Travels with the Prince

4 days in Scotland

cherylb — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 23:48:00 GMT

It was a whistle stop visit.

Neither John, nor I had been to Scotland before so we decided to take advantage of a few days in between our organised home exchanges and get the feel of this land of Robert the Bruce.

After two days in the hustle and bustle of London (and a 100 POUND parking fine), Scotland sounded remote. Which suited us just fine.

A train trip was enticing… but we had a nifty little car so why not drive? My younger daughter Kate asked on the phone from Australia: “You’re driving to Scotland from London - in a day? Are you crazy??"

And even though we spent a night in Leicester with friends, it was a long drive. It rained most of the way…and we realized we were, or are, a bit crazy.

Some UK residents would not drive to Scotland for their annual holidays.

We stopped in a little town called Pontefract for lunch. It’s the liquorice capital of Yorkshire. We found a tearoom - everything came with chips and baked beans, (sadly, no liquorice) but at least it was warm inside. We were dressed in warm coats and boots - this was July in Yorkshire. Perhaps summer was last week. After lunch we searched for an internet café but no such thing existed in this part of Yorkshire - free internet at the library was the only option. At least it was warm inside...

Tapping away on a public computer, I tuned into the conversations coming from a gaggle of elderly ladies who had settled into some armchairs nearby. One of them picked up a leaflet offering free internet for library users.

“Oi’m so sick of hearin’ aboot this internet stooff” she said. "Yer turrn on the telly and tis internet this and wee-fee that. It’s all yer heer. A load of roobish if you ask me.” Sorry if that doesn’t capture the Yorkshire accent – but you get the picture.

Well, that put us in our place – internet rules our life, pretty much. It determines where we stay while we are travelling, and we are pretty good at sniffing out any wi-fi on offer in any town between Perth, Australia, Perth Scotland and Perth Canada.

We packed up our brolly and laptops and jumped back in the car – our destination was a town called Aberfeldy in Perthshire Scotland. It’s not too far from Edinburgh, has plenty of accommodation, castles, walks, and solitude if you want it. And it has high speed internet.

In the process of launching our very own home exchange website called THE TRAVELLING PRINCE HOME ECHANGE - internet access is very important to us.

In Aberfeldy, I found a lovely bookshop/coffee shop/homewares shop called The Watermill, - inside lay all sorts of treasures. Our anniversary was the following day, so I purchased some gifts for John. A beautifully illustrated coffee table book about the Perthshire countryside (the fact that it weighed a ton and we would have to carry it half way around the world temporarily escaped my mind), impulsively added a CD of Scottish music (there were at least 3 good tracks, we discovered later) plus a pocket guide to the wild flowers of the UK countryside. Now we could identify all the weeds along the side of the road as we bumped along the country lanes, the tune of “DONALD, PULL UP YER TROOSERS” causing the sheep to stop munching and stare up from the usually peaceful meadows. The Skye Boat Song was one of our favourites. It was much more melodious and better suited to the atmosphere of Scotland.

As anyone who knows Scotland will tell you, 4 days is not enough to scratch even the heather-clad surface. We visited Blair Castle, and chose the self guided tour. The present Earl resides in South Africa more or less permanently and spends the odd week or two in his castle when grand earl duties call. The castle was a friendly place, with a lived in feel despite his absence. We particularly enjoyed the dressing up box in the ball room, where we donned kilts and assorted gear from yesteryear and danced around the ball room in style. Luckily it was deserted, as our impromptu tango would have appeared pretty unusual, dressed as we were in a kilts, top hats and sneakers.

In the evening, after dining off a sword holding some delicious Angus rump, we watched a traditional Scottish dancing performance, accompanied by the local pipe-band - in the very same castle ballroom where we had tangoed in the afternoon.

Read more about the Blair Atholl and Pitlochry Pipe Band - in 2009 they were the supporting act for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Yes, it's true - read for yourself.

The hairs on our arms stood to attention as the pipes and drums reverberated around the flagstones, staghorns and ancestral portraits, and drifted out into the misty night air of lochs, dales and crannogs.

Och, Scotland - you are a bonny place.

Postcard from Monterey

cherylb — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 16:30:00 GMT

Hello!

Sorry I've been a bit slow with travel updates recently. Some brief news...

We are on a home exchange in San Jose, which is about half an hour's drive from beautiful San Francisco. There's a great new listing on The Travelling Prince Home Exchange in Oakland Hills, San Francisco and it's close by to all the best bits of north western California, including Monterey, where we spent a wonderful weekend. The oceanarium has some amazing sea life on display. The jellyfish and sea dragons are mesmerizing and gracefully unaware of us humans standing entranced by their beauty.

We also went to a concert featuring OverTone, a South African a capella group who sang the sound track on the movie INVICTUS. The movie was directed by Clint Eastwood and set in South Africa, and based on Nelson Mandela's intervention to unite the apartheid-torn country during the Rugby Wordl Cup held in 1995. The 7 singers were brilliant, and broguht many a tear to the few South Africans in the audience. They were proudly introduced on the night by Clint Eastwood and his lovely wife, Dina who discovered them during the filming of the movie.

Off to San Francisco tomorrow for some shopping and a seafood dinner! Maybe a leafy sea dragon to decorate the salad?

Might be a bit bony - these creatures are for real!

Love from

Cheryl

Wombling along in Wimbledon

cherylb — Wed, 4 Aug 2010 11:56:00 GMT

Who remembers the Wombles from Wimbledon Common?

They were cute, cuddly and featured on a duvet cover that kept my elder daughter Amy warm and cozy whe she was a little girl. I still have the duvet cover, 20 odd years later.

And now I am in Wimbledon, feeding foxes outside my bedroom window. They're not cute or cuddly, but rather diseased and mangy looking.

There's a lovely village atmosphere in Wimbledon, although we got lost a couple of times as people do NOT know how to give directions. A teenage couple whom we asked told us which number bus to catch, but did not know if we should take it north, south, east or west. So we walked and got more lost. We missed the comedy show, and had coffee instead.

Just up the road from Liz Hurley in the Cotswolds

cherylb — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:59:00 GMT

CALLING FAMILY AND FRIENDS....Visit us in the Cotswolds – we’re just up the road from Liz (Hurley, that is) and have a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home with a garden and a great pub across the road! That's how home exchange works - you get an amazing home for practically free. That's why we started our own website called The Travelling Prince Home Exchange and we need members to help make your next holiday brilliant as well as economical.... and we also want to give away US $5000 (that's US as in United States) to someone who comes up with a great caption in our competition.

Anyway - more about the Cotswolds! I love the place and am finding it hard to keep away from estate agents windows. The prices are doing a good job of that though. So, yes, Liz Hurley has a farm close by, - I am thinking of writing to her in case she would like to put her property on our website as a home exchange.... you never know! She might love our place in South Africa or yours... wherever it might be. Her farm is near Cirencester, which as the crow flies is only a few miles from us. But then again, I have discovered that everything is pretty close in the Cotswolds – even Wales and London! We drove to Wales to pick up a laptop the other day. John loves his new Dell and is smiling again after his old computer packed up along the Ring of Kerry (don’t ask – I think it was the Irish Mist…).It's pretty hard to run a web based business without a laptop, especially when you are travelling.

According to the Gloucestershire Echo, Liz is going to get down and dirty amongst her pigs, goats and sheep in a reality TV show about life on her farm. You might even get to meet her on market days where she sells her sausages and burgers at the Cirencester Farmers market. Not sure what she will be wearing, but I guarantee she will look gorgeous in her wellies and scarf.

But as for me, we're off looking for wildflowers in a meadow (we have a new pocket guide book to help us tell the difference between ragwort and dogweed), and then to Daylesford for organic produce to stock up our very large pantry. Now we just need some guests. The first one arrives tomorrow - A dear friend of mine from school days (long long ago) in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Just busy planning the itinerary… Chipping Norton, Bourton on Water, Bibury, Stow on the Wold, here we come! oh... and the Daylesford organic farm which our home exchange partners recommended. I believe the farm and the shops are exquisite. Will bring home some duck salami for John.

Fair Atlantis

cherylb — Sun, 4 Jul 2010 21:03:00 GMT

Way down below the ocean, below the caldera and the sparkling waters of the Aegean lies the lost city of Atlantis…..so the story goes, as told by the ancient Greeks, and passed down from father to son, generation to generation, and re-told by the famous philosopher Plato in about 375 BC.

He tells of a series of islands, 9 rings of water and land, and in the centre was a hill on which stood a city of red and black stone. Today Santorini (from the name of the island’s patron saint St Irene) grows vines and tomatoes amongst the red and black stone of its ancient hills.

The people of the legend were wealthy and content, and there were two beautiful temples, one surrounded by a golden wall and the other by a silver wall. There were gold pinnacles and a roof made of ivory.

Around 1450 BC a huge volcanic eruption caused this island to sink. All that was left were the surrounding walls of stone which formed the caldera admired today by visitors from near and far. The force of this eruption was so great that it created a tidal wave of 250m (820 feet) which travelled at a speed of 217 miles an hour.

It reached Crete in less than half an hour, and destroyed the great Minoan civilization thriving on the island. Many more volcanic eruptions occurred in the following centuries and destroyed much of the island in 1956. Re-construction began once again.

A buried city was discovered in 1967 - many archaeologists believe this city could be Atlantis. Work is still being carried out to find out more about these incredible ruins and the stories that lie buried with them.

Weird and wonderful travel

cherylb — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 22:49:00 GMT

It pays to have a camera on you at all times when travelling, although this can often be inconvenient - like in the queue for boarding the bus to your plane at the airport and someone has this really intense look in their eyes and you know that AT ALL COSTS, they are determined to get to the FRONT of the bus, or the BACK of the bus, because then they just might get a better seat than everyone else. Although why this matters when all the seating is pre-allocated, remains a mystery to everyone without that particular agenda. But it would make a great photo... little old ladies sent flying, hair in disarray, bags being used as projectile missiles.

But sometimes the photo just happens - like when walking along the cliffs of Ireland spotting a young lady fishing off a 40 metre cliff, now I know there is something called the "Luck of the Irish" but isn't that expecting a bit much - actually hooking a fish and dragging it up the 40 metres to the top of the cliff? And what if the fish that bites is a HUGE shark, or something really hungry that swallows the bait in one gulp and takes off.... surely the thought would cross her mind that she might get pulled in?? Well,I guess the Irish have always had a different way of viewing the world and it's workings.

Today we went to a little local market, selling some really interesting stuff.... like toilet paper in bulk and socks with mud spattered on them. John thought he fancied some CD's to provide some distraction while driving behind tractors on narrow Irish lanes, so he paid about 10 euro for a handful, while the talkative salesman assured us he would not be asking a lot of money for them "te b'suure". As we walked back to the car, I jokingly suggested to John that he check that there actually are CD's inside the covers and out of about 6 CD's there was only one with anything inside! "Well, the connivin' teevs!" was the salesman's comment when he handing John his money back..."who would have tort to be rob'd like dat!"

More of the Irish to follow... te b'suure.

Green and quirky.... must be Ireland

cherylb — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:04:00 GMT

It's green,it's beautiful, the house in which are staying (a home exchange) - is amazing.

More to come - been travelling in the same clothes for too long!

So ... next day and a hot shower later, we stocked up on groceries - Irish butter, cheese (hard goats milk the best), milk, sweet and juicy raspberries as well as some excellent French rose wine to supplement the delicious local produce which our home exchange partners had left us - smoked salmon, home made bread, local jam and fruit cake.

Our early morning walk - well 9am is early when you have only gone to bed at 2 am - took us past spectacular scenery and some funny sights.... a horse that must have thought it was a cow as it was sleeping in the clover tucked up with the rest of the herd, friendly locals who filled us in on 19th century history and some awe-inspiring cliffs battered by centuries of powerful waves which have created blow holes, caves and dramatic drops into the ocean. Nary a fence in sight, besides those to protect the livestock from throwing themselves off the cliffs on a dark and stormy night, or when feeling depressed from finding out after all that they are a horse and not a cow.

We also visited a cemetery, and stomped carefully amongst the gravestones looking for the Lynch family (dead ones) and found quite a few, even John's name was there which was weird seeing that he was walking some way from me on the other side ...(of the cemetery that is).

After an afternoon of battling with internet we eventually gave up and had dinner overlooking the rising tide and setting sun, which finally sank into the sea at 10.30pm.

Oh yes, we also found the house down the road where Richard Harris lived - much loved by the locals apparently and affectionately known as Dickie. There's also a monument built in his memory although if it's life size he must have been pretty short.

It's that sort of town, is Kilkee.

John also returned the international adaptor which was kindly loaned to him by a friendly shop assistant. She realised she had none to sell him but did have one at home, so she trotted off home to fetch it - much to John's amusement. The shopkeeper's son also seemed to have the habit of lifting his vertically challenged mother up by the elbows and moving her away from the till when he needed to register a sale. A speciality of Syros island in Greece, some very expensive nougat, was handed to the shop assistant today as a thank you gift, but John said she looked a bit embarrased - he was not sure if it was from the gift or the horns he has grown on his forehead as a result of applying too much radium weed to his sunspots.

Another interesting day in Kilkee.

We have also decided the Irish are rather mad - swimming in the Atlantic ocean and smiling while they do it! If the warm weather continues, we have promised to do this as well, although I can't guarantee we will smile through it, and just might have to retire to rhe pub afterwards for some warming Guinness -(which I have rather grown to like.)

It has taken me almost a week to get used to going to bed in the daylight... yesterday was the longest day so the sun only set close to 11pm and rose again at about 4am. At first, I sat up until 2 or 3 am as my circadian rhythm adjusted daylight hours. It is beautiful nodding off at night watching darkness descend over the ocean. The curtains have to remain open for this to happen but at 4 am its hard to avoid the bright light than burns into one's eyesockets - even when you squeeze them shut really tight.

Santorini, Greece

cherylb — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 16:07:00 GMT

This is where I celebrated my birthday. What an amazing setting - somehow it is TOO beautiful, if that is possible.

Santorini has so much fascinating history -the lost city of Atlantis is said to lie somewhere in the volcanic depths... but more of that story later. and

This is also where our The Travelling Prince was born, (long overdue) or rather launched live to the world - so it will always have special meaning to us. It's good to know his roots are tied up with the legend of Atlantis too!

Remember that Donovan song with the haunting refrains.... (remark directed to a the hippie generation, anyone born after the 60's please ignore) "Way down beneath the ocean.....hmm hhm hmm hmm....)

Syros, Greece

cherylb — Mon, 7 Jun 2010 09:09:00 GMT

Our first port of call in Greece - and a little haven compared to frenetic Mykonos!

Edna's lovely villa provided us with shelter, a beautiful view and more inspiration for The Travelling Prince - I think her lovely home, and her friend Jacky's, probably sets the record for receiving home exchange visitors. And Edna, a true traveller, wrote to us from China on her way to.... somewhere... Hungary, I think, then Grasse and Paris before heading home to Syros.

It has a special beauty, steeped in history and honey from the purple blooms of the wild thyme that has grown in the hills for centuries.

Snapped on a beach on Syros, we thought this photo summed up Greece's attitude to keeping itself and the euro afloat...

The island of Syros smells of wild thyme

and the crumbling walls tell tales of life gone by.

A villa in the sun, and walks by moonlight

cats who love you even for a day.

The Pyramids by camel and horseback

cherylb — Sat, 5 Jun 2010 16:01:00 GMT

Cairo far exceeded our expectations.

After reading many bad reports on Tripadvisor about taxi rip offs, theft from hotels, being hassled by purveyors of fine goods, I was a bit trepidatious... but we had an amazing experience!

Our hotel room had the most comfortable bed with sleep inducing pillows, the local food was divine, the market place - buzzing with tourists - had even more locals doing their evening shopping and our expedition to the pyramids was incredible. It felt like we were extras in a Lawrence of Arabia re-make, John on horseback, me on a camel that snorted something terrible, led by an Egyptian boy with no English and a far away look in his eyes. We ate delicately spiced lamb and pigeon in a beautiful Arabian restaurant, entranced with the local bejewlled ladies smoking their hookahs

By chance, we hired by an excellent guide, Fathy, who went out of his way to make our day enjoyable and different. Yes, he did take us to a papyrus museum which happened to sell paintings on papyrus, and he did take us to a camel merchant with whom we traded money for a camel and a horse to take us to the pyramids. But he also took us to Anwar Sadat's tomb and memorial, overseen by guards dressed in dazzling outfits. They had to stand in the hot sun for hours on end, and we were the only tourists there to distract them from their duties. Fathy was passionate about Egypt's history which added flavour to his informative history lessons.

We also had some interesting taxi drivers, and scary taxi rides. One in particular seemed to think we were Princess Diana and Dodi look alikes - he was determined to re-enact the tunnel scene accident at about the same time of night as happened in 1998. John asked him politely to slow down, and he reluctantly reduced his speed from 100 to 80 kms per hour which was comforting. The speed limit was 50, but judging by the dented cars, no one takes much notice. It reminded us of another taxi ride, late at night in the streets of Hanoi - but that's a story for another time...

South Africa - too little time

cherylb — Tue, 1 Jun 2010 21:55:00 GMT

I arrived in South Africa a week before John.

It was wonderful to catch up with friends, help my mom get back on her feet (or rather get her left wrist working better) and settle into life in our lovely apartment in Plett.

It felt like "home" the moment I stepped inside the door - and oh! the view...

PMS

cherylb — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 08:41:00 GMT

It's that time of the year - John and I are suffering from PMS: packing, moving, storing.

I thought I was over that particular ailment, but no!

It has struck again. And we have a month to go...

I have a few lists in my head - it's probably time to get them down on paper, especially the "to do" list, but until then...

PLUS LIST

Launching our business
Going travelling
Being able to help my mom in South Africa
Seeing my much loved friends
Being back at our apartment in Plett
Giving my car to Kate
Seeing new places
Having adventures with John
Taking my mom to Ireland

MINUS LIST

Packing, moving, storing
Saying Goodbye to my girls
Packing, moving storing
Not seeing my girls for 4 months

An aside: Yesterday I spent a few glorious hours on my own at Peregian Beach, 2 minutes walk from our house. It's not often the waves or currents are gentle there, but they were, and it was a pleasant way to spend a few hours and finish my book:

"The Elegance of the Hedgehog". Strange title, but a beautiful book.

And on the beach:

Butterflies head north

dancing above sand and sea

brave gossamer flight.

We are butterflies, off on another adventure - our brave gossamer flight!

Photos: 2010 trip

cherylb — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 08:02:00 GMT