Later in the evening of our first night our group was joined by an Irish man who flew in from Dublin (quite the character) and two older ladies who arrived from Manchester. These two ladies reminded me a little of The Odd Couple. Irene had obviously been quite the looker in her younger years and was indeed still very glamorous and sociable. M - her companion - was the complete opposite, a kinda "quieter than a church mouse" type. I did get to speak to M a few times because she had at one time owned a house in Normandy (and apparently very much regretted selling it) but others said that when they tried chatting to her about the many solo trips she had taken she pretty much blew them off! That kind of thing doesn't bother me much because I just do my own thing anyway, but I heard later in the week that things were somewhat tense between Irene and M because Irene wanted to do more things with the group but ended up "having" to stay with M all the time! Hence I don't travel with anyone on these trips 'cos my days of having a regimented schedule are well and truly over! Anyway, I mention this as it's relevant because of what happened on the last night! More to follow!
There was also another couple of Scottish women travelling together and who also seemed to fit The Odd Couple mold somewhat. They too had slight tensions during the trip but ended up being okay together for the most part. I got along really well with the outgoing Scottish lady but the quieter lady had actually had quite the life too, it turns out. She had been born in India (her father was manager of a tea plantation) but when she was six her grandmother in Scotland had become seriously ill so A (the quiet lady) was shipped off to boarding school in Scotland and she hated it! She said she had never seen anywhere so cold, wet and grey in all her life, but I suppose having been born in India that was a normal reaction. Ultimately she ended up loving Scotland but said it wasn't easy at first. And Mrs. Quiet Lady had also travelled all over - although Asia was her main love, for obvious reasons! There was also another quiet lady who I put in her mid-70s (as did others) but turns out she was only 68 and she had been doing the solo travelling thing for the past 18 years. She seemed to have been everywhere and was such an interesting person to talk to, so I guess it really is true that you should never judge a book by its cover!
Anyway, the next day six of us signed up for the aforementioned island tour and it was wonderful, if a little hectic! Our first stop was in a town called Inca to visit a leather goods outlet. Mallorca is known for its leather goods and cultured pearls and their wares really were lovely and very reasonably priced, but in the end I realized that I actually don't need any more stuff. I really do have everything I need in that department so decided (reluctantly) to pass! After that we ended up crawling over a hair-raising horseshoe pass to get to our first stop where we would pick up the boat. Hats off to the bus driver is all I can say!
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| This was the "easy" bit. We had crawled through forests with steep drops over the side for an hour previous to this! |
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I had been to Mallorca many, many years ago with my boyfriend and I remember Soller being stunning then, and of course it still is. André told me that he and his then wife took her grandma to Soller for a holiday and she just loved it (I'm not surprised)!
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| This is a google picture of Soller, as I couldn't get my head out of the train window quick enough to take a decent picture! |
After a quick lunch in Soller we caught the rickety old tram for a few km up to the town of Soller and from there hopped on the train for a one hour ride back to our bus!
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| Another google picture I'm afraid! |
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| 13th century church! |
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| Town centre! |
That evening it was back to the hotel for a quick shower and dinner in an excellent Argentinian restaurant on the beach where the food (and the margaritas) was wonderful and very reasonably priced. In fact the food throughout Mallorca was consistently good so guess who's gonna have to go on a diet now that she's back!
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I agree wholeheartedly about traveling alone! What's the point on spending money on a vacation and then not participating? If they were complaining about standing for the ride, then they're way to sedentary. For some old people, that's fine, of course they don't realize that is what makes them old.
ReplyDeleteThese two ladies weren't sedentary and in any case were offered seats on the tram but Irene at least said not to worry. I'm guessing it was M as she really was miserable but to lie about something like that just isn't on. Somehow I doubt Irene will go on holiday with M ever again!
DeleteYour trip sounds wonderful. I think I'd struggle to go on a solo holiday with a group of people. As you say, there is always at least one and I'd probably end up opening my big mouth!! I can feel the heat off your photos, oh to be somewhere warm and sunny now! I wait in anticipation of hearing where to next! x
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm perfectly happy on my own, I do like to have trips organized now that I'm older, whereas when I was young I planned everything myself. The nice thing is that there is always someone to talk to and often if I was sitting on my own reading, someone would come over for a chat. I'm sure you'd be fine on a solos trip although you're right, there is always "the one"!
DeleteThere's a woman who does a Tik Tok series called something like, "People I won't travel with." She covers all the different sorts of folks who go on tours and cruises with whom she has no interest in hanging out with. It's great!
ReplyDeleteOh I'll have to see if I can find it - I'm sure it's a hoot! Heck maybe I'm even featured in it, although I doubt it as I'm more than happy to do my own thing. Personally I can't think of anything worse than a cruise and I'm sure some of the characters would make your hair stand on end!
DeleteThe photos are beautiful. I'm glad you also enjoyed the food. That is important. lol Sounds like a lovely trip with a bit of excitement with the group. There is always that one, isn't there?
ReplyDeleteIt was a great trip and the mixture of being on the go and then having plenty of down time did me the world of good. And as for "the one", I can't help wonder why they actually go on these trips because they surely can't be happy!
DeleteWow, it looks like a fabulous trip, whether traveling alone or not; beautiful sights and nice people.
ReplyDeletePretty much all of my solos trips have been a real pleasure. The worst was Croatia but only because the weather was so awful. And generally speaking you do meet some nice people on these trips. Thankfully the pain-in-the-arse types really are few and far between!
DeleteOh these pictures are beautiful. I am glad you had a great time, a nice way to relax after the last few years. That odd couple is hilarious - you're right, why go on trips with people you obviously don't vibe with / should not travel with!
ReplyDeleteAs I say, there's always one! The worst so far was a guy on our trip to Sri Lanka who didn't like dark skinned people and hated rice. Halloooo, Sri Lanka????? And then he went on to an extended sailing trip, couldn't get out of the water up the ladder and the crew were mainly Bangladeshi - who apparently bent over backwards to accommodate him and he was just so rude!!!! Like you say, why bother?
DeleteThere are some trips worth dieting for - sounds like one of them and if nothing else the oddballs give you something to talk about for years afterwards don’t they?
ReplyDeleteDefinitely worth dieting for. I don't see the point in not enjoying yourself on holiday, although I never go overboard eating. I mean there's only so much you can eat right, but I do like to try the different dishes. And as for the oddballs, I find them quite fascinating really, as long as they're not rude to the staff. I always wonder what makes them like that, but I guess we'll never know!
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