2018 holidays!

[Plantaholic]

Sounds fun Zizi

[Oma]

Maybe that could be your next venture
Aunties Cakes .

[ZIZI]

No, I would stress too much if I was making for people other than family. I worry enough now when I do a cake to give that it won’t be liked or not be suitable. There are also lots of rules around commercial cake making, I expect a lot of people don’t follow them but knowing my luck I would probably ha e a visit from the H & S Police.

[Daisy]

Zizi - I'm sure all your cakes will turn out well, and look great.

We've still got nothing booked, and the weather has been too wet to go in the caravan. Hopefully later this month or early May we'll be out on the open road, heading for a scenic spot somewhere!

[ZIZI]

Well, I don’t like to say this (yes I do really) BUT we are planning another holiday in May. The last one a couple of weeks ago in Fueringirola was so cold and wet, mind you it was cheap but even so. At Malaga airport on the way home we were approached to enter a competition, only had to answer a couple of easy questions. If we had been on staff tickets we wouldn’t have been able to. We forgot all about it to be honest. Anyway we got a call from a holiday company saying we had won a holiday but we had to go into London to a presentation and collect the tickets and get £75 of vouchers from a shop of our choice. We were pretty sure it was going to be a timeshare sell but they assured us that we were guaranteed the holiday and vouchers as a gift for attending. As you know I am busy doing not a lot at the moment so we went. It wasn’t exactly timeshare but very similar and called a holiday club. It did look quite good but in current circumstances we decided against agreeing to a monthly payment for three years, anyway we are hoping that husband will retire September next year. We do have the money we could have paid up front but again in current circumstances better in my bank account than theirs.

So the upshot is that we have seven days self catering in an apartment with a choice of destinations (Turkey, Spain, Tenerife, Florida). We are going to try to get a week in May in Spain to coincide with our wedding anniversary. As the accommodation is free we can afford to fly business class to and from Heathrow which is a free bus ride from our house instead of trudging to Gatwick (husband is a skinflint). We have to phone tomorrow so it is not all cut and dried but it would be nice especially as, if we do fly business class, we will be able to go in the lounge which we cannot do as staff passengers. I have only ever been in the business class lounge three times in my life when I was travelling for work and it is very nice, champagne cocktail Madam? Don’t mind if I do actually. We do sometimes pay for lounge access at Gatwick which is quite cheap but only if we are driving there, parking and flying off early to mid morning or going on National Express which has become quite expensive. Going from Heathrow would be perfect. The bus stops outside of our house!

Watch this space........

[Gemini]

Interesting Zizi!

[Enfys]

We have nothing planned for this year after cancelling our cruise in May. I want to make sure all is well with DH re insurance etc, I’m sure it will be v.expensive, and once all his follow up appointments are out of the way we will feel more like planning something, I hope we can get away for a few days here and there but nothing big. However, we will enjoy exploring our local area, having meals out etc, after th last few months that sounds perfect to me 🙂

[Gemini]

All that sounds great and will do you both good Enfys.

When you do need travel insurance Enfys, I recommend you look at insurancewith.com. Set up by a lady who had breast cancer, and was appalled at the way her travel insurance costs rose.
OH and I use it. You may already have one just as good, but I recommend you look at it at least.

[Enfys]

Thanks Gem, will do.

[Daisy]

All that sounds great and will do you both good Enfys.

When you do need travel insurance Enfys, I recommend you look at insurancewith.com. Set up by a lady who had breast cancer, and was appalled at the way her travel insurance costs rose.
OH and I use it. You may already have one just as good, but I recommend you look at it at least.

Gem - that may be a useful contact for a lot of us. Thanks.

[Plantaholic]

Sounds good but in the meantime enjoy exploring your area and having meals out together Enfys.

[ZIZI]

We have travel insurance with our current account with Nationwide. It only covers Europe and U.K. as standard but I paid an extra £28 for us to extend it to worldwide. Husband has high blood pressure but they haven’t loaded anything on for that or his glaucoma so happy with that.

[Daisy]

Zizi - that's good because so many travel insurance companies load the premium on the slightest excuse!

[ZIZI]

I know Daisy, every year I investigate the possibilities and the difference in price is sometimes very small and you think oh well that is OK then, but when you get to the site and answer their questions all things change. I had cancer 23 years ago and am completely all clear, do not even have check ups now, one company loaded the premium so high for that last year that It almost matched the holiday price so when the Nationwide offer came out I initially ignored it but then decided to have a look. I had a breakdown at almost the same time ( cancer, accident where I smashed my face and my teeth just made me lose it completely!) and I was honest with them but they were fine about it. We don’t pay for the bank account and you get so few perks these days so I went for it. Good deal I say.

[Daisy]

Zizi - I really think some insurance companies just don't want business!! How ludicrous to load the premium for an illness you had 23 years ago!