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My
fantastic holidays I have always enjoyed travelling, but for the first year after my stroke we stayed in this country, going twice to the New Forest for short holidays. However after that we have travelled all over the place. In 2002 we have made the following trips (so far!): A New York 50th birthday
Colorado - a fantastic holiday
Another
time we went jet-skiing above the line of the trees. I fell off from
the jet-ski - Sam was driving, so from then on I rode behind the
instructor. It was brilliant. The
last evening we went on a gondola to halfway up the mountain and then we
changed to another gondola which took us to the top. There, in a
restaurant, we had three different types of fondue – a
starter, a main course and a dessert. It was very good indeed. We
were very sorry to see Amanda go back to Australia but we will see her
again, either here or in Australia. The
Orient Express In
April 2002 I organised (another!) surprise trip for Sam’s 50th
birthday. The Classic travel agency was very good but we, myself and my
mother, went in and booked it – I didn’t do it on the Internet! I’m
not good at the Internet at all but I’m working on it. Also I went in
because I wanted to talk to the woman instead of using the Internet. I’m pleased to be able to do things like this again
because after the stroke I was a bit afraid.
At
ten o’clock the next day we boarded the Orient Express and we stayed on
it until we arrived at Calais, France at 2pm the next day. From there we took a coach across the
tunnel where we boarded the British Pullman Express to London. It
was very exciting because we hadn’t been on a long train journey before
and we saw so much: Italy, Austria, Switzerland and France,
the towns as well as the countryside.
Later
this year we will be visiting Sweden, and in October Thailand! |
Sam had to go to
New York on business and we found out on the Friday before. He had to
leave on the Thursday night and on the Friday he was 50 and so with the
permission of Mr Horne of Cameron's prep school Cameron was allowed to go
as well as were Sam's parents (Sammy and Margaret) and I. On Friday he had
to work in the morning but he had the afternoon off as he did on Saturday
and Sunday. He worked on Monday again in the morning and in the afternoon
we flew home.
We did a lot
however. We went up the Empire State Building, we went to the Statue of
Liberty, we went on a boat trip around the harbour, and Sammy, Margaret,
Cameron and I went to Central Park and to a shopping mall down at the
waterfront. Cameron wanted to go to Times Square to the wrestling shop and
eat in the restaurant downstairs, so on Saturday at lunchtime we went.
Friday evening we went to a smart restaurant for a celebration - we had a
lovely meal with lots of wine and food including lobster, scallops, veal
etc.
We
went to Colorado in February - Sam, Cameron, Amanda, from Australia, and I
for Cameron’s half-term week. We went to Keystone in the mountains to
ski. Amanda and Cameron stayed at Keystone skiing, ski-boarding and
skating while Sam and I went to Breckonridge to see about handicapped
skiing as well as ordinary skiing. 
We
went to Venice for two days and then back on the Orient Express! We stayed
in the Danielli, a smart hotel, on the waterfront around the corner from
St Mark’s square but we went out a lot - to the Bridge of Sighs, Morano
(the glass-blowing place), St Mark’s square, the Rialto Bridge where there are lots
of gold and silver shops, the fish market, a gondola ride and lots of
motorboat rides including from the airport to the train station. We went out
in the evenings as well to eat – Italian places, but I don’t know the
names of them!
Most spectacular of all were the
Alps and the mountain lakes. In the evening we had a delicious dinner, with
everyone in formal evening dress. 
The
train itself is very grand and plush, exactly as it was in the 1930s. By
day your cabin was set up for sitting in, but then at night the steward
converts it into a comfortable twin-bunk bedroom.