Having studied the famous architect Antoni Gaudi at university, I was very much looking forward to visiting his home city, Barcelona, and seeing his amazing designs first hand. Before leaving on our trip, we had planned two days of Gaudi and two days of other sightseeing and activity. Due to a misunderstanding on my part, our Gaudi days ended up being a bit more intense than planned.
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It was with great expectation that we were looking forward to a relaxing train trip to Salzburg after the stresses of air travel, the flight to Prague in particular. After our walk with the suitcases to the main railway station, we arrived far too early, but were soon on our way in a comfortable compartment. However, five minutes into the journey we were advised of the change that all the emails were about.
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Having enjoyed almost unbroken great weather in Scotland, Friday 23 June was a miserably cold and wet day to be leaving Edinburgh bound for Prague. I guess this turn in the weather reflected my mixed emotional state, once again leaving family and friends, but with a couple of life long ambitions ahead – visiting Prague and Barcelona.
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Having had a continuous stretch of great weather in Scotland, it changed as we were leaving to drive to Manchester on Monday (19/06). It was very overcast and, by the time we approached Manchester, it was raining. On the way, we stopped at one of the service areas for morning tea (Gretna Services) and another (Killington Lake) for lunch. The purpose of this short trip was to meet up with friends, Alli and Pete.
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After a family focused weekend and everyone went back to work, our next trip was to the Isle of Mull on the west coast of Scotland. Mull is accessed by a number of ferry routes operated by Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac), our most convenient being from Oban to Craignure.
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I have already introduced one of our activities on Orkney – a visit to the doctor. This meant a trip into Stromness in the morning. While I was in with the doctor, K managed to take a walk around the town. When I got out, I took the opportunity to have a quick walk around the dock area to take a few photographs. After returning to our accommodation, we set off to visit a few more points of interest.
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Having arrived in Orkney on Monday evening, it is now Wednesday morning. After two nights of very broken sleep due to coughing bouts, I have given up trying to fight my condition and made an appointment with the local doctor. Since regular RAT testing has been negative, I really need to get something to help. In the meantime, we managed to get around the main attractions yesterday.
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My first task on arriving back in Edinburgh after our three trains trip was to drop my daughter and two nephews at the airport for their departure to their Turkish holiday destination, leaving us to look after her house for a few days. This gave us the opportunity to visit three attractions and to have lunch with my brother and family.
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One of our ‘side trips’ involved three trains in a circular journey to the north. We have a number of these organised, generally during the weeks, with weekends based in Edinburgh. This means that we are away when my children are at work and able to catch up with them and the grandchildren at the weekends. This is my first visit back to Scotland since my mother died in 2019, so it makes it easier to go travelling.
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Our big trip for 2023 is dramatically different from our trips of the previous two years – rather than being on the road with the camper trailer, our arrangements favour a long flight and staying with relatives, friends and in Bed & Breakfasts. Our arrival into Edinburgh airport after a journey that extended over about 30 hours, including 21 in the air, was a thankful outcome after a last minute potential major hiccup.
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