Thursday, September 03, 2009

How to book a holiday

We still haven't had our summer holiday yet. I forgot how much colder it is in September and we're only going as far as Brittany. That's north France so not much warmer than it is here.

My brain fog is back. (I need to get the doctor to give me B12 weekly again because monthly doesn't seem to be enough.) This made booking the holiday interesting.

The original plan was for My Beloved, my Older Son, Older Son's Fiancée and me to travel out together to a gite with a heated outdoor pool for a week. Then MB and I would move to a different gite near the sea and OS and OSF would come back and cat sit. It meant booking three separate ferry crossings but I managed it. After all, what could go wrong?

1. I booked both places to stay for the same week.
2. When one of the owners agreed to change our booking I had to rebook every ferry crossing so that OS and OSF could join us partway through the holiday rather than go home partway through.
3. I forgot that if we travel on a ferry on Sunday overnight then we will arrive on Monday, not Sunday.
4. I forgot that if OS and OSF travel on a ferry on Saturday overnight then they will arrive on Sunday, not Saturday. (Yes, even after making that mistake once I managed to make it again.)
5. I've emailed the property owners so many times with the wrong details that I just hope we're all agreed as to who is arriving when.

I got MB to check the details and he says they are now correct. I won't be sure till we get there.

We'll be away from this Sunday until the 19th September.

(Edited to add link to definition of gite.)

28 COMMENTS:

Bevie said...

While this does deserve an oh dear rating, I have to confess that - reading it on your blog - you've made it sound rather amusing. So I rated it gay.

The problems are frustrating, but hopefully the holiday itself will be both relaxing and fun. I look forward to reading how that went.

Had to look up "gite". Sounds like a great time in store for all.

Have fun!

Stacy said...

But the details you had to keep track of sound rather complicated. I probably would have done the same thing. Hope you get to actually relax while you're on vacation!

Sarah Laurenson said...

I'll look up gite later. I'm sure it's a great place to stay.

No matter what, you persevered and I'm sure you're going to have a grand time. If something isn't quite right, sounds like you'll be able to straighten it out on the spot.

I do EmergenC regularly and that has C, B, potassium, etc. Not sure you have those there. Nothing like the shots though, I expect.

fairyhedgehog said...

Bevie, I thought it deserved an "oh dear" so I voted for that. Thanks for your kind wishes.

stacy, thank you! That's reassuring. Maybe I'm not completely losing it.

Sarah, thanks for the encouragement. I take a whole slew of vitamins but the B12 I can only get from the doctor. It's for fatigue and it really seems to help.

I'll add a link to a definition of "gite" in the post. I should have realised that French jargon isn't US user friendly - I have similar problems with Spanish in American books.

PJD said...

have a fun time!

Robin B. said...

Oh honey, sorry for the brain fog time hassles! But Good Lord, I can't think straight when I don't feel well - who can?!

This vacation sounds like a good idea, though. And sounds like a beautiful place...take pics if ou have a chance?

fairyhedgehog said...

Thanks, pjd.

And thanks, Robin. We're taking a camera with us so let's hope for some nice weather for taking photos.

Tara McClendon said...

Maybe that means all the kinks are worked out, and you can have a great holiday. :]

fairyhedgehog said...

That's a nice thought, Tara. Thank you!

Richard N said...

Enjoy your holiday FH. :-)

I'm going to have to talk you into starting a Flickr stream when you get home so we can follow your adventures in pictures...

fairyhedgehog said...

Thanks, Richard. I have no idea what a Flickr stream is. Won't a picasa album do instead?

Richard said...

This is my Flickr stream.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardthelandlord/

(They're all safe for work)

It's a similar idea to picasa, but works particularly well when you've got quite a few pictures as they're easy to add extra tags or add them to multiple categories to make them easier to find.

One thing I do particularly like is that as well as the categorised groups, you get a continuing 'stream' with the most recent picture at the top, a bit like blog entries - so the front page view is automatically refreshed as you add more.

There's also a free uploading tool so you can do a lot of the work off-line then push a whole pile of pictures to their server using it, so your browser isn't tied up if it's a big batch... it runs quite happily in the background while you do something else. :-)

I've been very happy indeed with the service.

fairyhedgehog said...

All safe for work? Wow! ;)

It does look good. I'll see if I can get some photos up there after the holiday.

We leave this afternoon, so goodbye to everyone. I'll let you know when I get back!

Richard N said...

Safe journey, one and all. :-)

fairyhedgehog said...

Thanks, Richard. We leave in a few hours.

Robin B. said...

Hope you have/are having, a wonderful time this week!

Richard N said...

Well, it not only went quiet, it's stayed quiet - so we know at least FH's own journey has happened ok. ;-)

Hey, we can tease her all we like now, can't we... then just grovel a bit when she gets back. :-)

Who wants a food-fight?

*Lobs a nice squelchy doughnut at Robin S, then ducks behind the sofa*

laughingwolf said...

brainfarts happen to all of us ;) lol

Richard N said...

They do - but they're there to be celebrated because they're fun. :-)

Sophie in the Moonlight said...

Thinking of you having fun on your hare-brained adventure. B/c no matter what, fun must be had when one's mind is playing such tricks. It's inevitable.

Robin B. said...

Hey FH,

I'm leaving in the morning for a business trip (no big excitement here - it's in Columbus, Ohio) - but wanted to stop by and say hi, and hope you had a great time!

You were missed!!

fairyhedgehog said...

Hi Robin, Thanks for your good wishes at the start and end of my holiday. I missed you too.

Richard, you are a very naughty boy. If I come and spam your forums it's nothing less than you deserve.

Hi Laughingwolf! Brainfarts describes it exactly.

Thanks Sophie. We did have some fun at times.

I'll post about it when I'm feeling a bit more recovered. I did miss all you guys. I was without any internetty goodness for two whole weeks. Not even an internet café.

Richard N said...

Welcome Home FH!

I hope you return refreshed. :-)

fairyhedgehog said...

Thanks, Richard.

The word is "knackered" not "refreshed". I came back to a dirty cat litter tray stinking the house out and a broken fridge. Rufus ran off for two days and the men came to put up a fence at 8.15 on Monday morning. Other than that I'm fine!

Lisa said...

How was your vacation?

fairyhedgehog said...

Hi Lisa,

It was OK but I've had a lot to do since I got back. I'll try and post about it soon!

writtenwyrdd said...

I hope it all worked out well and you all had a great time!

fairyhedgehog said...

Thanks, writtenwyrd. I've been too exhausted after it to write about it!

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