Happy Birthday, Charliechaplinfan!

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Ann Harding
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Re: Happy Birthday, Charliechaplinfan!

Post by Ann Harding »

It seems that UK airports and airspace is reopening. So hopefully, Alison will be back soon. :wink:
jdb1

Re: Happy Birthday, Charliechaplinfan!

Post by jdb1 »

Klonny, take the Thruway, and I'll meet you in front of the Bronx Zoo. We can sled down the FDR Drive to the Brooklyn Bridge. And watch out for the coyotes.
klondike

Re: Happy Birthday, Charliechaplinfan!

Post by klondike »

Shades of Twelve Monkeys ! :shock:
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silentscreen
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Re: Happy Birthday, Charliechaplinfan!

Post by silentscreen »

Ann Harding wrote:It seems that UK airports and airspace is reopening. So hopefully, Alison will be back soon. :wink:
Hope so! I've missed you Alison, so much!
"Humor is nothing less than a sense of the fitness of things." Carole Lombard
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srowley75
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Re: Happy Birthday, Charliechaplinfan!

Post by srowley75 »

I've missed you too, Alison. Thank you for being so nice to me while I was feeling down, and I hope you had a happy birthday and a safe and enjoyable trip.

-Stephen
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silentscreen
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Re: Happy Birthday, Charliechaplinfan!

Post by silentscreen »

I keep hearing that U.K. travellers are returning home. It's costing them, but they are getting back. The high speed railways have been very helpful, especially the one in France.
"Humor is nothing less than a sense of the fitness of things." Carole Lombard
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: Happy Birthday, Charliechaplinfan!

Post by charliechaplinfan »

Here I am, trust me being late for my own party. Thanks for all the best wishes folks. My birthday was an enjoyable day, we went for a meal and I bought a lovely necklace with pink stones with my birthday money and Chris got me some Chanel perfume from the kids.

My only access to the computer was last Sunday for 20 minutes, I had to try and squeeze amongst all the teenagers who stranded and chatting on facebook to their friends. I wasn't sure if Hedvig or Fernando would get my message, I'm glad you both did :D

The story of our return journey is the stuff of soap operas. We were meant to come home on the 16th but no flights were flying in or out of the UK. So we continued to stay at the Holiday Village which is a hotel geared up for kids, so there was no complaints from them at having to stay longer. I don't know what travel is like in the rest of the world but here you can book it yourself and create your own package, or you can pay a little more and have a packaged holiday, usually we do the first option but this time we were late booking and went with this package. It's the best decision we've made in a long time, it meant we were covered and we had free room and meals for as long as it carried on.

A couple of days after we were due to fly home, we were asked if we would go back to Britain via Santander on Spain's northern coast and sail back home where we would be transferred to the airport we left from. Great idea but most didn't want to do that option, they'd rather sit it out in the hotel, free than trying to get home and they were quite nasty about it.

Well, that was Saturday night, we were the minority wanting to go back, although we weren't the only ones with jobs to return to and schools to go to, I thought we had a duty to try and get back whatever way we could. Listening to the news it sounded
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: Happy Birthday, Charliechaplinfan!

Post by charliechaplinfan »

(sorry my computer only lets me type so much!)

The BBC made it sound like we would be stranded for months if we chose to fly, Elizabeth was in tears, she missed her cats and friends. So we made a decision not to switch the news on again.

Sunday morning, the news was that they couldn't get any available coaches and the ferry ports were blocking up, so we couldn't leave and it could be days, that's when I thought I'd update everyone although I guessed you'd know what had happened to me.

On Monday, we were told to pack again, coaches were coming and they were going to bus us up to Lloret De mar, a 16 hour trip and then an overnight stay and then on to Calais to a specially chartered ferry to get us across the Channel and then a transfer to our airport. Well, people were going mad, I was so embarrassed to be amongst some of the people, they were rude to the receptionists, rude to the tour guides, refusing to get on coaches saying they refused to go any way other than gettingo n a plane. On Monday, this was not an option, noone knew for certain that planes would be allowed to move in the next few days and the volcano was erupting again. So the travel company had to do something, they only had a duty of care to get us home and it was up to them to make the arrangements. Where the Dunkirk spirit was in all this I don't know. I sat in reception listening to all the melee. One man was expecially determined to shout and sue the hotel and the tour operator.

On Tuesday mornnig our coaches came, many had gone off the night before. The same belligerent man was laying into this poor tour rep, I had to stop him, he was so nasty. This girl had come out to the hotel only days before to receive training. 15 coaches were going to bus through Spain all day, they had no toilets, we had to keep the kids dehydrated and even then Chris had to let Joe wee into a cup. We stopped every three hours for 10 minutes for toilet breaks. You wouldn't choose to travel
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: Happy Birthday, Charliechaplinfan!

Post by charliechaplinfan »

this way but needs must. The trip had it's good points, we saw so much of Spain, driving from the south up to Granada and then up the coast to stop at Lloret De Mar. It was very long, we only got to our hotel at 2 in the morning, getting sleeping kids off the coach wasn't great and we had the belligerent man with us. He was bellowing and refusing to go any further, refusing to stop in Lloret, a paedophiles paradise and not liking our hotel, which was lovely, although a step back in time to the '70's.

The next morning Wednesday, he refused to get back on the coach with us and rang the British Embassy to stop the coach! When he refused to get on again the tour guide with us said that the coach had to go with or without him, he said 'leave me and I'll sue the trousers off you' (only he didn't put it so politely) 'he hadn't signed anything so the guide had no proof'. Until I piped up, 'I'll be the witness you need and I'll get my friend too'. he was so shocked to find a woman standing up to him, he'd managed to bully all the young ones, he wasn't bullying me. He start every sentence with 'your talking to someone with intelligence' which to me means the opposite. Well, he tried to find out who my husband was, I've never needed Chris to fight my battels for me but he would stand up for me. Thankfully it didn't come to that. The coaches were halted, not because of the idiot but because the ones that had gone the night before us had been stuck in a 75 mile tail back at Calais, I believe it took them about 24 hours to reach their ferry, on coaches with no toilets. So we had the day at Lloret.

When we return to the hotel later that evening the rep wants our name, whether we are adult or child and destination to fly us back t othe UK once the flights start. Idiot man wouldn't let some of the passengers do that stating Data Protection laws!!!! he obviously didn't know anything about Data Protection and we had help the rep convince the passengers that it was rig
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: Happy Birthday, Charliechaplinfan!

Post by charliechaplinfan »

right what the company wanted. This delay cost us flying out on Wednesday, all down to one man. After I'd stood up to him, people changed towards him, showing that they were pig sick of him, they were slapping Chris on the back complimenting him on his splendid wife and buying me drinks. They said it was a pity it took a woman to stand up to him. Idiot then decides to have a go at the rep, who bursts into tears, she was scared stiff of him. I took her outside, whilst I was outside a guy had a real pop at the idiot. His wife needed chemostherapy treatment which was being delayed and he was still phoning the embassy and refusing to get on flights or coaches, whatever they decdied to do he wasn't going with it. This guy said his wife could die if she didn't get her treatment, idiot replied, 'I don't care' so the other guy told him that if she died he (the idiot) wolud get a knife in his back. So the idiot gets the police, who stay in the hotel for two hours questioning everyone and trying to find the guy who made the threat. Another missed opportunity to fly as the rep couldn't get her paperwork done again.

On Wed night/Thurs morning, I helped the rep do her paperwork, she had people missing who still refused to give their details. The coaches finally went off on Thursday morning with empty places, idiot called the police at the airport because the other guy was travelling too and he called the police at Cardiff which is where we ended up on the early hours of Friday morning. We live about 4 hours from Cardiff so the kids had another long trek. I've never seen my children look so exhausted, they behaved themselves so well, missed a week at school but they think it's been an adventure but I never want to do that trip ever again, all because of one man who is suing about everyone he can think of.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: Happy Birthday, Charliechaplinfan!

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I've typed this out in a bit of a hurry but just wanted to let you guys know what an adventure it was. The holiday itself was great, I love Spain. Now I have to tackle the rest of the ironing. I might not have much time to be online in the next couple of days (I have to make up work time I missed) but I'll fill you in and contribute again soon.

Alison
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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silentscreen
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Re: Happy Birthday, Charliechaplinfan!

Post by silentscreen »

BRAVO dear Alison! :D
"Humor is nothing less than a sense of the fitness of things." Carole Lombard
feaito

Re: Happy Birthday, Charliechaplinfan!

Post by feaito »

Welcome back!! Great account of your whereabouts! Thanks for taking the time for sharing it with us. :D ....and about the idiot, I've known people like that... they're awful, they think the world belongs to them and that the rest of the people are inferiors... they should live alone in an island!
Last edited by feaito on April 25th, 2010, 6:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Ann Harding
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Re: Happy Birthday, Charliechaplinfan!

Post by Ann Harding »

Nice to see you back, Alison! :D (Gosh that 'idiot' sounds like a nightmare....)
Synnove
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Re: Happy Birthday, Charliechaplinfan!

Post by Synnove »

'he hadn't signed anything so the guide had no proof'. Until I piped up, 'I'll be the witness you need and I'll get my friend too'. he was so shocked to find a woman standing up to him, he'd managed to bully all the young ones, he wasn't bullying me.
This delay cost us flying out on Wednesday, all down to one man. After I'd stood up to him, people changed towards him, showing that they were pig sick of him, they were slapping Chris on the back complimenting him on his splendid wife and buying me drinks.
On Wed night/Thurs morning, I helped the rep do her paperwork, she had people missing who still refused to give their details. The coaches finally went off on Thursday morning with empty places, idiot called the police at the airport because the other guy was travelling too and he called the police at Cardiff which is where we ended up on the early hours of Friday morning. We live about 4 hours from Cardiff so the kids had another long trek. I've never seen my children look so exhausted, they behaved themselves so well, missed a week at school but they think it's been an adventure but I never want to do that trip ever again, all because of one man who is suing about everyone he can think of.
The holiday itself was great, I love Spain. Now I have to tackle the rest of the ironing.
:D Alison, you're a hero.

That man sounds like he was so keen to blame a natural disaster on humans. How could he sleep at night after being responsible for so delaying so many people? Pity his relatives!
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