Holiday Highlights Past and Present - Part One

 When I decided on this topic I thought that it was going to be very difficult to choose the highlight of highlights given the number of holidays I have been on and the wonderful experiences I have had over the years, but I was wrong. Some things just stand out head and shoulders above all others and I am now going to share these with you. Please note that this may not coincide with Pat’s choices because she has been on more holidays than me and to places I have never been. Isn’t she a lucky girl.

Let’s begin with the singular most awesome sight I have ever seen. It took me less than a second to make this decision. It was on the fourth day of the tour of Australia Pat and I went on in 2011. We had landed in Perth and spent 3 days there before flying to Alice Springs, pretty much the centre of Australia. We were coached to a hotel some miles from the small community known as Alice Springs and just had enough time to get booked in and changed before we were back on the coach for an Outback Bush BBQ evening. The event, if you can call it that, took place in a disused quarry. The whole tour group sat around a camp fire being regaled with stories of the aborigines and being urged to join in singing and playing along to Australian folk songs. Steaks were cooked over the camp fire and a demonstration of boomerang throwing added to what was a thoroughly enjoyable and relaxing evening. Eventually it was time to return to the hotel for some welcome sleep but as we made our way back to the coach our tour guide stopped us and asked us to take a few moments to look at the sky. It’s amazing that no one in the tour group during the whole evening looked any higher than their noses, including Pat and myself. There is no light pollution in the area and the black sky was filled with stars, so many that it seemed they were all within touching distance of one another. It wasn’t just the most spectacular sight I have ever seen it was also the most thought provoking. If we added to the stars we could see, the ones we couldn’t see, how feasible could it be that there would not be life on at least one of them and probably more. I’m not suggesting that this amazing spectacle is unique because I’m sure there are other areas on earth where this can be seen but it was here in Australia that I was privileged to see something that I almost certainly will never see again and I doubt that I’ll ever see something better.

Being the person I am I seem to constantly get into scrapes that are not of my making (honest, I’m usually the innocent party. Okay don’t believe me). The most bizarre experience I have had was at a hotel,  (the Ifach) in Calpe, Spain. The journey had been beset with problems and when I eventually arrived at the hotel my room was not ready, and neither the bar or the restaurant were open. I was tired, thirsty, and hungry and I had to cool my heels for some time before I gained entry to my room which I was not very happy about. The afternoon and evening passed quickly but I decided to have an early night because, although I was now fed and watered, I was really very tired. It had been a long and arduous day. My routine is always the same which is to take a glass of Pepsi/Coke to my room to drink during the night, have my book beside the bed and, while I am on holiday, have my holiday diary to hand. Having prepared for bed myself I plumped up the pillows and sat up on the bed to write about the days events. Totally engrossed it was only when I paused my writing that I became aware of an elderly lady standing at the bottom of the bed watching me. I was rather shocked and lost for words (yes, that’s probably a first) as I hadn’t heard her come into the room nor did I understand how she was able to enter. We stared at each other for some seconds before I found my voice and told her that I thought she was in the wrong room. It was only when I pressed her as to her room number that  I got  a mumbled response which I couldn’t determine. More seconds passed and she didn’t seem ready to leave so we became engaged in some banal chit chat none of which I could remember later. Eventually I suggested she might like to go to her own room which she did. This whole episode happened between a woman dressed for the evening and a man completed naked which didn’t appear to faze her at all. I should have immediately contacted Reception and reported the incident but I was too tired to get dressed so I left it until the following morning. At first we all saw the funny side but as we explored the various scenarios that could have evolved it began to take on a more serious note. I was so stunned by the incident that I couldn’t even describe the lady concerned or imagine how she had gained entry to my room. The only explanation that the Reception staff could give was that she had mislaid her card-key and and had given my room number in error when requesting a duplicate. If this was the correct explanation it begged the question, how did she get back into her own room? The staff promised that they would put checks in place to ensure something like this could not happen again but whether they did or not I don’t know. The lady in question was later identified but it turned out she was in the early stages of dementia, whether that had been brought on by the sight of my naked body I don’t know but surprisingly she showed no signs of excitement (hard to believe isn’t it?)

                              More to follow, stayed tuned for Part Two.