Sunday 21 June 2015

Flying To Corfu and Thomson Majesty

Another gap in entries whilst I drag myself off on another research trip! Believe that and you'll believe anything... Anyway a taxi came round our place at 2:15 in the morning of Friday 12 June and we piled sleepily into the back of it and went round to wake up David and Jeannie for the second world tour of Creeping Bentgrass.

Much later in the day we were doing this, but don't let's get ahead of ourselves... We are taken to Manchester Airport where David gets frisked within an inch of his life - well, let's face it - I would have done too... Then an early breakfast and route march up to one end to the toilets and then a walk all the way to the other end when the gate turns out to be 202...

The sky was not quite so blue at Manchester - this was taken in Corfu, but may well be our actual plane on its return journey to the UK.

A couple of hours later we were flying over the mountains - Dolomites or Alps? Whatever... they were high, they had snow on top!

Speaking of which... Three and a half hours of him flapping his arms ("it might help us get there quicker...") we got off the plane and apologised to the couple sitting next to him, the aircrew, cabin crew and bemused Greek ground crew and then ultimately the bus driver who quite understandably wanted to sit in the front seat himself...

I may be exaggerating a little here, but only because I need to prepare you for some of the wilder moments he had during the week. I need to fit him with one of those beep-beep devices for when he decides to reverse without looking. Let's just say that it was a miracle that he, a motorbike rider, three tourists on Segways, two Turkish purveyors of genuine fake goods, countless passers-by and a herd of camels survived following his ability to step backwards fast and blindly rather than zoom out his camera...

But eventually we reached the cruise terminal at Corfu (where he walked into the middle of the road to take a similar photo to this but with a large bus approaching). Thomson Majesty had taken Fran and I from this very spot on a cruise around Italy and Sicily last year, but it was David and Jeannie's first time up her gangway.

That is, after David had told Misses Fran and Jeannie to "stop and turn around" - a phrase we were to hear at least three dozen times a day from now until the flight back.

Ok... we are here! You know what this means by now - a week or so of entries dealing with our antics as we partake of the delights of the Hellenic Classics cruise which will take in the following ports/days: Corfu > Day at Sea > Mykonos Town > Kusadasi (for Ephesus) > Piraeus (for Athens) > Chania > Kalamata > Corfu. I'll be featuring many of the 350 photos I took, most if not all of the small number of sketches I did and almost all of the... what...? you're joking...? ...a few of the 2000+ photos David and Miss Jeannie took...! Before it gets dark I'll have drunk more alcohol than I normally do in the rest of the year... The Cocktail of the Day is called a Bon Voyage and contains vodka, Galliano, apricot brandy, orange and pineapple juice. After five or so of these, interspersed with glasses of wine, I'll be lucky if I recognise when the voyage starts...

Hellenic Classics Index

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