General Chat

After all the fuss over the lost cheque, the replacement one arrived next day and went swiftly into the bank so would be cleared by early part of hols. I wanted to be sure I had some fall-back money available if necessary, for lawyer if I pushed o.h. off a cliff or mountain or other eventualities. What a stressful week I had had before going away.

Got all the bedlinen changed the day before and washing up to date except what we were wearing. All hol stuff ready for packing and Monday am that's what I did. Used the new luggage scales and realised we were way over the limit of 20 kgs each so took stuff out including my favourite muesli which I can never get abroad, and still over the limit. Rang the airport and double checked on cost of extra kgs, finally said Sod it and called a cab for the ten minute journey to airport, leaving a few last minute things undone, like setting up dvd recorder for some more tv progs I had forgotten about, and other things. We got there at 3.25pm for the check-in time of 4pm and flight time of 5.05pm to be told the plane hadn't yet left Corfu, due to technical problems!!!! Now why couldn't they have told me that when I called - I found out they had known for a couple of hours and I would have had more time to fine tune the packing etc. Lots of folk complaining - plane had travelled from Newcastle that morning to Corfu and then should have brought holiday makers back and taken us out before taking other holiday makers home to Newcastle later that day. Our arrival time of 22.10 in Corfu was not going to happen. We checked in our luggage and were told that overall with the hand luggage allowances we were a total of 5 kg overweight, so had to cough up £50! Charming! Norwich Airport also likes to charge its customers an extra tax (airport fee) of £5 each towards helping to update the facilities. At 5.30pm we were told the plane was on it's way and would be taking off at 8.30pm-ish, which meant we would not be at our apartments until approximately 3.30am Tuesday morning. We were all given allowances of £4 each for food etc to keep us sustained till the plane arrived. Got talking to some of our fellow travellers andI had a phone chat with Y Caz and another friend and my son, and that helped pass the time but the seats weren't very comfy and by the time we were due to finally take off I and many others were stiff, tired and fed up. O.h. was ok cos we were stuck near the bar!!!
Flight was fine but we couldn't enjoy views from the plane as it was dark! We did all get a free drink to apologise for the delay. I thought of B.C. and had a Baileys with ice which went down rather well. O.h. and I were not seated together he was two seats ahead on the other side of the aisle so I had to be careful I didn't doze off and rest my head on the chap next to me's shoulder lol
We straggled off the plane and onto the coaches and off we trundled through Corfu at almost 2 in the morning, unable to see anything much as all the tavernas were closed and no lights except street lights. The air was balmy tho and a promise of a warm day later was encouraging.
After several stops to drop people off at their apartments/hotels we were really tired, it was almost 4 am on the Tuesday. The transfer rep was stroppy cos she was tired and kept rushing people to 'get off and get your luggage quickly' and she zoomed off into the darkness at each stop with people struggling to shift their luggage as quietly as possible so as not to disturb people already asleep. When we got near our destination she announced we would be going to another village first as she lived at Roda, our destination, so we would go there last! Thanks a lot - had to be driven past the top of the village and then go back there after dropping off more folks. We ended up being turfed off the coach and collecting our luggage at the top of a long concrete driveway in pitch darkness at past 4am and the rep dashed ahead to check keys were in doors. She whizzed back to direct one couple to their new abode and came back for the next couple, a woman with severe arthritis using a crutch and her husband, also slightly disabled, pulling their two cases along. Heaven help the woman had she stumbled as there was no one near her to help steady her and her hubby and carer had his hands full, the rep was way ahead and finally returned to take us further on down the concrete 'road' which was ridged so that the cases rumbled noisily and we tried to see where we were going. Againt the rep was nowhere to be seen so I called out where are you, and she appeared from a pathway saying she couldn't be in two places at once and had shown someone else their apartment. She then disappeared ahead of us and then turned and said something which we couldn't hear cos of the rumbling case wheels, she didn't seem to care that others were sleeping and I called out quietly that I couldn't hear her.

She then rushed up to me and almost shouted in my ear that our apartment was close by, pointing vaguely and then disappeared back to the coach, leaving us to find No 10, which was on an envelope from the tour rep and gave us details of the welcome meeting later that day.
The apartment she had pointed to wasn't ours but I found no 10 and opened the door after struggling up two large steps with my case. We were in a small hallway which included the kitchen facilities and I felt around for the light switch but when I pressed it, nothing happened. I then realised I had to insert the card attached to the door key into a slot and that turned the electricity on. I don't know why the transfer rep couldn't have just spent one extra minute going in and activating the electricity supply for us so that we didn't have to fumble. The owners of the apartments had left us a supply of bottled water for which we had to pay later and after taking our cases inside we were able to get our bearings and have a look round. We had asked for a two bed apartment and had particularly stated we didn't want a maisonette one with internal stairs, but that was what we had. The hallway/kitchen was adequate but no sofa or dining table and chairs as we had had in other places, the groundfloor bedroom was huge with a double bed and nice wardrobes etc and an ensuite shower room, and double doors with louvered shutters and a blue voile curtain opened out onto a patio area with plastic garden table and chairs. The bed was made up in there and o.h. said I could have that room and he would go upstairs, where there was another large bedroom with twin beds (not made up altho we had said we wanted to sleep in seperate rooms) and another ensuite shower room with a double shower, and again double louvre doors etc onto a balcony. We later saw that we looked out over an olive grove just yards away which was lovely.
I quickly unpacked some of my skirts and tops and made a cuppa and we went to bed around 5 am, totally exhausted.

Hi there, calendar on its way, I posted it this morning.
Huia.

Can't wait for the rest of the tale

Welcome back

Susan
x

Wow, Liz, what a cock up even before you left, that happened to us one year we went to Cyprus, easter time we had a nine hour delay ,and arrived a five in the morning, but at least you had a bigger apartment than us !!!, I look forward to the next episode.... but nice to have you back.....


love Jean x

Welcome back Liz, can't wait for the next episode.
Speak to you soon.

Caz xx

Just out of interest Liz, did you need all the extra things that you had over the 20Kg. Some airlines by the way are 15KG now but 11 KG cabin baggage. I didn't know they would add the two together to get the total overweight. Look forward to the next episode.

Like the others,looking forward to next episode.
I expect it all to be worth it though,but typical of some holidays we have had!
You are very descriptive.Should write a book!

Brenda x

Welcome back Liz

Looking forward to the rest of your exploits

thanks for p c will speak soon

Kathy xx

*sits back with a cup of tea and waits for next instalment....BC XX

You're in for a long wait BC.....You had better move your bed in and open up a bottle of Baileys.. Look at the time Liz Posted :-)))

I just had a thought Liz......Perhaps the woman didn't stay to help you with the leccy thingy because she took heed of your mo....... ermm guidance, about how long she was taking to show people their apartments.

Sounds like an episode of Benidorm so far

Susan who is sitting back, reading war and peace, expecting to finish it before Liz continues :-)))

What a start to your holiday Liz,but good view from balcony sounds promising!

*shhh whispers..'Poor Liz I think she's making up for all the sleep she lost'

....joins BC with my wine glass in hand :O)

F.G.S. Liz, I can't read all that I'm exhausted....;-0)

Glad that you enjoyed yourself and very happy that you are safely home again.
Phone me and tell me all, you know that talking never tires me!
love Deanna XX

Well, no way am I sitting here waiting until 4am for the next instalment!!!

WAKE UP LIZ

Come on Liz where are you? Surely this holiday can only get better! ................................I hope

Wendy x

Wendy, they should have gone to tenerife!! How are you and your OH?

Hi Ann

(Can I just pinch your thread for a minute Liz?)

We are both fine, the weather has been sooooooooo hot but about 15 minutes ago we got a quick shower of rain and it has cooled down a bit.

Hope you are both well

Wendy xx

*tickles Liz's feet........

Lol, be patient my friends, am just on here for two mins while I wait for o.h. to come back from taking a call, so will be back later when he goes to bed and I can take my time!

Lizxxx

Wendy (scuse me Liz) I knew we should have found a way to come in October, although if we had it would have rained all month Lol!!!!