On The Road Again

Next week, I am heading back to the place I love the most, California. I plan to take the boy, hang out with my family and visit some of the places my Granddad loved to go to when he was there. Paying my respects, and filling my world with his happy memories.

So while I am busy packing and getting prepped for the trip, I thought I would share with you some of my favourite shots from my past trips, ready for hitting the locations again with my new camera! (I opted for a Nikon).

Enjoy!

Las Vegas by night (I know, not technically Cailfornia)

La Jolla Shores, and the seal colony

Jellyfish at San Franscisco aquarium

The Bluffs, Del Mar

 

Cable cars in San Franscisco

Whats The Deal??

Deal sites.

I’m obsessed with them. There, I said it.

On an almost daily basis, I will go through said deal sites and look at what they have to offer me. And on the whole, I find some fantastic bargains. I have had discount contact lenses, dinners out for 2 and even a holiday through these sites, and on the most part I am fairly happy with them. Granted, we did bring the average age on the holiday down by 50 years, and enjoyed some rather eclectic cabaret singing, but there was 40 degree heat, a pool and a beach, and some relaxing memory building with my best friend. Which is all you really need in life, right?

But recently I have been left a little disappointed by the deals they offer. I recently booked a deal for me and the boy to go and have a seafood platter dinner (with lobster, what more could you ask for) and when I called to book they never picked up. Eventually I got the cleaner, who wouldn’t pass me over to anyone else or take a message for me. Right. I called Groupon and complained and they returned the money. All good.

Then last week I excitedly found a deal to Reykjavik (a place I have always wanted to go) and a friend who would go with me, and excitedly booked. For days after I emailed to reserve our spot no one responded, and calls were often met with the engaged tone. Again, when I finally got through, they tried to charge me extra (“The time you have booked for is VERY busy”) and also tried to send us out on days different to those we had booked, and from an airport miles away. it culminated in me very calmly stating that it was false advertising, and the lady at the company (I’m too much of a lady to name names) hanging up the phone on me. Perfect customer service, right there.

I’m kinda gutted. I had my heart set on exploring the wintry tundra of Iceland in my ski gear (because I don’t use it for skiing, do I?) with my BFF. And now, if I want to, I will have to organise it myself for a higher cost. I don’t mind doing that, don’t get me wrong, but when it’s a flippin good deal, it’s all a bit disappointing when it’s too good to be true.

What are your thoughts on deal sites like Groupon? Would love to hear about your experiences.

Fireworks!

I love bonfire night. I love the whizzing and the banging of the fireworks, and the crackling of the logs on the massive bonfire. I love the fact that it smells of autumn, and the bonhomie of everyone all gathering round a big pile of smouldering twigs to celebrate the catching of a man trying to kill the king. It doesn’t seem to matter to people that it is stems from religion and this isn’t something that most people in the UK are enamoured with, because Guy Fawkes was a Catholic trying to oust a Protestant King, it just matters that we all go to the nearest field to watch a scarecrow being ignited. Fab.

My cats, on the other hand, do not. I never got to spend a bonfire night with my kittens as by that time they were firmly in ex-boyfriend lair, never to be returned, but two cats live at my Daddy’s house. Jake is a three legged ginger Tom who is partial to walking with a limp in his front paw when in the company of strangers. This is often amusing, but takes the biscuit when perfect strangers knock on our front door to tell us that they think our cat got hit by a car. He then recovers miraculously and pegs it through the door, straight to his bowl. He is nothing if not a show pony. He is named Jake after the rhyme about Jake the Peg (the character had an extra leg rather than one missing, but my sister has poetic licence) and my Dad affectionately refers to him as ‘Tripod’.

The other is the little ball of mischief. She is a tiny little cat who we have had since a kitten, and she resembles a little owl. She has really long fur and these little sticky up ears that twitch and flatten when she hears something so teamed with her big, beady eyes, she looks like a bird. It’s quite amusing. They live in relative harmony, Rosie teasing the old man and nipping at his ears, Jake permitting her to do so until he loses patience and hisses so that she curls up like a hedgehog and goes shooting off to hide in the sofa. That is, until bonfire night. The loud bangs and sharp whizzes are fairly disconcerting for the menagerie, and they both become very loving and needy, as if to say “Help me, human! I don’t like all this noise!” we dutifully shut them in the kitchen and put our warm clothes on, ready to see the bangs and sparkles in their full glory.

What is your favourite holiday?