2011 Trip

Steve and I are heading overseas from March to June. Will be back in time to be visited by Anniina Koivurova and family who will call into Brissie on their trip back to Finland. Lots to look forward to.

Firstly going to UK where we will visit the Bradford rellies and also hope to see some of the Jenkins rellies who live in Lancs. We plan to go to the Preston Vintage Dance Hall in Preston organised by cousin Lorraine and her fiance. Lorraine sings in an Andrews Sisters style group and the dance is Lindy Hop (Jitterbug).

We intend to ride the train from Glasgow to Fort William and then the Jacobite train to Mallaig followed by a ferry ride to the Isle of Skye and a few nights in a B&B if I can find a cheap one. Also intend to go via the Cotswolds and parts of Somerset to London. It's so long since I've been to London I'm sure we can fill in many days just walking around seeing the icons. There are more Bradford and Jenkins rellies to see down south. I've booked us into B&B near Euston Station for 6 nights.

We then fly by Ryanair to Madrid for an overnight stay and then Easyjet to Casablanca. Here we join an Intrepid tour with an exciting itinerary from 1-18 April.

After the Morocco tour we are planning to backpack around Spain and Provence. I have booked us into a backpacker hostel for two nights on two different occasions. First to see the Easter festival and second for the Spring festival (Feria). We will be playing it by ear in Spain but I do have a list of places I want to see: Cordoba, Granada, Salamanca, Madrid, Avila, Toledo, Segovia, Barcelona and perhaps Santiago de Compostela. This is a pilgrimage of sorts for Fay - returning after 40 years.

In Provence we hope to meet up with a couple of friends who Steve has been working with this year. They are staying in Perpignan for several weeks. We also will enjoy the Gypsy festival in Sainte Marie de la Mer with these friends. I have booked us into a hotel close to the action. I think it is a one star hotel but ca ne fait rien. The Provence leg is a pilgrimage for Steve who canoed down the Rhone with friends when he completed high school.

We will return to the UK for 6 days before flying back to Oz. I've booked a flight from Nice to Manchester with a very short time frame from checkout at St Marie de la Mer to ETD from Nice so hope we can make it.

The plan is to blog the trip if I can find an unoccupied computer often enough.