Swingate Inn Dover

Next stop was Calais, sort of. We didn't really stay in Calais but we kept getting drawn back there for one reason or another. It is the closest city to the U.K at just 34kms of water in between the two. We first decided to stop there to stretch our legs and grab a bite to eat. The city isn't huge and besides a few nice buildings there wasn’t too much to see. We got some good food at a restobar ...

... 9 Oct:
Take Train – Bareilly Express to Abu Road
Departs 15:40. Arrives 23:41
Take cab to Mt Abu – 27kms
Night in Mt Abu

Sat 10 Oct:
Visit Mt Abu
Mid afternoon take RSTC bus to Udaipur – 4 hours
Visit Udaipur
Night stay in Udaipur

Sun 11 Oct:
Leave for Jaisalmer via jodhpur
Night stay in Jaisalmer

Mon 12 Oct:
Visit Jaisalmer
Night stay in Jaisalmer

Tue 13 Oct:
Visit ...

... br>There’s an excellent take in the movie ‘Swades’ where Mohan (Shah Rukh)
is on a local train that comes to a halt in some village in Northern
India. On the platform, there’s a little boy who’s running and
screaming, ‘water for twenty five paise’! Up until then, Mohan hadn’t
touched anything but bottled mineral water but for some reason he buys
the ...

Here we go......

I recently watched a movie called 'Julie & Julia' starring Meryl
Streep as Julia Child and Amy Adams who plays a character called Julie
Powell. Julie turns 30 and has nothing interesting in her life. She
doesn't enjoy her job and wants to do something that she enjoys. She
loves cooking and is an avid fan of Julia Child who has written a
cookbook for servantless American women! So Julie then decides that she
is ...

... 1 litre every 40 seconds and we took almost 50 litres. 30 minutes I had my finger presses to that damn "fill" button! So we are on this ferry, now heading back to Dover for reasons as yet unknown!!


- Injuries

It turns out we damaged an crew member on our departure so return to drop him off with A&E!
On our way again, 45 mins late

... London and ride that train south thru Dover and into the Cruise Terminal. It was a time apart from the fast modern world of today. The layout of the cruise terminal was just as it was in that bygone day when the trains came right into the port. Out of the terminal we left with the confidence of seasoned travelers buoyed by the fact that we were headed into a port in which English was the major language. Once again we could walk amoung the local inhabitants and communicated freely ...

... the good work and save the whales! (sadly we didn't see any this trip), Tuesday we went to say tata to the roos and koalas at Melbourne zoo (didn't see many of those in the wild either)and then - on another big day for Australia -sorry day for the stolen generation of aborigines- being televised live everywhere from the new government in Canberra (we stood on those lawns now on tv!) - we cram everything into our bags for the last time and head ...

... and got to take a few photos before getting ready to board the ferry to France.
I was unfortunate enough to have my backpack picked out of the bus from a small random check of our tour bus, so I had to go outside and have them look through my bag, then get searched as a security measure, while everyone on the bus giggled and stared! I am quite ticklish, so I was squirming all over the place when I was getting touched by the security guard. oh the shame. haha.

... to call a cab as I saw a married couple with a big Celebrity Cruises envelope on their luggage. I talked to them and they took us along in their car (it was waiting already outside the airport). So drove to Dover and arrived in time to catch our cruiseship the Constellation. In the evening we sailed to Le Havre, France and left Dover behind us.

... for our lifeboat drill. There's nine of us in our group (1 of which is working on the ship) and we all hit the sports bad on board for a quick drink and snacks. This trip is technically my graduation present, so my Ma set it up so I had cake and balloons in our room. Nice touch. Later, we settle in for a nice 4 course dinner before heading to bed. We're out at sea for a full day, across the English ...