UK and Europe - Solo

 At Oakwood Bed & Breakfast Here’s the full English breakfast. After the shemozzle at Heathrow last night , it was lovely to be welcomed to my accommodation. My chatty taxi driver as well as the owner Tom carried my luggage in. I was knackered. Tom showed me some of the little eccentricities of the house and left me to have a cup of tea and shower in peace. I couldn’t wait to stretch out on the bed. It was calling my name but I was disgustingly dirty and sweaty and I couldn’t do anything without cleaning my body and teeth! Ah, that shower was pure bliss. I enjoyed it boiling hot to kill all the germs from travelling for more than a day. (I mostly have cold showers at home.) And lay on top of the bed. I know I’m jet lagged but I could swear I was lying on clouds in heaven. Too hot for pyjamas, I turned the massive TV on and watched something for a few seconds before falling asleep. My dreamy bed. I woke at 3am local time and didn’t go back to sleep. Watched half a ...

  I’ve never had a single good experience here. I’ve flown in and out of Heathrow multiple times over the past few years. Apart from my home airport of Brisbane, it’s the one I’ve visited the most often even though I’ve done my utmost to avoid it. Tonight is no exception. I started my flight from Brisbane International in a wheelchair. At the airport, I was taken care of by Cathay Pacific staff. I was informed what was going to happen. I arrived very early so was taken to a lounge area where I could lay down. My flight was 55 minutes after midnight. I scored the best seat in economy class so I slept most of the 8 hour flight to Hong Kong. At Hong Kong, I was collected at the plane with a wheelchair and taken all the way through to my departure gate. It was exhausting for my lovely Chinese carer aka pusher so she sat down beside me to catch her breath. We sat mostly in silence apart from me showing my appreciation with “shay shay” the only Cantonese I know. She was re...

At the last minute I decided not to bring my CPAP Machine. It’s just too much for me to carry. On and off trains. So I have my suitcase, and two backpacks. One is filled with all of my medication. I’m starting to think why am I doing this to myself? Lexi dropped me off and hugged me and told me she loved me. That’s a first (or maybe a second. She’s not demonstrative like Keeley.) She doesn’t like flying so she’s concerned for me. Keep wiggling your toes is her advice. It’s 11pm and Caelin refuses to sleep, Keeley texts me. She wrote a story that had me blubbering. After a long wait upstairs for someone to push me, I breezed through security and passport control. I didn’t have to take anything out at all. No liquids or batteries or injections or laptop. Winning! All I had to remove was my hat to check my passport photo. As I expected, the plane passengers were mostly from Hong Kong or China as it is now. And there were lots of babies. We needn’t worry about decreasing po...

It's been almost four years since my last European trip  - too long- thank you COVID! I'm getting older by the day which is a natural progression, but I'm being diagnosed with more health issues which may prevent me enjoying travelling as much as I used to. i have yet to get the okay from my knee surgeon and rheumatologist to travel. I've had a test run to the Philippines but not solo. I've never been nervous about travelling before, but I've always had my trips planned, all travel and accommodation booked. For my upcoming trip, I have a 3-month Eurail rail pass (that I'm not sure I know how to use digitally) and I'm staying my first night in Heathrow after a 28 hour and 40 minute trip, and then I have a bus booked to Chesterfield where my lovely friend, Wendy is picking me up to stay with her and explore the Derbyshire and Peak District with her. I'm really looking forward to that!  After that, it's all up in the air! You can read about my adven...