Hello everybody and welcome to the first entry of Yark’s Massive Holiday Adventure!!! I say massive because, indeed, it is massive! About two years massive, in fact. And the next two months of non-working freedom!!!! (says Ark of Yark, who took advantage of me held spellbound by Ensemble Amarcord to seize control of the keyboard in a bloodless coup)(and then I had to fish for a compliment, duly given, which held up the writing of this blog for a further two seconds! I hear complaints! “Get on with it,” cry the crowd, in Monty Python style)
Anyway. This whole massivity is about to begin in just two weeks time (with only one, hopefully short week left of work, which, for me, includes a Team Lunch and Morning Tea, and therefore less time actually working!), so I thought it a good idea to begin by posting up a rundown of our plans, starting with our itinerary.
As a small aside, today we even started compiling our Winter Wardrobe, by spending vast sums of money on heavily discounted Kathmandu goose down jackets (we hope Michelle will be proud of us!). I don’t think I have ever spent so much money on one item of clothing, but we envisage these will stand us in good stead for the next two years. I might add that right now, in the middle of April, autumn in Melbourne, Mark is feeling cold and is sitting next to me in his down jacket! Okay, so I wrote that entire paragraph just to mention that point.
Okay! Itinerary time.
Itinerary
28th of April: Leaving from Melbourne airport at 11:30pm. Tears will abound! So we will spend the night in the comfort of a Thai Airlines plane seat (hopefully sans Bleeaaarrrghhh, Mark fervently adds) and arrive in Koh Samui on the 29th.
29th April – 3rd May > Koh Samui: Our beach holiday! We are staying on Big Buddha Beach, at a beachfront bungalow at the Secret Garden Bungalows. As you can see from the photos, we intend to just roll out of bed and into the ocean! Also on offer are Thai massages and the Ang Thong National Marine Park, and apparently we are very close to the Samui Monkey Centre (we are the Samui Monkey Centre).
3rd May – 6th May > Bangkok: 3 nights spent at Majestic Suites in Sukhumvit. It has air-con, and that may be all I care about! (that and the cost of 1670 baht per night) Other attractions include Thai food and wats!
6th May: Spent en route between Bangkok and…
7th May – 9th May > Zurich: We are staying a little bus/tram ride out of town at Kafischnaps, a B&B. Frankly, I haven’t read much in the guide book about this so stay tuned for updates!
9th May – 12th May > Lucerne: Staying a “long” stretch of 3 nights at the Hotel Goldener-Stern, as this destination was recommended to us by David, and pretty much everybody says, “Oh, you’re going to love this!”
12th May – 14th May > Gimmelwald: A little one street town off the beaten track in the middle of nowhere, as recommended by Rick Steves’s guidebooks. We have to take a train, bus and cable car to get to this place! We’re looking forwards to alpine scenery and walks, and, who knows, maybe even a little snow! The place that we’re staying at, Esther’s Guesthouse, offers in-the-hay barn sleeps during summer.
14th May – 16th May > Laussane: We intend to go to Lausanne via the Golden Pass rail, apparently one of the most scenic rail journeys in Switzerland. I think that will be a whole day of travelling, but that’s part of the enjoyment! We end up at the Lausanne Guesthouse.
16th May – 19th May > Lyon: We train to France for a Bon Weekend a Lyon! That’s the name of this deal that gives us one free night over the weekend at Hotel du Simplon. (I’m probably boring you with the names of the boring hotels that we’re staying in, but this also helps us know where we’re going next! I do have a map for this hotel, but it’s almost unreadable and the most prominent sign is a big yellow M that stands for Mark.. I mean, MacDonalds)
19th May – 21st May > Thusy, near Annecy: From Lyon we pick up a car that will last us for our entire French leg and drive backwards to Annecy. We’re staying at La Ferme du Champ Pelaz, and this isn’t a boring hotel – check out their website and eat your heart out!! We got all our French B&B recommendations from Alistair Sawday’s guidebooks, so if his tastes are different to ours, we’re rather stuffed. They all look helluva nice, though, and also some are quite reasonable.
21st May – 23rd May > near Lons le Saunier, Jura: This is why we need the car! I don’t know where on earth (or in France) half of these places are – definitely off the beaten track. And our B&B for these nights doesn’t have a website either. I hope we can get a good homecooked French meal one of these nights!
23rd May – 25th May > Haute-Saone, near Besancon: And it’s also why I use so many “near”s when describing these places. Don’t worry, we have good maps, that will hopefully show us the way to Les Egrignes.
25th May – 27th May > Territoire-de-Belfort: Since leaving Annecy, we would have been travelling almost directly north, through the Franche-Comte, along the Swiss & German borders, which is known for its beautiful scenery and parks.
27th May – 29th May > Vosges: Now we emerge in Alsace, between Strasbourg and Colmar, searching for German inspired meals. The Vosges is a mountainous national park, which hopefully houses at least one oak forest for Mark! The B&B we’re staying with also makes and sells herbed soaps.
29th May > Jaulny, Lorraine: For one night, as we pass through Lorraine on the way to Reims (taking in Verdun, I hope!), we’re staying in a castle!
30th May – 2nd June > St Thierry, Champagne: It’s rather unfortunate that we’re not big drinkers, since we’re spending 3 nights in the Champagne region (at Champagne Harlaut). We’re allowing time to make a day trip to Sedan, on the border of Luxembourg and France, and hopefully see a bit of the Ardennes forest.
2nd June – 6th June > Paris: Back to city life! We’re staying at a couple of B&Bs at the Latin quarter and intend to do a lot of sitting and sipping! There’s so much we didn’t see last time we were in Paris. Unfortunately we won’t be there over a weekend for more organ services.
6th June – ??? > London: Panic begins!
Would you say Bleeaaarrrghhh has a silent g?
Actually, no, I don’t think it does.
Wet Depature.
Rain fell abundantly and loving tears were shed – discreetly.
Stern Warnings at Airport.
A young couple were cautioned at Melbourne Aiport last night for failing to observe the sanctity of departure rituals and the finality of the sliding door.
My Dears, I’ve been asking in the village about this Samui place and it seems to be frequented by an international collection of idle people lounging around drinking, roistering and generally behaving in an untoward manner. If you must go near the beach, please slip,slop and slap. Remember what happened to poor Uncle Chetwin.
My Dears, what a busy schedule. Sharon at the bakery says to be wary of fruit from roadside stalls – she’s heard from a friend that in some of these overseas places they inject water into the fruit to make it weigh heavier. The water they use isn’t always pleasant.
I’m chi-Chi’s husband, if that’s who you were enquiring about. She’s a nervous traveller, but I did get her to Geneva when I did my stint with the UN. Will be fascinated to learn what you think of Zurich – too many gnomes for my liking.