Thinking out loud

I thought it would be useful to work out the actual cost of our trip in case it could be of help to others.

The airfares from and to Australia plus insurance and the Intrepid Tour of Morocco used up $5604 each while the rest of the holiday cost $6896 each. So a total of $12500 each for 90 days travel. Lonely Planet Shoestring suggests allowing $100 a day for travel in Europe and we came it at $77 a day. This would naturally depend on the strength of the Aussie Dollar/your currency at time of travel. Obviously having a free bed in Lancashire for approximately 3 weeks helped enormously. We used Ryanair from London to Madrid, EasyJet from Madrid to Casablanca and Jet2 from Nice to Manchester: all much cheaper fares than the national carriers. (Purchases, sometimes fickle of course, are not included in this calculation).

The plan to use accommodation with kitchens didn't happen as often as we would have liked so the cost could have been lower. I must say though that often there was very little difference in the price of a hostel and the price of a cheap hotel

We enjoyed our choice of mode of travel but the obvious disadvantage of travelling without a car was always being in towns and cities and therefore missing the prehistoric caves in Spain, mountain walks and visiting the "white" villages between Granada and Rhonda, to name a few.

We took GBP (Great Britain Pounds) and EU (Euro) on a CBA cash card and some cash in both currencies as well. The cash card was really convenient and there was never a time when I couldn't use an ATM to withdraw from the card. Our purchase price for GBP was .59 and for EU was .70.

Travelling with a Netbook certainly helped with booking accommodation and researching transport and we found that all but one hotel had wi-fi. We only had to find an Internet Cafe four times to print out boarding passes and to do some banking. The plan to upload photos on a regular basis so that there was more than one copy worked well and we were able to charge our batteries on a power board with a compatible plug depending on what country we were in. Also, without the Netbook, there would have been no BLOG.

Final days in UK and back to Oz

We stayed in Accrington from the 27 May until we caught the plane for home on the 2 June. The weather was cold, wet and windy, which was no good for Neale's window cleaning business. Steve and Neale managed to get out fishing together which hadn't been possible in March so that was good. Steve caught one bream to Neale's five (I believe) even though they were fishing side by side with the same bait.

One afternoon Neale and Gill took us and Nan for a drive to Yorkshire through the Trough of Bowland which is a very isolated part of the country with very narrow roads but exquisitely beautiful views. Now that the leaves are on the trees, the whole landscape has changed. We ended up at Edisford Bridge where we were met by Jemma and Pete and we all enjoyed a dinner in the pub. Unfortunately, Warren had a 21st party to go to so he missed it.


Dinner at Edisford Bridge. Bradford clan minus Warren and Steve who took the photo.

We had a plan to take Nan to the Great Harwood agricultural show which was only on for one day but the rain continued so we took a raincheck (Ha Ha).

Another day we met my cousins, Babs Ball and her sister Jacqui along with husband John and daughter Leanne. Son, Oliver, breezed in and out from the caravan in the backyard where he was swatting for exams. We drove to Cleveleys and had lunch in a pub on the front and then toured around the area where they grew up including a remaining section of ICI where Uncle Bert (Albert Jenkins) worked for many years. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and hope everyone else did as well.


L to R: Babs, Leanne, Jacqui, John, Fay, Steve

That evening we went to Jemma's for a BBQ with the whole Bradford clan. This time Warren was also able to be there so that was good. Food was yummylicious.


Warren and Jemma


Nan, Jemma and Warren

We left on the train to Preston and then Manchester Airport at 4:06 pm. We intended to do the budget thing when we got to Manchester but on walking past the Radisson at the Airport, we gave in to temptation and spent the night there. I must say the heated tiles on the bathroom floor were great but it's beyond me as to where the £80 difference was between the Britannia Airport Hotel and the Radisson. They must just charge for convenience. Must say, it was CONVENIENT! No need for taxis to and fro and we got to check in on the 2 June at 6 am without any trouble at all.

We flew out at 9:20 am and by the time we got to Singapore 17-ish hours later due to a stop in Munich, it was around midnight Manchester time so it was just feeling like a late night. Three hours later hanging around Singapore, I told myself that once back on board for the 8 hour leg to Brissie, I really had to get some sleep. That's of course before the food was trolleyed around. I reckon I had 2 hours sleep in 2 days and I know it now.

We flew over Lake Eyre which gave us quite a buzz. There was so much water in the lake and lots more running in. Water everywhere in fact. As we watched the flight path on our personal entertainment tablets, we could see darkness coming to meet us. Looking out the window, the horizon was gold all round but in the east, this gradually changed to flamingo pink and a gorgeous tone of blue then suddenly the desert below went blue and then black. Amazing!!

Passport check was electronic as we have the new e-passports (so there!!) so we breezed through avoiding the queues. Customs went smoothly. I had declared some items so in we went expecting the fine-tooth comb only to find we were asked a few questions about our items and they weren't inspected. I lost a couple of pressed poppy flowers as they still had live seeds in them but that was fine but the pressed buttercups were allowed in. I noticed those who hadn't declared anything ran the gauntlet of a beagle sniffer dog and while we were waiting I saw one woman singled out and sent for inspection. Seems it's good to declare as when we got home I found some things that might have been considered dodgy but which I'd forgotten about and there was no beagle doggy checking us over.

We found the pick-up bus at Brissie airport after a bit of looking around on both levels. Landed at 7.30 pm, waited an age before we could disembark, but still we were out to the bus well before 8.30 and home before 9.30. I've never been through Brissie airport so quickly before but nothing beats the Manchester procedure which has a gate labelled "Nothing to Declare" and no officials in sight. One just walks straight in.

Now the challenge is to get back into a routine at home.