Two weeks out of Cyprus

 Earlier in the year, we had talked about the possibility of flying to the UK early in April, so that we could see Richard's mother on her birthday. She's living in a very nice care home now, in Sussex and they make quite a thing of birthdays. 

We then pondered going first to Carlisle, to spend Easter with our older son and his family. We checked with them that they weren't going anywhere else, and we started idly looking for flights.

Then I spotted flights from Larnaka to Glasgow on March 31st at just 27 pounds per person. It was with EasyJet: a budget airline that we have used many times, and which we generally like.  That price doesn't include any luggage, of course, other than an under-seat bag. We tend to upgrade to what they call 'easy boarding' which gives us an overhead carry-on as well, but even so - the price was excellent. 

We know from experience that prices vary all the time, and can be extremely high over the Easter period, so we booked at once. Then we filled in the details - a rental car, accommodation when not staying with the family etc - and finally booked a flight back on April 15th. 

We were all packed and ready at least half an hour before our friend Sheila came to pick us up to take us to the airport on March 31st. 

The flight wasn't until after 9.30pm, which is when I usually like to be getting ready for bed.  So I was delighted to realise that it was an almost-empty flight. This meant that once we had taken off, we could have three seats each, and lie down to rest. I didn't get a lot of sleep, but I think at least a couple of hours.  So when we arrived at Glasgow in the early hours, I wasn't as tired as I might have been.

Out of Cyprus in August

At the start of July, I wrote a longish post about preparing for summer in Cyprus. And that's the routine I followed, more-or-less, during July. I finished our 2024 photobook and had it sent to our elder son's home. I went out for a short walk early most mornings, around the block or to the local shop. And we ate different combinations of salad dishes as our main meal most days. 

We celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary in a fairly low-key way. It was too hot and humid to eat out anywhere, so we ordered food from our favourite Lebanese restaurant. It's theoretically a meze for two. It lasted us nearly three days.

On July 28th we finished all our leftovers, cleaned the fridge, packed our cases... and in the evening, our friend Sheila drove us to the airport for a break in the UK.

Travelling to the UK from Cyprus (continued)

I wrote in my last blog post about our complicated preparations for travelling to the UK this summer, with about ten days to do considerably more than is normally needed. Not that the pre-pandemic 'normal' applies any more. But as I said at the end of that post, it wasn’t until we boarded our mainly empty flight, late on a Thursday evening just over a month ago, that I finally started to allow myself to believe that we might see our family again. 

I'm very thankful to live in an age of modern technology. Whatsapp, Facebook and Zoom have enabled us to stay in touch, to share photos, to see each other’s faces and hear each other’s voices. My brother instituted a fortnightly (now monthly) family Zoom and it’s been one of the highlights of the pandemic, as far as I’m concerned. Just half an hour or so catching up with news and trivia has made all the difference to my feeling of being isolated from my relatives for so long. 

But it’s not the same as being together, and I hadn’t realised how much I had missed it until we were, at last, en route, and a little frisson of excitement started to rise in my chest. I was tired - our flight wasn’t until after my usual bedtime - and quite stressed; it had been a hectic week making all the arrangements necessary. I dozed once or twice, but can never really sleep on flights. 

We arrived on time, and found a taxi to take us to the nearby Travelodge. Previous experiences with waiting for the shuttle bus had persuaded us that it was worth paying a few extra pounds for the comfort and convenience of a taxi when arriving at 1.30am. 

Gatwick Travelodge is a familiar place, but we had never before booked two nights there. This was necessary for various reasons, including the lateness of our flight. We had decided to have a day to ourselves - to pick up our rental car about noon on the Friday, so we could take it easy after the substantial Travelodge ‘all you can eat’ breakfast.

Collecting the car was not stress-free. This is an example of British understatement. We had opted for a different rental company this time, as our usual preferred one was charging extortionate amounts. But we should have known that it wouldn’t be easy. We did eventually get the car (which was fine, thankfully) but we left feeling irritated, having had to leave a very large deposit with the company, who did not trust our excess insurance. It was not a good start to our break.

When we arrived at the nearby shopping centre where we had decided to eat lunch and make some necessary purchases, I felt oddly nervous on seeing so many people milling about, many of them not wearing masks, and with little observance of any social distancing. We had N95 masks, and while I prefer the more comfortable cloth ones, we wore the more protective ones as we had no wish to acquire the virus and potentially pass it on to our vulnerable relatives.

There are always a few things we buy in the UK, that we can’t easily find in Cyprus. Solid deodorant, for instance. It's quite pricey, but each one lasts over a year, and can be taken in hand luggage on a flight. I usually buy a selection of inexpensive birthday cards, too. Richard was looking for a new backpack, I was looking for some new sandals. And he always likes browsing shopping centres. 

I had got beyond exhaustion into a kind of dazed auto-pilot, but we found lunch, and looked in shops, and then returned to the Travelodge. We had talked about finding a nice restaurant for our evening meal, but were so tired we decided to eat there and were pleasantly surprised at the choice and the quality, even if we had to wait rather longer than we would have liked for the meal to arrive.

On Saturday we spent a very pleasant day with Richard's mother. Then to a nearby AirBnB, where the hostess had kindly agreed to take in our 'Day Two' PCR test packs, which had to be used on Sunday morning. That was a bit stressful - the instructions were not entirely clear, so we hoped we had taken suitable samples. Then, as we had not ordered courier-collection ones, we had to find a place to post them. We tracked down a priority mailbox, made a note of the tracking numbers, and photographed them going into the letter box - since it was Sunday, none of the Post Offices were open.*

We had lunch at a service station en route to our next destination, in the Midlands, which we reached at about 5pm. It was very good to see my father again after such a long time. 

We stayed at a nearby Travelodge, and then spent the whole of Monday with my father and stepmother. One of my brothers came for the day, with his wife and her granddaughter, and there was also a brief visit from my nephew and his wife. It was a lovely family day and I tried to appreciate every moment. 

On Tuesday we drove north again, and spent a couple of hours with my other brother and his wife. Then on to our last destination, the one I was looking forward to most: a whole week with our sons, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Our younger son was staying with the family, having moved out of his last flat in the south. So we had all our descendants together, for the first time in eighteen months. 

Spending time with the grandchildren was wonderful - we went with them to nearby parks, read them books, played board games, and chatted in ways that just aren’t possible when video chatting. We saw places they had talked about, so we can imagine them for ourselves.

We relished every moment. Children change so rapidly during these early years, and they have such different, delightful personalities. 

Richard had been talking about sailing with them, on our video calls, and both children were excited at the idea. Since we have no idea when they might manage to get to Cyprus, he decided to rent a boat for an afternoon at one of the lakes in the Lake District. We had lunch there together, then three of us went to find hot drinks and some peace to read, while Richard took our older son and grandchildren out for a couple of hours. The boat was was apparently very like the boats in the book 'Swallows and Amazons', which the children have enjoyed listening to more than once. 

Since there wasn't room for all of us, we stayed for the week at a nearby AirBnB. It was a lovely place to stay, with a huge attic room, beautifully decorated with an ensuite bathroom, and some of the friendliest hosts we have met. 

Knowing how short the time was, I tried to make the most of every minute.  I knew I would find it difficult to leave, and would have liked to stay longer. But we had decided that I would return to Cyprus with Richard rather than rely on public transport to get to the airport, or to make further visits to other relatives. Twelve days in the UK felt like a huge adventure after such a lengthy period when travel was impossible.  It was never going to be long enough for me anyway. I think, in the circumstances, it was both the right time to go, and the right length of time to stay.  

To return to Cyprus from the UK, we didn't need to do any tests, as we're fully vaccinated. But we had to apply for and fill in the Cyprus Flight Pass, and download the EU Digital Covid Certificate. Richard had his computer with him, so did everything on that, as well as checking in at the airport. So with the boarding pass and the other two certificates, we each had three QR codes on our phones, to be scanned and validated before flying. 

On August 25th we drove to Newcastle Airport. Returning the rental car was, thankfully, straightforward, and the lady who dealt with us was a great deal more helpful and friendly than the guys at Gatwick. The airport is quite small, and many of the shops and eateries are still closed. but we found somewhere to eat lunch and bought sandwiches for the return flight. 

While it always takes me several days to feel myself again after a flight to Cyprus - and it was still hot and humid on our return - I felt refreshed and rejuvenated. And it's so lovely to have seen where our older son and his family are now living; last time we visited them, they were in Scotland. 

I have no idea when we will return to the UK, or see any of the family again, but it was a wonderful trip, appreciated all the more after the difficulties encountered in getting there. I'm hugely thankful to all who hosted us, and for every second we were able to spend with our loved ones. 

*PS It took three days for our PCR tests to reach the destination and another day to be processed. We did eventually receive notification that they were negative, but by that time we had visited four different households (six if we include the AirBnBs), and been out and about in the community.  We can see the point of tests before flying, but when we no longer needed to isolate, a 'Day Two' test, with results on about Day Six, doesn't seem to have any useful purpose. 

Preparing to Travel from Cyprus to the UK

We usually - in the pre-pandemic days - travelled to the UK at least once per year, sometimes twice. All our immediate family members live in England now, scattered around the country. Last year we had to cancel the week we had booked with our sons and grandchildren in Scotland, as travel was impossible. I kept hoping to be able to visit, all through the Autumn of 2020, but it wasn't to be. Our younger son didn't even manage to come out to Cyprus for Christmas, for the first time in over a decade. 

I say this not as a complaint, but to give some context. Many are much worse off than we are from the family visit point of view; some, sadly, have lost loved ones during the past eighteen months. 

Cyprus has done fairly well as far as vaccination rate goes, though it was awhile before we were eligible to be jabbed. I had my first Astra-Zeneca dose in May, the second in July. Back in May when I booked it, I was somehow hoping that it might be possible to travel in August, and that being fully vaccinated might help. 

By the end of June, I was beginning to think we might have to wait another year without seeing any of the family, and that vaccination status was irrelevant. But in early July, realising that my passport would expire in November, I applied for a new one anyway. I knew that if any chance of travelling did come up, I would need at least six months' worth of validity... so I thought I might as well apply rather than potentially leaving it to the last moment if a travel opportunity came up.  

The site for applying online was surprisingly easy to navigate, clear in its instructions, and even allowed a digital photo taken on a phone. I had to send my old passport to the UK via recorded delivery, but was pleasantly surprised that, rather than it taking 11 weeks, as the site suggested, I had my new passport back before the end of July.

But the Covid case numbers in Cyprus were very high, and it was in 'Amber' status as far as the UK went. That meant that in addition to having to do a pre-flight antigen test, visitors to the UK had to book two PCR tests after arrival, and self-isolate for ten days. An annoyance for Brits returning home, but really not an option for tourists, nor for visiting the family, unless the family lives somewhere isolated already and one is not trying to see a large number of different people.

Then it was announced that, from August 2nd, fully vaccinated tourists from 'Amber' countries would NOT need to isolate on arrival in the UK.  My heart beat a little faster. Maybe we would be able to see the family after all..

We started putting out feelers, wondering whether to fly at the end of the first week of August, Richard staying for ten days or so, while I might stay longer.  But nothing quite came together, and I never felt 'right' about it. 

Then, gradually, another plan evolved. I wouldn't stay longer than Richard- I wasn't entirely happy about using public transport - and we would play to stay at Travelodges or AirBnBs instead of with family members. That would reduce contact time at night and breakfast and would be less hassle for those we wanted to see.

This time, our suggested dates worked for everyone. Flight prices were surprisingly low (although car rental wasn't!) and we were able to find suitable accommodation in all our planned locations. 

Of course it's not that simple, this year. We had to book pre-flight tests. The UK government website makes it clear that they don't have to be PCR tests, they can be the rapid antigen tests, but must have paperwork saying they meet certain criteria. We also had to book PCR tests - just one each - to use on Day Two in the UK.  That was quite complicated to arrange, and a tad pricey, but the AirBnB host for that day was happy to receive them on our behalf. 

On August 11th, the day before we were due to fly, we went out to get our antigen tests. The first two pharmacies we went to were closed for most of August. We looked at a suitable lab, but there was a long queue in the hot sun. We eventually found a pharmacy with rapid tests being done outside, with no queue. The people involved in the testing looked at our printed list of UK government requirements, and said, 'Yes, yes, we do that'.  

'Is it okay for flights to the UK?' we asked. 

'Yes, no problem,' they said. We would have a printed form, they told us, and a text message on our phones. Eight euros each, which seemed reasonable. And while we were there, we bought some high quality masks to wear on the flights.

It was the first time either of us had had a Covid test, and it felt like a slight tickle in the nose. I was surprised they got anything at all. The results (negative, thankfully) appeared in about two minutes. Then we were given our forms, which looked very scrappy, and were mostly in Greek:

We were assured that everything was fine, that there were no other forms or paperwork they could do, and that the government would send us a text message with more information. 

A while later we did indeed receive text messages from the government, confirming that we were negative. This would be fine if we were just wanting a 'safe pass' to go to a big shop or church service. But since we're both fully vaccinated, we don't need those.  I didn't feel entirely happy about it, but hoped it would be all right. 

After that, we had to fill in the UK passenger locator forms, which must be done online. I don't know what people do if they don't have access to a computer.  It was reasonably straightforward, with options to check and edit every field if necessary, but a lot of information was required. We printed them out... more paperwork. 

In the evening we discussed our pharmacy antigen tests with a friend, who pointed out that the pharmacy hadn't even put our dates of birth on - and that's a requirement. Nor did they have any phone number to contact them. Perhaps, our friend suggested, we could go back and ask them to add this information, and give us a contact card. 

But on Friday morning, the day we were due to fly, we decided that, rather than get into a possible argument/debate with the pharmacy, and - more importantly - risk being turned away from the flight in the evening, we would go to a lab, even if we did need to queue for half an hour or more. Thankfully we didn't need to wait more than a few minutes, and it all seemed much more professional. And they only cost five euros each. 

Best of all, they gave us printed forms that included all the necessary information (I have, of course, cropped parts with personal details from this photo - but it shows how much more professional it looks than the first one)

Having said that, there was a slight glitch when Richard saw that they had spelled his name wrong, and they initially gave me someone else's form. So they had to re-check and find mine, and edit his name to print another. But at last we had what, we hoped, we needed. 

When we got back, we sorted out clothes to take, and worked out that we wouldn't need to book an extra bag, as Richard had feared. So we wondered if we would be able to check in online. Most people we know of who have flown in the past couple of months have said it was impossible - the airport staff want to check every document. It's not unreasonable, since they have to check certificates etc, and apparently doesn't take much longer.

But he tried anyway, and to our surprise we succeeded in checking in. Boarding cards appeared, not to be printed but for our phones. Just as well I have a smartphone now. We were only flying with hand luggage - on a slightly upgraded kind of ticket that allows two full-size cabin bags, and two smaller under-seat ones. 

So the boarding pass was paper-free, but the amount of paperwork we had to print was considerable: 

That included information about all the locations where we were staying, the rapid test results, details of the ordered PCR tests, car rental... and details of the flights too, although we knew we probably wouldn't need those. 

When we arrived at the airport, we went straight through security with our phone boarding passes, and the various checks - passport, luggage scans etc - were much quicker than usual. The airport looked almost empty - we had never seen it so quiet. We had quite a wait, and were wondering if we'd have to show the antigen test paperwork to anyone - but we did, at the boarding gate. A man there asked to see our vaccination certificates, and also the negative test results. Thankfully everything was fine, and we finally boarded the emptiest flight I can remember.

At last, I allowed myself to hope that we really would soon be seeing our family!

Out of Cyprus Summer 2018: Taking our time returning to Europe

After saying goodbye to our family, and walking away from the Logos Hope in Panama for the last time, we returned to the guest house where we had been staying. The journey was straightforward this time, and we had a good night's sleep despite feeling a bit sad to be leaving.

The following morning dawned bright and sunny. We didn't need to leave until about 10.30am, so we wandered around the outside of the place we had been staying. It's not somewhere we would want to take children; there's a small swimming pool beside the main house (where the owner lives) and although the three guard dogs are very friendly to family and visitors, there were a lot of dog messes in the grass and elsewhere in the grounds. It made us realise just how well-trained the dogs must have been in the Coronado villa, as I don't think we saw any dog mess at all on the property!

Anyway, the second guest house, much smaller, was great for the two of us and although we didn't visit the beach - at the end of the garden! - I did take some photos of what looked like a pleasant spot to sit and listen to the waves:

It was another striking contrast to the noise, pollution and general claustrophobic feeling of Panama City, just half an hour's drive away.

We said goodbye to our hostess and handed back the keys, then set off down what looked like a winding UK countryside road:

There were some very run-down village buildings, and a police check which we had become so used to that I got Richard's passport and driving license ready before we approached each time. But there was also a lot of greenery.

Then we had to drive over the bridge to Panama City:

By late morning the traffic was running at a reasonable speed, and it only took us about forty minutes to get to the airport. We returned the rental car and checked in... the queues were long but we had plenty of time.

When we looked at return flights to the UK, it became clear that we needed to do the transatlantic flight from Mexico City, where we flew to before joining the ship a month earlier. While, within Europe, it's often cheaper to get two single flights rather than a return, this does not seem to be the case for flying to the American continents. Thus we needed to find 'local' flights from Panama to Mexico City. Finding direct flights proved impossible, so it was clear we would have to stop in another country en route.

That being the case, Richard decided that we might as well spend a whole day in another country, as it's unlikely we'll ever travel in that area again. El Salvador was a possibility but I wasn't keen on going there; happily a better value route was via Costa Rica, a country which our close friends like very much. We would only be in the capital, San Jose, but it seemed like a good plan. We booked into a hotel, and also booked a morning's outing...

Landing in San Jose was a bit depressing; it was pouring with rain, and the hotel shuttle driver, who should have been there to meet us, did not appear. We landed at something like 3.30pm and it should have been a twenty minute drive to the hotel (according to their literature). Instead, when Richard managed to get through to the hotel on the phone, we were told that the driver was stuck in traffic and would be at least another half hour... so they recommended we get a taxi.

We refused all offers of private taxis, as recommended, and opted for a bright orange airport one which was metered. Traffic was appalling; the driver said it was always bad, and it took us nearly an hour and a half to get to the hotel!  With pouring rain and grey skies, it wasn't a great introduction to Costa Rica. Nor were we happy when a hotel porter opened the door of our taxi and grabbed our bags and insisted on taking them up to our room, clearly needing to be tipped. The whole tipping culture of the Americas feels not just alien to us, but condescending and somewhat awkward.

The hotel was adequate - not great, but spacious, and reasonably comfortable. There was a restaurant downstairs, and since we didn't want to venture out in the dark (it was still raining) we ate in the hotel and slept well. The following morning, breakfast was provided free, with lots of choice. The sun was shining, and the shuttle to our morning tour arrived promptly, and was very friendly.

Richard had booked us on a coffee plantation visit - a touristy one which was fairly highly reviewed online; while a bit expensive, it included two shuttle drives (at least half an hour each way) and a good lunch, so we thought it not bad value at all.

We arrived half an hour early, thanks to light traffic, and were able to wander around the visitor area of the plantation, and look in the gift shop, and use the facilities.  There were three or four other English-speaking people on the tour, and probably fifteen or so Spanish-speaking people; we were told that some of them were a group of teachers.

The tour started with a brief explanation of how coffee spread around the world:

The tour was conducted by a young and outgoing woman called Maria, who did most of the talking, switching between Spanish and English. It was like a stand-up comedy act in places, with a young man (whom she said was her cousin, although I didn't grasp his name) as the foil. There was lots of banter and teasing, a few innuendos, and a great deal of discussion of coffee-growing in Costa Rica.

There were times when the Spanish contingent interrupted, and asked more questions, and evidently made jokes and we seemed to miss quite a bit; Maria did her best to translate, but sometimes just shrugged and said it was impossible. However, on the whole it was very well done, and they kept us interested. I was surprised to learn that coffee has to be grown under controlled conditions, ideally in a mountainous climate on volcanic soil, and that it takes three years of growth and care before the first beans appear.

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We were also somewhat startled to learn that Costa Rica has over 100 volcanoes, six of which are still active.

We were shown the beans growing on bushes - still green here as it's not the harvesting season:

Then they produced a basket and showed us how the harvesting happens. At least, they were going to, when one of the teachers grabbed the basket and strapped it around herself, and mimed coffee picking - she said she used to work in the plantations herself.

Maria explained that coffee pickers are paid $6 for a full basket, which seemed like very little pay for what is clearly quite hard work. But they shrugged, and said it was fair; their company deals directly with farmers and treats the workers well. Someone asked how much a typical picker earns in a day, and they really couldn't answer the question. They said it depends on how many baskets they pick - and that it could be anything from two to about ten.  They said that too often people get distracted by chatting with other workers - that it's a great atmosphere, and very friendly. We had the impression that they employed a lot of casual workers - perhaps students - and that it's considered a good job.

We were surprised to spot a squirrel, with an orange body and grey tail:

After the main part of the tour - with various locations to taste different kinds of coffee - we were conducted to a small cinema area, where we saw films showing how coffee beans are processed - it's quite complex, with a variety of different machines, with fine tuning leading to different blends.

The lunch was buffet-style with plenty of choice - including coffee afterwards! - and then we had a few minutes in the gift shop before our shuttle driver arrived to return us to our hotel. And although the journey was free, we knew we had to tip the driver.

We could perhaps have fitted another local tour into our schedule, but we were quite tired. The tour had been interesting, but it was loud at times, and we had felt a bit overwhelmed by bright colours everywhere. So we and decided to stay in for a couple of hours, and read.  In the evening we went out for a walk, in the hope of finding somewhere suitable to eat.

The town was a bit spread out, and we rejected most of what we saw, either as dubious quality, or additive-laden fast food. But eventually we found quite a nice sandwich place that provided something similar to Sub sandwiches, only rather more nicely presented. As with Panama, the restaurant was noisy, not just with people talking but with loud music, and traffic outside.  By the time we'd walked back to the hotel we were both feeling exhausted after being bombarded with bright lights and continual noise.

In the morning the hotel shuttle arrived fairly promptly; we had allowed a couple of hours to get to the airport, so, naturally, the traffic was light and we got there in just over twenty minutes. The check-in process was pretty quick and we had lunch at the airport, in a food court - the food was good, but the place we sat was so noisy we could hardly hear ourselves speak.

I took a photo as the aeroplane was taxiing along the runway:

In the evening we arrived at Mexico City.  We were both exhausted, and quite hungry; we were booked into the smaller airport hotel, and had a light meal there before collapsing into a huge and very comfortable bed.

In the morning the sky was clear, and this was the view from our window:

We had a whole day - we had to check in for our flight about 8.30pm - and could see that there was some kind of metro system that might avoid traffic. So we looked online for recommendations about what to do in Mexico City in our circumstances. We didn't want to go far, or do anything too tiring... and were quite relieved when we realised that the almost unanimous recommendation was NOT to go into the city, but to explore the airport mall!

Breakfast was not included in the price of the hotel but there was a buffet breakfast available so we decided we might as well eat there, although the cost seemed rather high. So it was quite a nice surprise when our bill was for about half what we had expected. We queried it, thinking we'd been given the wrong bill, and the waiter told us that we had only had a 'small' breakfast, rather than the 'full' one. We thought we'd had quite a bit...

Mid-morning we walked through the hotel and over the bridge to the airport, which does indeed have a huge shopping mall - bigger than anything we've seen in any other airport on the 'public' side (ie before checking in). There weren't just gift shops and restaurants (although there were many of them) but also a lot of specialist shops selling clothes, shoes, bags... and even the first real local bookshop we had seen on our travels:

It was huge. And although everything was in Spanish, we went inside, and I felt so happy to be amongst books, browsing different categories. This wasn't just books to grab for a flight, but high quality ones in as many categories as one would find in a bookshop elsewhere.

But it was really the only oasis in a huge, bright and noisy environment. Richard loves shopping malls, and I don't mind spending a short time browsing shops, but every one played loud music, and there were flashing lights and more bright colours, and we both felt quite drained.

There's an entire food court upstairs, not offering local food but various chains - including the first Starbucks we had seen since leaving Europe, although we didn't buy anything there. We chose a sandwich shop that had a few inside seats, as neither of us could bear the thought of eating at the extremely noisy tables of the food court.

We were supposed to check out from our hotel by 2.00pm but had been told that, if we wished, we could pay an extra half-day's rate and check out in the evening. By this stage we were so overwhelmed with lights and sound that we thought it well-worth doing.  However when Richard went to book another half day, he was told that if he signed up to be a hotel associate - at no cost - we could not only check out as late as 6.00pm, we could get a 10% discount on all food at the hotel. The only disadvantage was that he'll be sent promotional emails - but it seemed well worth doing. We wondered why we were not invited to do this when we arrived, as we could have saved 10% on our evening meal and breakfast... but weren't going to quibble.

So we relaxed, and read in our room until 6.00pm, then checked out and left our cases with the concierge (free, but yet another requirement for a tip) and ate at the hotel restaurant because we couldn't face going back to the airport mall. And yes, they gave us a 10% discount because we had a hotel card!

Then we checked in at the airport, which all went smoothly; the only incident was when I opened the bottle of water I had bought, only to discover - when it sprayed itself over me, my seat, the floor and some of Richard - that it was fizzy rather than still!

It was 11.15pm when we took off and I was extremely tired; it was another 'dreamliner' aeroplane and there was an empty seat next to Richard so he moved up and I was able to curl up and sleep... albeit waking frequently to move as it wasn't all that comfortable.

We arrived at Heathrow at 4pm UK time the following day, picked up a rental car, and drove to Tim's flat in Surrey. The sun was shining and it was warmer than Mexico had been.  We drove down to see Richard's mother in Sussex on Tuesday, then Richard returned to Cyprus on Wednesday. I'm spending more time here with Tim and then my father, seeing various other people... and return in just over a week.

It's been a good summer, wonderful to see the family, and we all enjoyed the break in Coronado very much. Tim's suitcase eventually arrived on the Logos Hope about two hours before he left, so he was able to distribute the various gifts in it, and it arrived safely back in Gatwick when he returned to the UK about ten hours before we did. 

Out of Cyprus Summer 2018: the first three (plus) days

I had intended to write more often. So much for good intentions. June began with a week's visit from some very longstanding friends, and continued with the usual round of increased temperatures, decreased energy (on my part), games with friends and cake. In July we had a replacement outside shed built, Richard launched his new (to him) Kingfisher yacht Liza, and we wound down the supplies in our fridge in preparation for a month outside Cyprus.

Last year our son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren set off for a couple of years on the floating bookstore ship Logos Hope. Daniel works in the A/V department. In the first six months or so they travelled around several of the Caribbean islands, doing some aid work after the devastating hurricanes of last summer, and also selling inexpensive books, giving presentations and seminars, and offering whatever else was needed by local congregations.

In the past three months they have been in Mexico; tomorrow the ship sets off for Panama, and will - in a few days - go along the Panama Canal. While we're told this is not, in fact, a very interesting experience it still appeals to Richard so we planned our trip to include this. We couldn't leave before July 18th as he was providing PA for a concert and the 19th was our 38th anniversary. We really didn't want to go through the US to get here; it requires a temporary visa (Estia) even to go thrugh aiports, and any time he goes to or through the US, he gets stopped for 'random' extra searches.

Happily, we found reasonable value flights to Mexico City direct from Heathrow on the evening of the 20th, so we planned the trip around that. To get to London we booked an early flight via Blue Air which went to Luton; that gave us plenty of time to travel across London via National Express.

So our day started rather early, even for me, on the 20th. All the packing was complete, so we set alarms for 4.30am. Our friend Sheila collected us at 5am and we checked in at the airport immediately. I had packed some fruit for breakfast, and we bought coffee at one of the restaurants inside the security area.  I decided to take photos at every stage of the journey...

Blue Air, despite being a budget airline, offers free food and drinks on most of its flights. I knew from experience that I would not be able to eat most of the food as it contains nitrites and other nasties which would give me a migraine, so we had brought some cereal bars with us. But while Richard ate both our frankfurter-type sausages, and baked beans, and a croissant and roll and crackers, the only thing I could eat was the bread roll and some cream cheese.  Even the jam said it contained a migraine-including additive.

But I enjoyed the rest of the fruit I had packed and a couple of cereal bars. And the free fruit juice on the plane was nice.

We arrived at Luton four and a half hours after taking off; I had never been there before, and Richard only once. Our National Express coach was booked for 11.20am but we had paid an extra ten pounds for the ability to get on any available coach going to Heathrow for up to twelve hours before or after. The coach station was outside, and rather confusing, but a helpful young man in uniform knew all the schedule and gates, and told us the next coach to Heathrow was at 10.50.

It wasn't a pleasant wait. Several people were smoking, including some with large metal tube things - we assume electronic cigarettes, although I had thought they were made to look like ordinary ones. I gather this is not always the case. I had also thought they were supposed to produce less smoke, making them safer for those around.  This certainly wasn't the case. I watched at least three people take puffs on these large tubular things, and there was a huge amount of smoke. Perhaps it's not as dangerous as that from ordinary cigarettes, but it was just as disgusting, and there was considerably more of it.

We almost didn't see our coach when it arrived, as it wasn't at either of the stops where it should have been, but the next one along. We heard a 'final call' for Heathrow, so presented our tickets to the driver. He took one look, then pointed out that we had booked for half an hour later.  I explained that we had paid extra to take an earlier or later coach, and he said yes, but we still had to make the change at the ticket office. Otherwise, as he pointed out, we could have printed off dozens of these tickets and distributed them to other people, who could just get on any coach. Unlikely, but I suppose possible.

However the wording on the back made no mention of having to re-book or officially change the time, and a coach official standing next to the driver said she thought we were correct; so she made a note of our details and said she would change it herself.

What struck me, as we travelled through London suburbs, was the dryness of the grass everywhere. We knew it had been warmer than usual in the UK, with very little rain. But I was shocked to see grass like this everywhere:

Our flight was from Terminal Five, but the coach didn't stop there. The driver told us to get off at the main bus station at Heathrow, and then get the free train to our terminal.  We eventually succeeded in doing this - it wasn't a regular monorail type train, as we are more used to at Gatwick, but an Underground service.

Our son Tim had arranged to meet us for a few hours in Heathrow airport, and it was wonderful to see him waiting for us when we finally emerged from the train at Terminal Five. It was about 12.30 UK time but we were very hungry, as Cyprus is two hours ahead; so we found what seemed to be the only reasonable restaurant, and had a leisurely lunch together.

In the afternoon Richard and Tim went out of the airport for a couple of hours while I stayed with the luggage and read. I was very tired by this stage and had no wish to go anywhere! So tired, in fact, that I didn't take any photos then, nor of our rather high-class flight to Mexico City, in a 'dreamliner' aeroplane. Even with economy seats, it was more comfortable and quieter than most flights, with pleasanter lighting. Two meals were provided, plus extra water as needed and - unusually for me - I managed to sleep for at least four or five hours, albeit not very deeply.

We arrived in Mexico City at 3am local time, and had a few hours to wait there. Our luggage had been checked right through to our final destination, thanks to a very efficient and helpful Mexico Air staff member at Heathrow. So we sat and drank coffee, and then ate some fruit - two days in a row being hobbit-like with second breakfasts, but then our days were rather longer than usual. We exchanged fifty euros, too, and received over 1100 Mexican pesos in return.

Our second flight, which departed at 7.50, was only about an hour and a half. But even that provided a drink and a cereal bar, and a daytime view which looked much better in reality than the photo:

Merida is quite a small airport, and we didn't have to go through any security as it had been an internal flight. As we walked to the exit, we were startled to see what looked like huge lizards; apparently iguanas:

We had been told that we could either get a taxi from Merida to Progreso, costing about 420-450 pesos, or an Uber, costing around 300-400.  Since 400 pesos is less than 20 euros, and the journey is 50 minutes, we had decided to opt for a taxi. We emerged from the airport to be greeted with several drivers offering services... we asked one what the cost to Progreso would be and he said, '650'. We shook our heads and asked someone else. He told us it would be 750.

We went to ask at the official airport taxi booth, and they said it would be 950! So we went back into the airport to try to call a Uber. We were quoted just under 400 and three of them were heading our way. Unfortunately, the first one simply drove past despite our waving at him. The second one slowed down, but then the airport taxi drivers started shouting at him. He eventually explained to us - in pretty good English- that Ubers were not allowed in the taxi area, or anywhere else in the airport.  So we would have to make our way out, which was quite some way. We had luggage, and the weather was hot and humid.

While Richard was speaking to the Uber driver, the first taxi driver who had approached us came up to me, and asked what we had expected to pay. I said, '400-450' with a shrug. 'Oh,' he said, 'My friend will drive you for 450'. I was a bit dubious that this might be an unofficial taxi (we had been warned only to get official ones) but they took us to the official taxi booth, and we paid in advance there, and were driven in one of the white airport taxis. The driver was good and the journey was under an hour.

Our daughter-in-law and grandchildren were waiting for us by the entrance to the port; the final journey was 6km along  a narrow road in the crew bus to the ship.  There were people queuing for the book fair and shows on the Logos Hope, but we were able to go in by a staff entrance. David, who is four, was very excited to see us, and showed us our cabin on Deck Two. Then it was time for lunch - usually ship lunch is bread, cheese or processed meats, and lots of salad. David didn't stop talking...

Our granddaughter Esther, who is nineteen months old, wasn't too sure about us. She was only nine months old when we last saw her, so has changed from a just-crawling baby to a lively, quite feisty toddler. She wasn't feeling too well either, as she had to have a yellow fever vaccination a couple of days earlier, and was quite clingy with her parents.

However David more than made up for her reticence with lots of cuddles, assurances that he loved us very much, and was looking forward to seeing us, and then - as always - we read him lots of books in the family's cabin (rather a nice 'suite' with two bedrooms and a bathroom).

After lunch Esther went for a nap, and Richard and I did too, setting an alarm for two hours. It was so nice to lie down after around 36 hours of travelling and we fell asleep almost immediately.

Esther was miserable after her nap, so we all went to the 'fun deck', a place with toys and swings; she's very fond of swinging, and spent most of her time there, growing more cheerful as she swung.

Jet lag when flying West isn't supposed to be too much of a problem - and on the whole I've found that to be true. We were very tired, but that was due to lack of sleep, as much as anything. Richard fell asleep at 8pm that night, and I managed to stay awake until 9am.  I then woke briefly a couple of times in the night, eventually getting up shortly before 6am. Richard slept until 7.30.

We're now settle in, less tired, and loving spending time with the family.

End of the Christmas season, and an empty nest once more

When Tim decided, a few months ago, that he would come to Cyprus for nearly four weeks over Christmas and the New Year, we all hoped he would have a good break after working and studying hard all term. We had hoped that Daniel and Becky would also be joining us. However, as I wrote in a post about families, Dan and Becky went early to the Logos Hope and spent Christmas in Hong Kong, and Tim had a nasty accident shortly before the end of November, leaving him almost immobile for a while and in a lot of pain.

When he arrived, mid-December, he was limping and using a crutch, although happily he was able to discard that fairly soon. And while there was a lot of rain - not the warm sunshine Tim had hoped for - his first ten days were, I think, relaxing. We certainly enjoyed having him here, and I very much appreciated him on Christmas Eve when Richard and I were trying to recover from a nasty tummy bug. 

Then Tim himself caught the bug, rather badly, and was out of action for a couple of days. We all went down with nasty coughs and colds, perhaps due to having lowered resistance, and Tim managed to fight off an ear infection... I was pleased to get out for a walk, the Saturday after Christmas, though still coughing... and we all decided we were well enough to go to our friends' house for home-made pizza and some board games on New Year's Eve: 

This shows Tim learning the game 'Torres' which is about some castle ruins being restored. He did pretty well and liked it very much. 

At the other end of the table some serious Rummikub was happening: 

However, by about 10.15pm Richard, Tim and I were all tired, and decided that we would not make the effort to stay awake until midnight. So we came back home and I think I was asleep by about 10.30, sleeping right through the fireworks which unfortunately kept Tim awake for most of the night. 

We didn't do anything much on New Year's Day, which was fine... we kept coughing and feeling weak, although we did manage to entertain two couples for an evening meal on the Thursday evening. It was very enjoyable, but, alas, that night Tim managed to develop a second bout of the tummy bug. Not fun.  Still, he bounced back rather more quickly, if gingerly, only to manage to jab his finger quite badly while helping Richard with some electronics.  

While all feeling rather tired and convalescent, we nevertheless managed to play several games of Agricola, the new game Tim bought us, and which we all like very much indeed: 

On Saturday Richard and Tim went to see the first part of The Hobbit at the cinema; I was feeling pretty wiped out, so I took the Christmas decorations down and then spent an hour reading in bed before falling asleep about 9.30pm and sleeping for ten hours straight!

Sunday was busy, Monday was mostly quiet. Yesterday was the last day of Tim's holiday. He had planned to go out for a walk but the sky was grey and the temperatures dropping, so instead he stayed in and read Dr Seuss's famous story about racism to my small friends, here for their usual Tuesday morning:

Their sister Katie, meanwhile, who has become a fluent and avid reader in the past year, was devouring some of my old Enid Blyton books: 

In the afternoon we played one more Agricola game - now using the cards which make it all the more complicated, but more interesting too - and in the evening a round of Cities and Knights. It was a strange game, which Tim suddenly realised that he had won, quite resoundingly: 

So he finished his packing, and we all set alarms on our phones, because he had to be at the airport for about 6.30am. Not early for me, but when I set my alarm I tend to wake a few times in the night - so I'm remarkably tired today. 

Tim had checked in online, so we didn't have long together at the airport. We sat down for a few minutes after he had dropped off his luggage - a seasoned traveller now, he managed to pack exactly 19.8kg by good judgement - and looked at these slightly incongruous balls hanging from the ceiling. Presumably Christmas decorations which somebody had forgotten to take down .Or maybe they couldn't find a suitable ladder: 

Tim pointed out that I had forgotten to take my usual photo of him wheeling luggage into the airport. So I took one of him sitting with his hand luggage, waiting to go and board:

'So, Mum,' he said, 'I'll expect a new blog post featuring this photo by the time I get home'... 

Coffee and Culture Shock - Day One out of Cyprus

Night flights are no fun, but sometimes they make financial sense. So, our outward flight with Monarch was at 3.00am Thursday morning. That meant checking in at 1.00am as we didn't want to pay another 14 euros to choose seats online. We didn't start packing until about 8.00pm - I'd done the important things like charging my Kindle earlier, and had also mopped the floors, and other random non-essentials. Choosing a few clothes isn't that difficult. So by 9.00 they were mostly sorted. I had been planning to go to bed around 8.00 so as to get a few hours' sleep; but that obviously didn't happen. However, I did get to bed at 10.00 and must have fallen asleep almost at once because the next thing I knew was Richard waking me to get dressed to go to the airport. At 12.15.

I can't sleep on flights. I never have managed to, but I rested, and drowsed a little. Richard did manage to sleep for about four of the five hours we were in the air,which is just as well since he had to drive later.

We landed just after 6.00; I watched the sunrise,which was rather pretty and we were glad to see that it wasn\t raining at Gatwick. It felt like we had to walk miles to the luggage reclamation place.. at least it woke us up slightly. We got a bit worried when our luggage did not appear, and almost everyone else waiting with us had gone, but then we realised we were at the wrong carousel.

By the time we had our luggage safely, it was past 7.00 and we knew we needed coffee urgently. As we left the arrivals area, we were greeted by a Costa Coffee sign. There was no discussion; We didn't even look for an alternative.

I had a latte (delicious and extremely welcome) and Richard had an Americano, which gave him the required caffeine, but - he said - was disappointingly bitter, not as good as he expected.

Then we popped to the loos. And there I had my first reverse culture shock of the trip. Each cubicle was nicely decorated, about three times the size of any equivalent I'd ever seen before, and each one was equipped with its own washbasin! Richard had waited outside with all our luggage, but I could have wheeled it in with room to spare. There was a mirror, and an automatic dryer- everything was motion sensitive,so I didn't even have to touch anything to flush the toilet or turn the taps on.

I felt so awed by this super-loo that I didn't think to take a photo. Apparently the men's were just the same. Amazing.

As ever it wasn't particularly quick to confirm and sort out the car rental, even though we'd booked it online a couple of months ago, but at last we climbed in the car, and were on the last leg of the first part of our UK trip. Despite being slowed down by road works we arrived only a couple of minutes later than expected. around 8.30am. We had more coffee and breakfast at Richard's mother's house, then thought we might like down for a bit.

I didn't expect to sleep - I almost never can when it's light. But evidently I was so tired that I managed it... and woke feeling at least slightly more refreshed at 12.30, in time for lunch.

Last night we were both asleep by 9.00pm and I slept soundly for nine and a half hours... 

Family, friends, fun and farewell...

Daniel and Becky were here for a little over a fortnight; they arrived on a Friday night, and departed last night. We heard a couple of hours ago that they are, at last, safely back in Carlisle. Having visitors staying is always good, but of course we particularly love having either of our sons home; for Daniel, this was his first visit since he and Becky got married last year.

I already wrote about their first few days in Cyprus, and about our visit to Nicosia. But, as so often happens, time started to go faster and faster and suddenly the two weeks had vanished. I didn't even remember to take many photos - much of the time we were hanging out, chatting, or playing games. We watched a few episodes of Doctor Who (series 2) which we enjoyed, and we also watched DVDs of both Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia 2 and 3 respectively) which we had not seen before. 

Daniel wrote a post about their time here on his blog too. 

We played a couple of games of Seafarers of Catan (Fog Island), something Richard and I only rarely play on our own as it requires quite a bit of setup. Becky said she had never won a Seafarers game; it turned out that she'd only played it once or twice, but she managed to win the first game we played together during the past couple of weeks:  

Naturally we played a couple of Settlers games with our friends Jörn and Sheila too, at their house, one of them on a particularly cold evening where we wrapped up warmly... and Becky won: 

We even managed a five-player Settlers game with Tim on Facetime (similar to Skype): 

We had a microphone set up over the middle of the board, with the stand carefully balanced by a low-tech coolbag: 

We played a Cities and Knights game, too, which had such an interesting initial setup that I took photos and wrote about it on my Settlers blog, but didn't take any pictures of the people concerned. 

We wondered how the cats would cope with Daniel and Becky staying downstairs in our guest flat; somehow, it didn't seem to worry them. We're not sure they even really noticed, as they continued sleeping on us at nights. But they were all happy to see Dan and Becky whenever they appeared in the morning. Here's Tessie looking at some of their wedding photos with them: 

Daniel, who is something of a coffee geek, decided that, while he was in Cyprus, he would buy a little pan for making Cyprus coffee. Not something I like at all, but Daniel is quite keen on what's known as a 'medrio' - one spoonful of finely ground coffee, and one of sugar, brought to the boil slowly: 

The first time he did it, I was fascinated by seeing the bubbles around the edge (an important part of making Cyprus coffee) which formed an almost perfect square around the middle. But when I took these photos, they made something closer to a pentagon: 

The first few times Daniel made a medrio, he used some small cups we happened to have. But I went to the Thrift Shop on Saturday, when he and Becky were out sailing with Richard, and saw some quite tasteful little Cyprus coffee cups and saucers which were very inexpensive. I also saw several less-than-tasteful ones... but decided that Daniel would not appreciate those.

This really doesn't show the scale, but is what the little cup looks like: 

Here it is with the medrio inside, and the saucer below: 

And here is Daniel, waiting for the coffee to cool a little. Note the glass of water, an important adjunct to Cyprus coffee: 

These photos show better just how tiny the cup is.  Sophia joined him while he drank it: 

Becky wasn't feeling great on Sunday, and Daniel wasn't too well on Monday, which was their last day in Cyprus. However, they wanted another game, so we set up Seafarers (Fog Island again) once more:

Here's how it started: 

Daniel won that game - just ahead of me. Either Daniel or Becky has won most of the games we've played while they've been here! 

But, as the cliche goes, all good things must eventually come to an end. After the game, we ate an early evening meal, then took them to the airport. Being actors, they decided to pose for the camera: 

Happily, they let me take a nicer photo as well: 

We drove home feeling a little empty. We don't know when we'll next see Dan and Becky; of course it's great to keep in touch with email and Skype (or equivalent) but there's nothing quite like having people actually here. Living in Cyprus, there are a lot of goodbyes, and they only get a little easier with time.