Travel

I got on the plane!

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Friday 31 October 2025

In recent years, I’ve become a regular at the local airport; dropping off, picking up, loitering at the arrivals gate, paying astronomical parking fees (even once being fined for forgetting to pay them!). I swear that some of the staff now greet me by name! But the one thing I’ve not done… since 2019… is fly anywhere. No, I have been strictly a chauffeur…until this weekend!

Yes, readers, I actually get on the plane!

With my two salaried daughters, who now pay for themselves, I jet off to Brussels for a long weekend. I am beyond excited. I refuse to have ‘carry on luggage only’ and fork out for a 20kg case. Overpack to ridiculous proportions, fill my purse with Euros, doubtless drive the girls insane …. and what fun I have!

Brussels could just possibly be the perfect weekend destination. Not too big, effortlessly elegant and a delight to while away the hours in.

We shop, we stop regularly to sample the famous beer, we eat … lots of frites, plenty of waffles and, of course the reknowned ‘Moules’

and we just enjoy wandering around the pretty streets and squares.

Some parts of the city so French, other, such as the Grand Place with its heavy Gothic architecture very … I was going to say Germanic, but Flemish is probably more accurate. We certainly take a lot of pics!

All too soon I am being dragged reluctantly back to the ‘Flixbus’ stop to start the return leg to Blighty. I would love to have stretched this out for another 24 hours. Back on home soil, I do manage to briefly extend our break when I espy and report an ‘unattended bag’ on the shuttle back to the car park and we, along with all the other passengers, are evacuated …. for 15 minutes until the next shuttle arrives!

But it’s only a short delay until I am back home… and already dreaming of my next trip. The financial barrier of paying for everyone and everything seems to be gone (for now), and my travel bug is definitely back!

A weekend with a culture vulture…

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Sunday 27 July 2025

When my ‘culture vulture’ friend comes to town, I know it is going to be a full on weekend of arty exploration and experiences …

On Saturday we head to Haworth and Bronte country. The picture postcard town and the Parsonage, where the family lived, are popular tourist spots; but this is not the main focus of our trip.

No we park the car, don our walking gear and set out on the 4-mile hike to Top Withins, a ruined farmhouse on the moors, which the Bronte hopefuls have suggested may be the inspiration for Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights itself. Could any expedition be more up my street…I really struggle to imagine one!

Whilst the literary critics are less convinced about the theory and the Bronte Society itself claims that ‘The buildings, even when complete, bore no resemblance to the house she described‘, no-one can deny the setting, which is wild, remote and wonderful

“Top Withens and the views from it encapsulate the landscape that inspired the Brontës’ writing and continues to be a place of pilgrimage for visitors from all over the world“

And I am sold. My mum claims that my middle name was chosen in homage to the heroine of this novel and so, in my fanciful head, even the wind carries whispers of ‘Cathy’ and ‘Heathcliff’ as we trek towards our destination.

Yet, even a romantic fool such as I cannot ignore the clear signs along the route that we have moved on from the 19th Century. The beautiful ‘Bronte waterfall’ lies roughly half way along the trail and, not only are there quite a few other ramblers gathered here, but also signs in both English…and Japanese!!

Well… you can’t have everything I guess . Plus, as we eventually, find our way back to Haworth, ( after trying to forge our own circular route adds, in hindsight, an extra 30 minutes to our journey) I must confess that the distinctly modern reward of an Iced Matcha Latte is a welcome delight!

Revived and refreshed, we find time to stroll the pretty cobbled streets of Haworth and visit the family home at the Parsonage before wending our way home.

Sunday dawns and we set the SatNav for Liverpool and the Biennial, the UK’s largest contemporary visual arts festival.

Liverpool is always a fantastic place to visit, pulsating with life, colour and personality. And it is a perfect setting for such an innovative arts trail. We see videos and installations in Chinatown, located in small warehouses and even a housing association. We explore exhibits in new arts centres and also established and esteemed galleries across the city. And we tour the magnificent Anglican Cathedral to admire tapestries and glass sculptures.

It is not simply art, its is also the location, and the festival celebrates the amazing sights and diversity of Liverpool itself. Between the installations, it is terrific just to stroll and enjoy this town. Lunch on the Docks with the sun dancing on the famous Mersey and the backdrop of the Liver buildings, well what could be better?

A fantastic weekend indeed and as my friend and I part company, at Lime Street Station, one of us on the train to London and one one of us heading back home on the M62 , we know we shall be meeting again soon. The question is … what adventures we’ll get up to next time!

She’s got a ticket to ride…

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Saturday  June 2021

With A’level assessments over, Prom-dress daughter heads off  to the North East to spend a few days with her sister.  Her only worry? The train… its is her first solo journey…

My middle child struggles with the unknown, she always has, and a 2 hour train trip, with one change, on her own for the first time, has pushed her completely out of her comfort zone. We drive to the station in strained silence and sitting outside a nearby coffee shop in the Saturday sunshine, her panic even spills into a few tears. Once again, we go through the  route, where to find platform info, how to open the carriage door and where to put luggage. I give her a reassuring hug and  she tries to calm down.

Wondering if I have underestimated her anxiety on this occasion, I offer to persuade the attendant to let me through the first barrier so that I can see her get onto the first train. How I love her reply!

“Do you know what Mum, I think I just need to go for it and do this on my own!”

And she does. I have my phone ready and I probably get over 25 texts in the next 10 minutes, checking and asking about absolutely every detail. But, as my lovely girl finds, that she has actually successfully boarded the correct train without any help, I know that her confidence has rocketed because I scarcely hear from her again. One brief text letting me know that the change at York has gone well and then… nothing at all. It is my eldest who lets me know that she has arrived safely and it makes me smile… it takes me back to Day 1 at High School…

Day 1 at High School was the bus journey.  We’d done a dummy run and for extra support on that first morning, we’d arranged that I would shadow her on the bus too. I’d get on, sit as far away as possible, avoid eye contact and generally act as if we’d never met. But, if anything went wrong, I would be there.

It worked a treat, but the clearest memory I have is of the moment we all disembarked. By this time there was a throng of unformed pupils all treading the route to the school gates and I can still picture my daughter turning round and giving me a tiny wave… it was a wave goodbye, a wave to say ‘Okay on my own now Mum’ , a wave for me to let her find her own way. And I often say that by the time she came back home that day, she was already a different child. More confident, more independent and more free.

And I think I know that when she comes home next week, she’ll have changed again and be a different young woman to the one I dropped off this morning. More sure of herself, more ready for autonomy and more excited about opening the door to embrace the opportunities that life offers as you start to make your own way in it.

These are important milestones and good steps to take. These are times to feel quite proud, as a mum, to sit back and let them be ‘okay on my own now ‘ …

Summer Holiday 2020

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Saturday 29 August 2020

This week STA Travel go out of business. I raise a nostalgic cup of coffee to them, recalling the thrilling day, long ago in 1989, when I bought my ‘round the world ticket‘ from their Euston Road store. With a smile, I recall having to write the cheque out three times! It was the largest purchase I’d even made and, faced with such a vast array of digits, I found it a challenge to get the decimal point into the correct place. Furthermore, this 2020 week rolls onto Saturday, which heralds the start of the Tour de France in the gloriously vibrant city of Nice. This is the scene of a more recent grown-up holiday, and with happy memories of travels and foreign lands at every turn, I’m struggling a little to reflect favourably on a Summer spend mostly in my own back garden…

Yes what a strange 6 weeks for this self-confessed travel lover! I did learn, if not to like, at least to tolerate gardening itself. I planted flowers and tidied up paths. I staggered around with huge sacks of bark and ferried broken old fences and bag, upon bag of rubble to the tip. Without question however, the outdoor highlight was the inspired rebirth of Small Boy’s football goal … as a net for games of tennis … with our beach bat set! Now that actually was a lot of fun. To be fair, when you live with a child as inventive as Small Boy, fun can be found in the most unexpected scenarios…

Yes, here he is in 2016. About a year after we bought the footie net, we found our boy, finally despairing of finding any players in the ‘house of girls’, out in the garden having a kick about with many of the finest professionals of the day, including Ronaldo and Neuer! Whilst the print out faces catch the eye, I think my favourite feature is the garden rake playing the part of Neuer’s goalkeeper arms.

So it would be wrong to deny some very fond memories of the sunnier days of July and August. Garden games, garden reading, the occasional cheeky garden cocktail. More importantly, everyone so far safe and well. But there is no escaping the fact that I’ve found the lack of variety incredibly difficult. For July and August, I could easily substitute April and May. When did Spring become Summer? When did work really stop? (For the dramas of school results and school re-opening have certainly kept me chained to my work emails on a daily basis.) I love being part of a seasonal nation and Summer for me should distinguish itself with adventure, travel and new experiences. Instead I gear myself up to roll into a socially distanced Autumn wondering if we will even notice the summertide departure.

Well I guess the sunny days will lessen. So here’s hoping that Small Boy has some ideas for livening up ‘lounge life’….