Dusting off the cobwebs
Well - thanks to Martha. In her defence though Maddy, (see comment) the Dyson tools are missing because she 'hoovered' the stairs when she was home because I didn't feel like doing it. She and Matt cleaned the kitchen too. I need her to come back and do it again now!
Just as an aside - isn't it funny that we say 'hoovered' even though that is the brand name and not 'dysoned' - is it possible to hoover the carpet with a dyson? Hey ho.
So!!!
The giveaway I promised a million years ago.
All the last posts have been about my travels with my 20 year old son round Europe earlier this year. It was an amazing trip and I want to encourage all you waverers who might be thinking of doing something similar. Check out the Eurail people because you really can get a number of amazing deals. John and I got the Global Pass. if you are under 26 it is a really good deal, and if you are an old crusty like me it is still much m-u-c-h cheaper than getting individual tickets.
With a Global Pass the list of countries you can visit is really long. The way it works is simplicity itself - you write the date you are travelling on your ticket and get on any train you like (in a participating country.) It really is as simple as that. You can get on and off trains all day long if you like on the same day. For sleepers, the 'day' starts at 7.00 pm the night before!
BUT - bear in mind a few very important tips!
- Check check and check again to see if you need to book a train journey. This may be the case for a long journey or one where you are travelling between countries - crossing borders I mean.
- Some journeys require not just booking, but an extra booking charge - I was amazed by how much extra we had to pay to travel from Barcelona to Milan. (Then the guy told me how much the ticket should have been - it was more than the Global Pass - so i was happy!) Sleepers always carry a surcharge - but you won't have to pay for accommodation that night - so it works out ok.
- Keep your Ticket as safe as your passport - you are stuffed without it! Obviously.
- Spontaneity is great, but so is forward planning - I think we should have gone to Budapest instead of Salzburg. But we were faced with a five minute decision - and my weariness won over my spirit of adventure. So a bit of forward planning eh?
- Go East - you won't regret it!
- Take FAR LESS than you think you need - I thought I had been ruthless, but I ended up carting things that I only wore once or twice and things like books which were really heavy. You can always find the English shelves in bookshops and pay a bit for the luxury of only having one book with you - when it is finished, leave it on a cafe table - we loved doing this. And lucky for us - we both really enjoyed the same books!
- A pack of cards is a useful thing - we played on trains all the time - when I won - I must have cheated - when John won - it was because of his skill... interesting that!
- Keep a journal - and take a roll of double sided sticky tape - really useful if - like me you can't throw anything away!
- At the front of the journal I made a chart with the dates and what number day we were on, this was the most useful thing when planning where to go next.

- Going with someone you love is a really good idea - John was the perfect travelling companion - we had a really good time.

- Mobile phone calls cost a fortune - whether you are making them or receiving them - I got into a real mess when Geoff had to try and top my phone up so I could receive important information about one of our journeys (Split and Hvar) on reflection , I think we should have got an international SIM card.
- I took hundreds of photographs - but I think I should have taken 5 times as many! Having a spare charged up battery in your bag when the other one runs out in the Alhambra gives you a very smug feeling. So the battery charger and a plug adapter were essential .
- That will do!
- Though - here's another - I took knitting - but hardly did a stitch - i thought I would knit on all the trains we were going to be on - but in the event I just didn't - your choice - but that was another bit of excess baggage!
Now - if you need any further encouragement, leave a comment saying which of these you would like and i will send them - and if there are more takers than two, I'll do a wee draw - lets say by midnight (GMT) on May 20th - because that is my brother's birthday. (good enough reason for me)
A word about each of these - Europe By Eurail was great but a bit frustrating - for some reason it does not cover all the countries that the Global pass does - so for some places we were on our own - though this was always fine - I can honestly say we never had any bother finding the trains to where we wanted to go. It is a bit heavy though.
The phrase book we didn't actually take - so this is in pristine condition - we got by. In Slovenia they spoke better English than I do. In other places - we managed by being friendly - it always works.
So - I will post them to anywhere in the world.
Then this part of my blog posting will be OVER and I will tell you about Art Tour, my wonderful hens, my mum's quilt show, the garden, my knitting, and probably ... the fairy capes!
Thanks for reading - thanks for leaving comments if you do, thanks for sticking with me while I was too long over doing all of this -
Thanks




























































































