Home sweet home!

Well my first Solos holiday in over four years has come and gone and no surprise there but I thoroughly enjoyed it yet again! Even though it was only just over a week long, I felt like I'd been away for about a month and needless to say, the travel itch is well and truly back and just waiting to be scratched!

I hadn't been getting much sleep the week prior as I had this stupid cough which, while it wasn't particularly severe, was enough to wake me up pretty much on the hour every hour. Then I happened to spot another video by one of my favourite Youtube doctors where he recommended putting Vicks on the soles of your feet and explained why it might help ease the coughing - and bugger me but didn't it just work!!!! My friend dropped me at the train station in La Roche, which turned into something of a nightmare. The ticket machine must have come out of the arc as it was very user-unfriendly so I went to the service counter to confirm that the ticket I finally managed to buy would indeed take me all the way to the airport - which it did (not that anybody checked it though). I then asked how I could get over to the other platform and the lady told me to "go out of the station, turn right and I would find the underpass there". So I did just that, left the station (in scorching heat), crossed over at the level crossing - and ended up on a construction site, so had to turn round and retrace my steps. It was only when I was almost back at the station that I realized I'd dropped my cardigan so had to lug my case back to the construction site, all the while thinking I'd gotten there so early but if I didn't get a move on I might still end up missing the train! When I finally located the underpass I was horrified to see that it consisted of 40 steps (20 down and 20 up) - no ramp and no lift! What the flip???? I mean what about people with heavy luggage, or pushchairs, or wheelchairs - or people who simply couldn't physically manage it? By the time I'd gotten my case up to the 30th step I thought I might have a coronary and that's when a kind young man picked it up and carried it the last 10 steps. Even though the airline allowed 23kg I had only packed 14kg but it still felt like I was transporting dumbbells! What a stupid set-up for a railway station - but at least I figured out a solution for next time and that would be to get on a stop earlier where there are no steps at all as everything is on the flat!

When I got to Geneva train station I had to change trains to go to the airport and that was when a Roma gypsy woman and her two kids decided that they weren't going to take the escalator after all but would follow me into the lift - all the easier to trap me and ask for money, you see. Well I was hot and sweaty at this point and told her exactly where to get off! In the end I got to the airport too early to check-in, but when I saw the crowds in the food hall I decided to take myself up to the fancy restaurant on the top floor and while away the next couple of hours in relative peace!

The flight to Mallorca was uneventful but the Spanish have this disconcerting habit of clapping when the pilot lands - which might lead one to think he wasn't normally very good at that kind of thing right? Anyhoo, I'd booked a hotel near the airport for the night and very nice it was too - although the mattress was a bit softer than I like so it felt somewhat like I was sleeping in a dish of rice pudding. I had thought I'd get washed up and go out for dinner but in the end I just bought a sandwich and a bottle of water and had an early night. Then next day it was back to the airport to meet up with the main group and head north to our hotel for the duration!

Everyone had been on at least one Solos trip before and it turned out to be a nice group - with no "pain in the bum" types like there usually is. As it happens that turned out to be not quite accurate, but that's a story for another day.

The resort wasn't quite what I expected in that it seemed to be more of a party resort but in the end I quite liked it and the party animals in our group had plenty to keep them occupied! The "Bee Gees" were playing at one of the bars the night we arrived, followed the next night by Michael Jackson. I didn't go to any of those shows but had a great time on the lovely beach the next day where I had a foot/leg massage by a Vietnamese man with fingers of steel - absolute bliss!

The next day was market day so a few of us had a wonderful time wandering up and down the stalls until we could take the heat no more. One of the ladies talked me into buying a new bikini and we ended up roaring laughing with the lady stall-holder as she was flogging her wares. When I got back to my hotel room I tried that thing on and while it did indeed fit I honestly looked like a Rubik's cube with a pair of knickers on, so out came my tried and trusted "whale harness" and off to the beach I went again that afternoon where I found out that "Madonna" was playing in another bar later that evening. I never went of course, but it was nice to have some quiet time in anticipation of a couple of fast-paced trips we had lined up over the next few days. More on that tomorrow!