Flying and heights...

I like the idea of flying. 

However, having developed a fear of heights over the last decade or so, I can no longer walk out to the edge of an anywhere too far above ground. I don't think I had it as a kid, but it came upon me when I was about fifty, and I suddenly realised that there was this small problem.

It has happened a few times we've been away, and on one trip to Tasmania, I walked back along Cataract Gorge in Launceston, whilst my wife caught the chairlift back to the car! 
It happened also in Hobart when we drove up Mt. Wellington, and I couldn't venture out on to the boardwalk. One other time was on a trip down in the south of Tassie, and there was this forest walk among the trees, called Tahune Forest Airwalk
I did it, but I couldn't go out to the end, and too much looking down is not good!

With flying, for me it is not so much the fact that you are up at 50,00 feet, but I just can't stand the bumps!!!
Luckily, we have had very few occasions where I have had to be really panicky, and our last long flights to and from the UK were sooooo smooth. On the way back from Singapore, we had 600km per hour tailwinds over the centre of Australia, and were fairly whizzing along.
As a consequence, this made our arrival too early into Sydney, and we had to circle around for a while, until we got clearance to land. Not quite what you want at the end of an already long flight!

The stupid thing is, I love sitting at a window and being able to peer down at the landscape below! Whilst in the US with my daughter twenty years ago, I had a window seat from Washington, D.C., all the way across America to Los Angeles, and just sat there and watched the whole continent pass below me. 

On one trip to NZ, I had some "calmer-downers" from my doctor, and didn't take them on the short flight to Sydney from Canberra, and it was, (and they have always been), one of the worst flights I've ever had.
(My neighbour tells me it's because the plane doesn't have enough time, on such a short journey, to get above the clouds, etc. So, by the time you're up, you have to start coming down again).
We changed to the larger plane to fly to Christchurch, and having taken my tablet, had one of the smoothest flights ever!! 

I couldn't do long flights without my wife with me. She is the calming one who holds my hand, and assures me everything will be OK!!  

We'll see how things go in March...

Self-catering, etc.

Things are progressing, and we have secured a booking at what looks to be a fabulous place, called 'Northcliff', across the Firth, from Edinburgh. We have it booked for a week, and that will allow us to venture out most days and do the sightseeing bit, and come home to the same comfortable place each night. 
You also get to have a few simpler meals, with your own stuff from supermarkets, etc, and that saves in not having to eat out most nights. Not that we don't intend trying out the local cuisine, but you have to pace yourselves, both in your diet and your money!

Also, it is just one lot of unpacking for a whole week!  It seems this place is very close to rail access into Edinburgh, so we intend doing that, and leave the car at the accommodation.
The other great thing is that it works out much cheaper than seven nights at a hotel in Edinburgh itself, so that's got to be a plus.

The other places we've selected for self-catering are a week down in St, Mawes in Cornwall, and another weeks' time-share in Aviemore in Scotland, near Inverness.
The time-share had never been a thing I would have chosen to be involved in, but we got the membership as a gift from my father-in-law, and it was greatly appreciated. However, I have never been really happy about the way it works, and any time I have tried to secure something, and search for an exchange property on-line, I come up a blank. It seems to me that you can select what looks like a fabulous place to stay, but you can never get it at the time you want it, even if you start looking months ahead!

The other thing too is that it isn't necessarily "cheaper", as you have to pay annual fees anyway, and there's no use paying your fees, and not using the system. Still, this time it has enabled us to have a week in what I believe is a very scenic area, and again we will have the base to allow us to go out exploring other parts of northern Scotland.

So, there's three weeks taken care of, and a lot of the other areas we are travelling to, we've done two & three night stops, if only because we have a few things to do in those areas, like adding to our family history knowledge base. I have relatives in both the Bristol and Nottingham areas, and we want to see them again, and perhaps ask more questions, and try to tie up a few loose ends in the family saga!

Bookings and deposits

Whilst we have always felt we wanted to leave some days free to do just whatever our fancy took us, there are always times you have to plan and book ahead. Having previously said we have never had problems with on-line bookings or payments, you may find that there are still some establishments who do not access internet banking, and ask you to send a cheque. 

However, they want that cheque in their currency, and to arrange a bank cheque from your own bank, will mean that you pay an extra fee for the service. So, if the place you've chosen is like that,  find another similar place that is more flexible. Things have changed so much, even in the 4 years since we were last in the UK, and many more business are much more accessible. It may also be beneficial in paying some things ahead, if the exchange rates are more favourable at the time you do it.

We were very lucky on our last trip, to have an old friend in Devon, who happily paid some deposits for us, from her own UK account, and we reimbursed her when we saw her.

Once you have paid your deposit on-line, you suddenly realise that you've already outlaid that money, and you will only have to pay the balance when you get there, or maybe just before you go. Either way, it is then out of the way. Of course there is usually an exchange fee for overseas transactions, but it is only a couple of dollars.

Keep a paper copy of you booking confirmation, and then just rock up and hand it over. If they then say they have no knowledge of your booking, (and that hasn't happened to us), you can prove the booking with your bit of paper.

Your need to book ahead might also be important if you realise that you will be at a certain point in your journey, which involves local school holidays, or bank and/or public holidays. We will be coming off a cruise around Mull, in Scotland, (which are not cheap, but most are already booked out right through 2011 and into 2012),  and then heading down to Edinburgh, all on Good Friday at Easter, and I have yet to confirm if, like in Australia, many things are closed on a public holiday! (Thankfully they aren't, and we should be able to pick up the car, and stock up for our stay down near Edinburgh).

Take note with any booking website you deal with, if they have any special cancellation conditions. Some are really good, and there are no penalties, and when we had to cancel the trip this year, I was able to get back all we had paid out, as most reputable companies and businesses have a clause regarding a death in the family. It also helped that we had taken out the travel insurance for the entire period of our proposed holiday, and some items were covered by that as well.

So, we have our arrival covered, along with some particular weeks within our holiday, and a few bits in between, and also the important bit of knowing your flight time to come home, and being able to get to Heathrow in plenty of time.

Next time, Time Share and self-catering...