got a taxi to our hotel and when we arrived, we had a little hiccup with the hotel (we stayed in a lovely hotel called "waterhall") but that was soon sorted out and we slept until 8:30am, went for breakfast and then spent the day in Crawley. I have put in some pictures of the art work in the town centre as it is so lovely and a lot of cities could learn from this. We have a prawn on a stick on the Barbican and I would rather see the little bird mobile as it is beautiful when it catches the light.

We went to see Shrek 3rd which was brilliant and had a meal in a local pub. We went back to the "little foxes" hotel and chilled out as we were all tired and we had another journey tomorrow back to Plymouth.

Foot note : I do have to say a big thank you to Andy and his son, David for sorting out the hotel room for us when we came into the UK. They were so kind and helped us out when we needed it and also to Geraldine at little foxes. Thank you.

Link to waterhall

http://www.waterhallcountryhouse.co.uk/

Link to little foxes

http://www.littlefoxeshotel.co.uk/

Under the sea and home!

2007-08-04T07:27:00.000-07:00

We are ready to go home. First we have something we need to do. We are going on a yellow submarine and take a look at life beneath the sea. We were in the submarine for an hour. The water was so clear. We didn't see any turtles but we saw a lot of fish.

We went back to the hotel.

We made sure everything was packed and we were ready to go. We left for our flight at 6:30 as our plane was leaving at 10:00pm.

I can,t wait to get back and see Kieran and show him our pictures. I have really missed him.

Link to Waterworld

http://www.redseawaterworld.com/

Chill out day

2007-08-03T07:13:00.000-07:00

We didn't do much today. Rich stayed in the hotel room as he has been quite ill. We went to the beach for a little as it is so hot. We booked to go on a yellow submarine and have a look at the fish and the coral under the red sea. we were going to go today but we were too late with the booking so we will be going tomorrow.

We will concentrate on packing our bags and making sure we have everything.

Back to Taba

2007-08-02T06:55:00.000-07:00

We spent the whole day travelling today. We joined some other people on a coach who were also returning to Taba. We had to wait an hour for them to finish their tour before we could leave and then had a gruelling 5-6 hour journey. To entertain myself, I took pictures of the different turrain. It went from sand to rock to sand. We had many stops at the check points and had our passports checked. It is quite a shock to see so many guns around as it isn't something we see in the UK. Underneath the coach was also checked with a mirror, this was done on nearly every vehicle. We got to Taba around 6:00pm and checked into our rooms. We have 2 days of doing what we want to do and then we return to England. We didn't have much for lunch so we are looking forward to having an evening meal. Rich isn't feeling well and probably won't be eating.

Jacqui's birthday

2007-08-01T05:56:00.000-07:00

It is Jacqui's birthday today and we are going to the Cairo museum of antiquities. This museum has King Tutankhamen's treasures. It also has a throne which depicts his wife, Ankhesenpaaten, annointing him with perfumes. This throne was replicated on the Sonesta st George cruise liner and I was encouraged to sit in it by one of the waiters. Who am I to argue!

I have added a link below that will direct you to the museums website.

http://www.egyptianmuseum.gov.eg/

Mohammed Ali Mosque
We went to the citadel which was surronded by walls and housed the alibaster mosque of Mohammed Ali. It is very beautifullydecorated inside. Alink is below if you would like more information about the Mosque. http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/muhammadalimosque.htm

We then went to look at old Cairo which housed a beautiful little Synagog called Ben Ezra we only went into the door as a service was being performed. The smell of incense
was strong. We stayed long enough to see the children go into the service.

St Sergius Christian church
The best one I saw was the Church of St Sergious. This little church is said to have housed the holy family. It is so beautiful. It has an atmosphbere of peace and was a place I would liked to have stayed for longer as there was so much to see. Like most of the synagogs and churches, we couldn't take pictures inside.

We then went to the market place where Heba was proud of myhaggling skills and I must admit, I suprised myself. Cairo is not a place I would visit again as it is polluted and too busy. I never thought I would see any thing worse than London for driving but this place beats it. No one cares at all! They just go for it and have their hands on their horns the whole time.
We said goodbye to Heba as she had finished her tours with us and we headed back to our hotel to get ready for travelling back to the Marriot Red sea resort tomorrow.

Memphis, Egypt

2007-07-31T05:17:00.000-07:00

Today we met our new guide, she is called Heba (she is pictured with Siobhan and myself)
She showed us what is left of the City of Memphis. Memphis was Cairos first capital and it has many remarkable treasures. We saw the Colossus of Ramses II which is so enormous it was left where it was found and the building was erected around it. We also saw the Sphinx of Queen Hatshepsut and many more amazing artifacts.
We were beckoned by the security guards and asked if they could take our pictures. They are very corrupt and want money for doing it. I think we had about 4-5 around us and it was strange as they were more interested in us than any security problem that may arise. We took a couple of pics with them and gave them a tip. http://touregypt.net/memphis.htm

King Zosars step pyramid

We then went to Saqqara where King Zosers step pyramid was built to "last until the end of time". This was the first of the pyramids we would see.

http://interoz.com/egypt/stepyram.htm

Heba then took us to a carpet school. This is a school for children to make carpets and also learning to read and write. They attend the scholls during their school holidays. They will take the craft in to adult hood and some young women will weave carpets at home to make money for their families. This is something the western world would never do but it is the Egyptian culture and the children seemed happy enough doing it. The carpets are beautiful. I bought a bag and a small carpet to hang on my wall. One of the little girls invited me to try to weave and showed me how to do it. I was useless without her help! It would take me around a month to do 1 line and she was whizzing along knowing exactly what colour to add to from the maze of wool in front of her. There are no machines, it is all done manually. Egyptian carpets are expensive but, after seeing how much work goes into it, it is worth every penny. This was so humbling and made me realise how lucky my family and I.
http://www.galenfrysinger.com/cairo_carpets.htm

Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx

We then went onto the pyramids. It was hard to see them from Cairo inner city as the smog from the pollution is so thick. They should be on the sky line. We arrived at the base of to Pyramids and were in awe of them. 3 in a row and all so perfectly built. Siobhan, Richard, Seddon and I took the opportunity to enter one of them and we were taken back by how perfect the geometrics were. I found it a bit of a struggle to walk down ythen up a narrow ramp to the inner room but I did it and was glad I did. It was beautiful and we had only seen a small part of it. No cameras were allowed so I do not have any photos of the inside but I do have one of me on a camel with the pyramids in the background.

We then made our way to the Sphinx and was suprised to see that it was not as big as I expected it to be. We were harrassed by some sellers but most of them were very nice. The little girls I met gave me gifts of book marks which was very sweet as we had bought a little camel for Kieran. Just a quick note to put something to bed, THERE IS NO MACDONALDS BESIDE THE PYRAMIDS!!! It maybe close but it is not beside it, I did not see a McDonalds anywhere.

Valley of the Kings and Queens

2007-07-30T10:31:00.000-07:00

This is the ultimate part of an Egyptian tour. The valley of the Kings and Queens. It is the valley that is filled with tombs of Pharoes and Kings of the past. It is something to behold. We went into 3 tombs, Ramses ix, Ramses iv and Merenptah. We were not allowed to take any pictures inside the tombs but if the price was right, the people there would probably let you do what you want to do. I had one old guy take my hand and press it to the wall of King Ramsis tomb for luck and told me not to tell anyone. For an extra price we visited one chamber of King Tutankhamen. It was a beautifully painted room.

http://www.jimloy.com/egypt/kv.htm

We also visited 3 Queens tombs and saw the house that Howard Carter lived in when he discovered King Tutankhamen's tomb.

Unfortunatley my picture is not a good one as I had to take it while we were driving past it.
There is a link below with a short peice about Howard Carter.

http://griffith.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/gri/4hcart.html

After seeing the valleys hidden treasures,

Yasser took us to an Alibaster factory.

This is a factory that produces pots and statues from this almost indistructable rock. The men working there do all the work manually. They very kindly showed how a peice of Alibaster was transformed into something very beautiful.

Colossi of Memnon

Our next stop was the Colossi of Memnon. These huge statues once stood either side of the entrance to Amenhotep III's mortuary temple. They are something to behold. It is a shame they have not withstood the weather and test of time but are still spectacular to see. The size is very clear when you look at the people below.

http://www.akhet.co.uk/memnon.htm

The temple of Queen Hatshepsut

Queen Hatshepsut or Queen Hot Chicken Soup as Yasser called her was unique. She made herself King and is depicted with a beard. She sounds like a remarkable lady and was probably ahead of her time as she was living in a time when men ruled. She took charge of her own destiny. Siobhan is pictured with one of the many guides around the temple. Siobhan gave a tip to him for this picture which is customary everywhere in Egypt. Click on the link below to find out more about her.
http://www.bediz.com/hatshep/story.html

It was a very sad day as we had to say goodbye to Yasser for putting up with our westernised ways and for me at least attempting to speak the language but I did it so badly to the amusment of the Egyptian people. We will miss Yasser the most for his broken English, He had a unique way with the language and was often talking about the Egyptian god Hathor who had a "sun disk between 2 hornies". His English was far better than my Egyptian.

Also to all the staff on board the liner who had treated us so well and took care of us. We have 3 of us who are vegetarians and they obliged us with the most wonderful veggie meals we have had for a long time. Thank you Yasser and the crew on the Sonesta St George all of you have been wonderful.
We left the Sonesta St George cruise ship and headed for Luxor airport where we would fly to Cairo to stay in a third hotel, The Cairo Marriot. Tomorrow we would meet our second Egyptologist and many more

drivers and escorts from Peltours.

http://www.peltours.com/w.peltou rs.com/ (Hany with Me)

(Mohammed with Me)

(Mena and Me)

(Hany with Siobhan and Seddon)

Luxor....this is my favourite temple

2007-07-29T09:46:00.000-07:00

We sailed into Luxor and had lunch on board. We left the cruise liner after lunch and visited the East bank which contained Karnak and Luxor temples.

Karnak Temple

This temple is famous for featuring in a James Bond movie "The spy who loved me".

This is an amazing temple filled with a lot of history. We also went to the sound and light show but we were not impressed as it was too long and featured voices with lights. With the said, the lighting was good and it was great to see the temple in an atmospheric tone.

Luxor temple

I had been looking forward to seeing Luxor temple as I knew this was the roots of Tutankhamen and his wife, Ankhesenpaaten. It is one of the best temples to see as it has a lot of the monuments undamaged by time. It is stunningly beautiful.

The picture to the left are the statues of the young King, Tutankhamen and his Queen Ankhesenpaaten. It is very good condition considering the age of the temple.

We returned once again to the cruiser and this would be our last night aboard. Tomorrow we would be travelling to Ciaro and saying goodbye to Yasser.

Kitcheners Island and more!

2007-07-28T08:20:00.000-07:00

We had a good sleep on board the cruise liner and had an alarm call from Yasser as we were starting another day of site seeing. We sailed to Kitchener's island on a Felucca whaich is an Egytian ferry. The 2 men on the Felucca rowed us to the island. It looked like hard work as most people were going over by the motorised version. We had an idilic, relaxing ride.

Kitcheners island

This island was given to Lord Kitchener in recognition of his work in the Sudan. It is a beautiful place and has many Egyptian cats and a lot of very beautiful herbs and flowers. There is a link below with more informtion about Kitcheners island.

http://touregyp/t.net/kitchner.htm

We headed back to the hotel, this time in a motorised Felucca and had lunch on board the Sonesta St George 1.

Temple of Sobek and Haeroris Kom Ombo

After lunch we travelled by mini bus to Kom Ombo to visit our first temple. This one was shared by 2 gods. Yasser explained everything very well and was very informative. The temple has remnants of mummified crocodiles as they were once very popular there. The 2 gods that share it are Sobek, the crocodile god

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/sobek.htm

and Haeroris which is a form of Horus the god of the sky.

http://gei.aerobaticsweb.org/egypt_horus.html

The symbols carved in the monuments are wonderful. It is so clear and beautiful.

We returned to the cruise liner for dinner and sailed into Esna ready for another full day of history.

On the Nile

2007-07-27T06:32:00.000-07:00

Sonesta St George 1
We left the hotel and were transferred by air to Aswan for the cruise along the Nile. This cruiser, the Sonesta St George 1, is beautiful. The people are wonderful and accommodated us fully. This is the best of the best and it was fantastic.
Check it out for yourself.

http://www.sonesta.com/Nilecruises/index.cfm?fa=StGeorge.home

High Dam

Our first visit was the high dam

http://touregypt.net/highdam.htm

It has a monument thanking the Russian people for helping the Egyptians build it as they could not get any help from other countries. It is like all of Egypt, built with hard labour, sweat and muscle. It produces a lot of the electricity that is needed in Egypt.

Philae Temple

We then visited the Philae temple. This templed was moved from its original setting due to the high dam. It was reasembled and is a stunning peice of Egyptian architecture.

http://www.touregypt.net/Philae.htm

Granite Quarries
We also visited the granite quarries where the obelisk were made and Yasser explained the process of how they were carved and lifted upwards. This is one tremendous peice of workmanship and skill as the obelisks are huge, about 20-30 feet high with art work and hyroglyphics all over it. http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/minesandquarries1.htm

I hope these links are helpful. If you have any more information you would like to see here,please let me know.

Phu_phita@hotmail.com

And we're off

2007-07-26T06:08:00.000-07:00

We were so bleeried eyed this morning. Everyone managed to get up and made it to the coah to be transferred to the flight and then the next hotel. We were met by another Peltours rep who escorted us through the terminals of te airport and we were met in Luxor by a different one again with a people carrier all to ourselves. We were settled into our hotel and introduced to our Egyptologist who, again, we had all to ourselves. He was called Yasser and we nick named him Charlie as he called us his angels. He is pictured here with Rich.

The final judgement papyrus painting

Yasser took us to a papyrus museum so we could see how it was made. I bought one for myself called the final judgement. There is a link below that explains the papyrus painting.

http://www.egyptologyonline.com/book_of_the_dead.htm

Sonesta St George Hotel

We stayed in another 5 star hotel called the Sonesta St George

http://www.sonesta.com/luxor/

This hotel was beautifully decorated and had the most stunning chandelier in the foyer. The people were very polite and helpful and the rooms were lovely.

Last night in Taba

2007-07-25T05:54:00.000-07:00

This is our last night at the Marriot until 2nd August when we come back for 2 days before we go home. Time for Jacqz to do a bit more sunbathing and for us all to chill out. So far so good. We are going to a hotel tomorrow and the following day onto a cruise liner to start our tour of the Nile and its surroundings. I am so looking forward to the valley of the kings and queens.

We have to be up early as we will be leaving on a 4:00am bus to get our flight at 8:15am from Sharm-El-Sheikh airport to Luxor....AARRGGHHH.....

We had an early night as we would need to be up around 3:00pm to get ready and have all our bags packed.

My *$th Birthday

2007-07-24T05:34:00.000-07:00

It's that day again, with a difference....I AM IN EGYPT!!!!

I can't beleive it! My sister gave me a lovely dress and bracelet that I will be wearing tonight and my children gave me a photo album. We chilled all day again. I could get used to this...the waiters do everything. The custom in Egypt is that the men do everything for the women and when this was mentioned to my son he said " yeh, but I'm on holiday", no change there then : )

I had a birthday cake (above) from the hotel management which was very kind and we took it with us to the restaraunt.

The guys (Fun 2 c) played in the Regatta club tonight Jon anbd the girls weregreat as usual. They played some requests for us including purple haze by Jimi Hendrix, Lithium by Nirvana and Bryan Adams Summer of 69 and baby when your gone which I dueted with Jon on. I had a great day and am glad to be here but I do miss Kieran.

Flooding in the uk

2007-07-23T05:18:00.000-07:00

We have been watching the TV and seen that London is pretty badly flooded. It doesn't seem to be sinking in properly as we have heat of 140 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. I don't feel like I am on the same planet.

We had another chill out day and Jacqui and I tried out the local bar. There was a fantastic band in there called Fun2c. This band is made up of 2 beautiful girls, Rosalene and Mai and one of the best guitarists I have ever seen Jon. They are from the Philopines
and have real talent.
Mai is picured with my sister.

My son Richard also enjoyed the attention! Rosalene is wearing his hat.

Left: Jon doing his stuff...sorry about the picture quality.

First full day in Egypt

2007-07-22T05:36:00.000-07:00

We don't have anything planned for the next fews days as the tours don't start until 26th July when we are transferred to Sharm El Sheikh airport to fly to Luxor.

We are trying out the swimming pools and the eating areas. The food is certainly not 5* as it is luke warm and not that appetising. The Orange juice tastes like dilute juice and I have heard tht this is a powder. Saying that though the people are very friendly and helpful.

The picture, above right, is my son Richard with Seddon my daughters boyfriend, in the pool. The heat was very intense and everyone was careful, Especially Seddon as he has such fair skin.

As you can see, my sister enjoyed it also!

Destination Egypt!

2007-07-21T03:45:00.000-07:00

We repacked and are ready to go. We are off to Egypt and are looking forward to seeing the tombs and monuments of the ancient Egyptians. We left Gatwick for the flight to Egypt at around 11:55am after panicking that we would not make it through the security screening section as the was a massive queue. We arrived in Taba at around 17:55 as there is a 2 hour change with the time. Egypt is ahead of the UK. We were met at the airport by the PELTOURS rep who escorted us via coach to the Marriot hotel at Taba Heights. I have added a link below that will take you to their website.

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/tcpeg-taba-heights-marriott-beach-resort/sort/

When we left the plane the heat was intense, 140 degrees!

The surroundings of the hotel are beautiful. The picture above was the view from my room. The little pond at the bottom is the Red Sea. Usually there is a security guard who sits on a chair under the palm tree. It certainly looks like 5* accomodation but the food dictated otherwise. We have a few days of chilling out ahead of us before we start the tours. This place looks stunning, it is like a paradise.

FOOT NOTE :A little note about the airport staff, I thought they were mechanics as they wear blue overalls but they are infact toilet attendants and hand out paper for money. The toilets are disgusting and some didn't have any toilet paper in them. Make sure that you have some with you when visiting toilets in Egypt.

Off again

2007-07-20T03:30:00.000-07:00

We will be travelling to Egypt for this trip. This is a place I have always wanted to visit. It has a fantastic history and seeing all the tombs and temples up close will be so humbling I am sure.

We are leaving Plymouth at 4:00pm and stayiing over night in London before our flight tomorrow.
"I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it, I'm about to lose control and I think I like it".

Back home

2007-07-10T15:55:00.000-07:00

We arrived back home to Plymouth ad the first thing I did was hug Siobhan. She had been in my thoughts the whole time we were away. One of the first calls I got when we arrived home was to arrange my CT scan. Well....I had 2 weeks not thinking about Theo.

I am now looking forward to my next venture which is a trip to Egypt. We will be going for 2 weeks and will be seeing all the sights and history of Egypt. We will be going to the valley of the Kings and Queens, seeing the pyramids, going on a nile cruise and visiting the Egyptian museum and much more. I will be going with my daughter, Siobhan, my son, Richard, my siter, Jacqui and Siobhan's boyfriend James. I am looking forward to this holiday as much as the Florida trip. I wil miss my liitle bean though (Kieran my youngest son). I will be doing a blog when I came back.

Off to London

2007-07-09T15:41:00.000-07:00

We got the plane ok and travelled back to london. Florida will become a memory that will stay with us forever. I hope my boys remember every day with fondness as it has been a wonderful experience. We will stayed in London over night in a little hotel called "Little foxes". It is so tranquil and is the ideal place after a very long plane journey. We got into London about 7:55am and by the time we got all our stuff together is was aroung 9:00am when we got to the hotel. I am adding the link as I highly reccomend this little place. Even if it is for a weekend break, it is so pretty.

http://www.littlefoxeshotel.co.uk/

My Holiday was booked through Global Travel Choices. I have added the link also as Jim, the travel agent and a very new friend, has been wonderful in taking the holiday options from me and organising the whole thing. Thanks Jim... your a star.

http://www.globaltravelchoices.co.uk/

The last day

2007-07-08T15:30:00.000-07:00

This is it! it's all over, we are going home tomorrow and will be so sorry to leave this beautiful place behind. I want to pack it into my suitcase and take it with me. We have had an amazing time. The boys don't want to do anything today but I am not staying in . I went to down town Disney and had a look around. I would love to have seen more of the night life but aybe someday I can come back. We let the balloons go today as we would probably not be able to take them on the plane. ( the balloons were part of the Disney welcome hamper we recieved) We let them go in memory of my darling dad who, I'm sure, would have loved this place. All back to normal tomorrow. I haven't thought about Theo (my cancer) for 2 weeks. I think he has been away on his own holiday. It will be great to see Siobhan as I have missed her so much. The video diary went very well and hopefully some good stuff will come from the blogs.

Shark and Whale dive

2007-07-07T15:02:00.000-07:00

Rich and I have been looking forward to this day. I am going to play with the Beluga whales and Rich is going to dive in a cage to see the Sharks. Mine was first....I had to squeeze myself into a wet suit....I felt like I was reliving my days of the 80s when I squeezed into my drainpipe jeans!

Well...I didn't get my hour glass figure I wanted! The Whales were beautiful and so playful. I gave instructions to them and fed them fish when they did it. I smoothed their heads when told to do so. It was fantastic.

We had lunch in the restaurant beside the shark tank. Rich got ready for his dive. He travelled along the cage looking at the sharks. He really enjoyed it. We have treid to experience as much as possible while we are here and this was something he had always wanted to do. I am so glad Iwas there to watch him.

Epcot again!

2007-07-06T14:49:00.000-07:00

We are going to try Epcot again today as last time we got rained out. We were hoping the rain would keep away but it didn't. We ended up waiting in a car show room and letting the boys sit in them and pretend to drive. It took about an hour or more for the thunder and rain to stop.

We did the mission space ride again....BRILLIANT!!! I love it !

We ALL went to "Honey I shrunk the audience" as I had told the boys all about it and they wanted to see it. It was just as good the second time around. I wanted to take some firework footage but Kieran was getting worried. David took him back to the hotel and Rich decided to go with them. The fireworks were awesome. It really finishes off the day. I wanted to see some of the fireworks as I have heard how professional they are. They were fired off to Music which was combined with a water fountain show.....Beautiful.

Animal Kingdom

2007-07-05T14:32:00.000-07:00

What a fantastically beautiful place. It has a safari ride which emulates the African safari and is what I would imagine a safari to be. Rhinos, Crocodiles, Gisselles Elephants and Giraffes could all be seen roaming around and looked very happy in their surroundings. We went to the Tiger inclosure which was done out like an indian temple and the Tigers were stunning and looked natural and calm in their surroundings. They weren't pacing the floor like some animals do in parks.
There was a ride called Expidition Everest which Kieran really enjoyed and went on it twice.

I found the perfect pair of Mickey Mouse ears....Leopard print ones! I also found a dress to match them. We saw the parade go through the park..it is so well organised a beautifully done. Well done Disney, I don't think there is another park in the world that could match what they have done.

Epcot on my own

2007-07-04T14:02:00.000-07:00

David wasn't well last night. He asked for a doctor to look at his shoulders. He had 2nd degree burns on his shoulders and is a pain as Goofy burst the blisters and it got worse. The doctor packed the burns and told him to stay inside. The boys didn't want to go out and I was not going to waste a day in the hotel. Epcot was not far from the hotel and I decided that I would go out on my own as last time we went to Epcot, it rained. I had a great time....took lots of footage and walked around the world in 80 minutes.

Epcot has different countries all around the theme park, there is a miniture Eiffel tower in France and a miniture Castle like building in the UK. Harry Ramsdens fish and chips and a pub called the rose and crown. I went into a 3d cinema and watched "Honey I shrunk the audience". It was brilliant, a lot of people sreamed when mice leapt from a duplicating machine and the audience could feel something move around their feet......Fantastic!

I got back to the hotel later that day

and they all seem to have enjoyed themselves..David watched the boys at the swimming pool. I love Epcot and I really want to do the Mission space ride again. I hope we all come back before we go home and finish off the day we started.

Magic Kingdom

2007-07-03T07:02:00.000-07:00

This is one place I have been looking forward to. It is at the heart of Disney world. The weather seemed to be ok today. Not sure we will see the fireworks though as Kieran is petrified of them as he is the thunder.

There was so much to see here. The castle which was beautiful and had tiled mosaic pictures inside of it.

The boys went on their usual wet and windy ride. We saw 3d films and it was so busy here. The other parks didn't seem as packed as this on.

We had our guest assistance ticket which served us well as we didn't need to queue for over an hour to get on any of the ride.

Kennedy Space Centre

2007-07-02T06:52:00.000-07:00

We went to Kennedy space centre today. I wasn't sure what it was going to be like as the last few days had been full of fun and rides and I think this may be a little more educational.

I wasn't dissappointed as it was a bit of a let down.

It is a great place but if your not into space shuttles and planets, there isn't a lot to grab the imagination.

The space simulater ride was good but I thought Epcot definatley had the edge with its mission space ride.

It rained again and thundered. Kieran had brought his cats with him just in case it thundered and rained and he was right to do so. We didn't get to see the Saturn shuttle as the thunder had started and Kieran was not going to move.

Epcot

2007-07-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

We went to Epcot today. There was a water taxi near our hotel and it took us across to Epcot.

The weather started of very lovely. 90 degrees and sunny, little did we know it would rain and thunder in the afternoon. We went to the Mission space ride which was literally out of this world. I was so nervous about going on it but I need not have worried. I wanted to go on again!

The ride simulated the shuttle take off and the shuddering and G force that takes place. It was brilliant.
We went to the first of the many countries which were set out starting with the English part.. Ironically we had just entered the rose and crown pub and ordered lunch when the heavens opened. Kieran is not good with thunder at the best of times and was frightened and had to wait before we could leave as he was panicking. It carried on raining for about an hour or more. In the end we managed to persuade him that his 2 cats and a shower proof cape would help him.
He called the cats Patch and Ti after our cats at home and this seemed to do the trick. Unfortunatley the weather brought an end to our day and we headed back to the hotel.

Sea world

2007-06-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

We went to Seaworld today and were unsure if we could top the previous day as it had been so wonderful. We didn't have to worry it was brilliant.

Kieran enjoyed feeding the dolphins but was a little unsure about petting them.

We managed to get a special pass because I took my DLA form with me. They were also very generous and we didn't have to queue up for rides. The boys had a wonderful day. Richard has always loved sharks and was quite taken with the shark tanks and tropical fish bar in the restraunt.

We also found out that we could reserve a place in the shark cage as Rich would love that and as his 18th birthday is coming up, it would be a good present.

We also saw beluga whales and watched as some people played with them. I decided to give myself an early birthday present also and reserved a place to see them on the same day as Richard. This is a gorgeous place, Rich and I will be returning later in the week. This day turned out to be as good as the day before. There is so much to do in Florida and we are running out of days to do them in.

VIP tour Disney's MGM studios

2007-06-29T09:15:00.000-07:00

We had breakfast with some of the Disney characters today which was fun.

Not so much fun for David though as He had blisters on his shoulders and Goofy slapped him and burst some of them ...ouch !

We had a VIP tour guide called Chase who was wonderful. We also had a camera crew with us, they were filming for ITV westcountry news and they stayed with us for most of the day.

We had a meal in "the brown derby" which is a restaraunt in the theme park..the meal was lovely.

bought a few gifts for Siobhan as she was not with us on this trip.

Kieran met his heroes, McQueen and Mater from Cars, the Disney motion picture.

We also recieved a special pass from Disney via Chase to enable us to get on the rides quicker.

We would like to thank Disney and everyone involved in creating this wonderful day.

It's a day I will never forget. Thank you.

Chilling out

2007-06-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

I sayed at the hotel today and took advantage of the spa in the hotel. I had a massage and a mancure. It was lovely. Richard stayed with me and helped with the laundry.

Kieran and David went out to wet and wild. David forgot to apply suncream and came back with sunburnt shoulders, luckily enough, Kieran had suncream on and didn't burn.

We had a lovely suprise, Disney sent us a hamper with loads of goodies and balloons to welcome us to the resort.

We will be having a VIP tour tomorrow and this has made things even more special,

Universal studios

2007-06-27T08:44:00.000-07:00

We went to Universal studios and saw Shrek 4D. The funniest bits were when donkey sneezed and we felt chilled moisture droplets on our skin and the spiders crawled away and it felt like they were in the auditorium. Screams were audible from every corner of the place. This was a fantastic show. Jimmy Neutron was another good ride, we were flying in our space ship and followed Jimmy into fairy world and saw Cosmo and Wanda who are characters from Nicktoons "fairly odd parents" and Kieran says they were being silly. Sponge bob showed as well with Patrick in tow and they were jellyfishing. All this was going on while we travelled in a space ship. Brilliant ride.

We also rode on Men in black and ET ride. Excellent rides.

I stepped out of going on the mummy returns ride as it was too much for Kieran.

We had a great day.

Universals Island of adventure

2007-06-26T08:21:00.000-07:00

Our first journey away from the hotel was the island of adventure which had a lot of rides for the boys, David and I to go on.

There was a 3D ride called "the amazing adventures of Spiderman". What a ride! it was so realistic, I went on it 3 times which is good for me. The ride is a simulator and all Spiderman's enemies attack the car we are in and we felt every thud, explosion and shudder that is produced with an impact. Hydroman appeared twice and pounded down his fist on the car. We felt the thud and the spray of water from his fist.

Kieran enjoyed the cat in the hat ride.

We also went on a ride called Ripsaw falls. Richard assured me I wouldn't get wet...he lied and Kieran didn't let him forget it. I got saturated, I was soaked right through.

Kieran liked the part where a train was on the way towards us and we went down the slide into water. With the weather being so hot, it didn't take long to dry off.

Leaving on a jet plane !

2007-06-25T07:49:00.000-07:00

We are all ready to go. We had a good nights sleep in the hotel and are all excited about leaving for Florida. hopefully it will be a holiday to remember.

We got the flight at 6:55am UK time. We had champagne to welcome us and the cabin staff were wonderful.

Orlando Airport

We got stuck at customs for about 5 hours. We were given the wrong visa forms on the plane. We wanted the green visa form for non US residents and were given white forms for US residents returning. It took a while to fill them all out but eventually we got through customs and 2 luggage belts later we were out side the airport looking at a massive white limo.

I didn't realise that when I booked a car to take us to the hotel, it would be a limo.

We got to the hotel about 9:45pm Orlando time which would be around 2.45pm UK time.

We definatley got there in style! The weather was beautiful and the hotel was something to behold, it was stunning. The view above right is the view from our balcony. This is the Swan hotel and was a breathtaking sight.

The boys wanted to take advantage of one of the hotels 5 swimming pools. It is so hot here, about 90 and the pool was lovely.

Packed and ready to go

2007-06-24T07:43:00.000-07:00

We are all packed and ready to go off on our much anticipated holiday. We are going to Disney world in Florida.

This has been something I have always wanted to do with the children and now it is happening.

I am so nervous about travelling, not the flying but the passports and check in.

We are travelling to London today and staying in a hotel near Gatwick and tomorrow we will be flying out.

I cant wait!