Another cruise

A surprise birthday for Tom - all he knew was that we (Tom and myself) were going on a cruise from Southampton in September!

I had been planning a surprise birthday for Tom (well, he was 60 earlier in the year). We (Chris, Diane and myself) had been plotting for months. We had had meetings in Manchester (Tom thought we were just having some girlie time together), numerous eMails / text messages etc. and the day had finally arrived. Amanda (my sister in law) collected us from Natland and we were on our way, only to be thwarted on the motorway - it was closed! We had arranged to meet at the station at 10:45. I was trying to text Chris to say we were running late when Tom kept telling me off for always being on my phone! We arrived at the station at 11:13 (our train was 11:27), fortunately for us, Amanda is a real whiz when it comes to finding her away around Manchester. I persuaded Tom to go and buy a paper (he wasn't too happy because he said we should be trying to get on the train), I tried to phone Chris, the call went through to voicemail, Tom came back, my phone rang, it was Chris, I couldn't answer because Tom was moaning about the phone again! He went to the loo, I tried Chris again, she said she was trying to get onto the train, we were cut off, Tom came back and spotted me on the phone, he started to moan "couldn't I just manage a morning without being on the phone", the phone went again, it was Chris - dare I answer it, I decided not to, I couldn't cope with all the moaning (have I mentioned Tom has turned into a grumpy old man!). We walked down the platform and I spotted both Chris and Diane boarding the train. The next sequence of events was very similar to a Benny Hill show (some of you may be old enough to remember his shows!), as we were getting on the train with our cases, they were trying to find space for their cases, without Tom knowing they were there. I nearly had an argument with a woman who was trying to nick my space in the luggage compartment (that's another story!). So Tom couldn't see them, Chris and Diane got off the train and then got back on it at the other entrance to the carriage. Tom went to find our seat, Chris and Diane made another quick exit off the train and back again to the entrance they had just come in from. FINALLY, Tom sat down, Chris tapped him on the shoulder and said "would it be OK if we joined you in the cruise"? What Tom said then is best left on the train, needless to say he was rather surprised as he thought they were both in Spain!

I think we were one of the youngest set of people on the cruise! It was very similar to being on a SAGA holiday (I assume as I have never been on one), there were blue rinses, blankets, zimmers, walking sticks and motorised scooters! We didn't book many 'trips' with the cruise operator, however we did make the mistake of booking one in Sardinia. We knew we were in trouble, when we were sat in the theatre waiting to get onto our coach, when we overheard a member of staff saying "orange 7 have walking difficulties!". We were part of the orange 7 group, what on earth had we let ourselves in for. All I will say is that the blue rinse, blankets, zimmers, walking sticks and motorised scooter were all on our coach ! Then, to make matters worse, we had to listen to our 'guide' waffling on about the malaria mosquito. Now, just so you don't feel as if you have missed out on anything, Sardinia has swamps (or did have), which encourages the malaria mosquito! Did you know that if you plant eucalyptus trees they soak up more water than any other tree? No neither did I. We do now. I guess the moral of the story is if you live in a swampy area and have lots of mosquitoes, then think about planting some eucalyptus trees !!!!

Gibraltar - duty free and Barbary Apes! We had been warned! We managed to negotiate a good price to be driven up the rock. We had been warned about the apes, they apparently steal anything, glasses, cameras, food etc. Our driver stopped the minibus and started to warn us about the apes, we wernt allowed to feed or touch them as they could be vicious (why then are we stopping>?!). We dared to get out, within 10 seconds Tom had been accosted by the biggest ape you had ever seen, it was on his back and wouldn't get off, the driver had to come to Tom's rescue (we certainly couldn't, because we couldn't stop laughing) and threatened it with his flip flops, (the ape, that is!). Next minute Chris had an ape attached to her head! Flip flop man to the rescue, again! The flip flop chap then suggested we could have our photos taken with a baby ape, (I thought we had just been told not to touch them!) no way was I going to have an ape sat on my shoulder. Diane, Chris and Tom all stood and posed. Needless to say, I ended up with two of the bloody things attached to my head (Tom said he had spotted them eyeing me up, but he thought it would be funny not to tell me!). They wouldn't get off my head, everyone was laughing (I supposed I was getting my comeuppance as I had been laughing at everyone else). Once again flip flop man came to the rescue with a white maltezer (I don't know if that was to tempt me or the apes - you know what I am like with chocolate) and one of his flip flops !!! We do have some excellent photos!! Gibralter can't be all bad, I did manage to negotiate a good price for a Kindle and a new camera!

We had a fabulous holiday and Tom really did enjoy his surprise holiday. We visited Rome, where we managed to get a taxi outside the port directly into Rome. Vince (our taxi driver) couldn't have got any nearer to the Vatican unless he had actually driven us into the place. We were given a guided tour all over Rome and then returned safely to our ship (all for 300 euros - a bargain). Cannes was a real surprise, we had gorgeous weather and what a beautiful clean resort. We took a mini-train where we spent an hour just meandering around the back streets, then back to all the shiny very expensive yachts 'on the front'! Florence, well, what can I say, it was beautiful, although we managed to get lost, yes 4 of us managed to get lost, you would have thought that one of us would have been able to map-read!! We eventually got back to our taxi about 20 minutes late, which was rather embarrassing as we had been telling our two fellow passengers how good we were with a map!

Thats it for 2011 holidays, however I will be back in 2012 as we have a few holidays booked!