Not a weekend of leisure

[Suff]

I left the apartment at 4am yesterday and drove the 5 minutes to east Midlands Airport. Flew out to limoges at 6am and Mrs S picked me up. 30 minute delay on the flight for air traffic control.

I got home and worked with Mrs S to take the trailer to the skip (decheterie), then went to the local DIY and bought a cubic meter of wood.

Back home and got changed to go to a retirement do for two French friends of ours (the reason for the visit). I had to retire to the car for an hour as I had no sleep the night before. I missed the Breton dancing which was a shame.

Today I worked helping Mrs S clear the garage and connect our freezers to the newly installed power in the refurb we are doing in the utility room.

Flight back from Limoges to Stansted today at 18:30. Fortunately the plane arrived early. I had a ticket booked with EMR at 21:02, miss it and I have to buy another ticket, full price.

My heart fell when we arrived, there was a bus. However I boarded and walked right forward to the driver. He had to open the doors to arrivals and I got out of the bus and into arrivals before he opened the rest of the doors.

Automated passport refused my passport (first time ever), but passports was empty. Went straight to the stairs and they were blocked off, took the lift and it went up and down twice before it got to the bottom, I got the train with 3 minutes to spare. Next train would have been too late.

When I got to St Pancras I had 25 minutes. No platform info so I had to ask, headed for toilets and then to get some food. Made the train with 3 minutes to spare. I am first class, no refreshments on and the toilet is broken!

When I arrive at Loughborough, I have to walk into the town to get the airport bus because it does not serve any train stations

The bus runs hourly. All going well, I will get back to the apartment before 1am.

Our friends have been to us several times, but we have never been invited to them. So I thought I should go. There were no other British invited so it was a compliment.

Worth the effort.

[JanB]

Blimey Suff, you do have problems with your travels.

[saundra]

I used too love reading your travels in the past
All I can say is hope you get a good nights sleep tonight

And a lie in tomorrow

[Suff]

Thanks,

Well the bus was worth walking for. £2 to the airport. I could have taken a taxi to the bus and not had to wait 45m but that short break allowed me to get a pint and go to the toilet again.

If I did not know the airports, trains, tube etc, this journey could have been a lot worse.

In the end, despite Challenges, it has pretty much worked out.

In July we go with my Uncle to Canada to see our daughter and two of our grandchildren. In the end I booked the flights but my Uncle offered to upgrade us to business class.

We will take the train to Paris and stay overnight in the Hilton. The next day we fly to Toronto and then onto Calgary we will meet our daughter there and stay overnight. Then we'll go to Kinmerly and stay for a fortnight. On the way back we will fly to Montreal and connect back to Paris.

It took me nearly 2 hours to book the tickets as I found. That full business class with lie flat beds was only available one flight a day from Toronto to Calgary and only from Calgary to Montreal, once a day on the return. Not helped by the fact that I nearly booked us to Vancouver.

That journey should be a lot more interesting.

[JanB]

That sounds much better Suff.

Our Canadian friends use TAP to get to here and back to Toronto. Never had any problems.

[cromwell]

Very tight on the timings there Suff! I thought Limoges airport was having the runways resurfaced?

[Suff]

They have completed it Cromwell. All looks very new.

The timings were tight but to give more leeway would have probably meant 3am back at the apartment or even stuck in London or looking for a late bus.

In the end I booked a really tight schedule and accepted I might wind up paying again for the ticket. It is low season after all and there was a good chance of making it through the airport on time.

Saturday I have to get up really early, clean and empty the apartment, pack my car and head back down to Lincolnshire to pick my daughter up and take a ferry over to Calais. I will either get home at 2am or have to take two hotel rooms for a short sleep and arrive Sunday lunch.

I would have used Brittany ferries but, at a cost of over £400 one way when I booked, that wasn't happening. It is OK once a year for holidays but every month just makes it prohibitive.