Published on 12, July, 2020
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I don't know if this counts as a hobby.
Travelling on coach holidays and exploring new places, this fits in with my photography hobby.
At one time I was terrified to travel on these type of trips. I didn't know how to behave in hotels or how to cope with travelling with complete strangers or how I would cope with my lack of foreign languages
Then I did thirteen trips in one year. And I realised that this could be considered obsessive behaviour.
My trips in 2015 were.
I got to see a lot of countryside, different cities, met many interesting people. Enough hotel experience for a lifetime. Went by Eurostar twice. Ferries 12 times.
It's a nice hobby but expensive.
Which places did you feel most welcome? Received most Open mindedness?
I used to live in Devon too, and Cornwall
Sounds amazing....thank you for sharing that....
i had planned a break in Italy but had to cancel as work needed me.
There are beautiful things out there to see....I’ve been told!
Back to your question about Europe.
One thing that I will always remember is the return trip from Italy, as we approached Milan, I could see the snow capped Alps in the distance. It reminded me of the scene from the film, Von Ryan's Express, with Frank Sinatra and Trevor Howard, where the escaped prisoners cheered as their train approached Milan and they saw the snow capped Alps.
Europe!
First trip was to grand burstin hotel in Folkestone with trips to Canterbury and full day trip to Brugge in Belgium by cross channel ferry.
Hotel, large with bad reputation. Check trip advisor!!!! It had an A wing, B wing, C wing. My first thought, hotel or prison?
Day trip to Brugge. Short trip to Dover, 45 min wait for ferry, 1h 30m trip across channel, 1h 30m by road to Brugge. 2h in Brugge. Then back again. Including long wait at passport control in Calais. And we saw the Calais 'jungle' with migrants from the motorway. Knackered from all the travelling in one day.
Second Belgium trip I did was for 5 days and stayed in Ostend at Royal Astor hotel. Again trip to Brugge only 40min to get there. And trip to Dutch town of Sluice.
Third Belgium trip for 7 days. Visits to Brugge, Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels.
Germain visit was to Rhineland, nice family hotel, a converted convert, trips to Koblenz, limberg and boat trip on Rhine and a couple of other towns. I got pick pocketed on this trip. My fault
Italian trip 7 days, with overnight stays at French hotel, with organised trips to Florence, Rome and Pisa. Hotel in tourist town of montecatini termi. Hotel Byron. A nice touch was that with key card they gave a paper slip with hotel name, address, Tel number and email. In case we got lost.
Italy was sunny and beautiful in late April temp in mid 20s c. England was rain and around 8c at home.
To MartianTom and Elephantintheroom
Railway from lynmouth to lynton. I walked up.
Now traditional shops in Totnes
Brixham
Dartmouth
Buckfast abbey
Minehead
Plymouth
....and what about Europe
Visited Lynton and Lynmouth with mum and dad in 1971. Big memories of that trip... going through Cheddar Gorge on the way, then driving up Porlock Hill! Do they still have the cliff railway at Lynmouth, which takes you up to Lynton (or vice-versa of course!)?
I could go on for hours. But that would indicate an autistic self involved person. ( Which I am BTW).
Anyway, going back to 2013, my sister and her husband invited me to join them on their new year holiday on the isle of Wight. That was my first experience of an organised coach trip and staying in hotels. And first ferry trip from Portsmouth to Cowes.
That was a good hotel experience. The Royal esplanade hotel in Ryde. The hotel manager came onto the coach and explained to everyone the meal times etc and welcomed us. I learnt about checking in, checking out, leaving keys at reception when leaving the hotel and why. Keys had massive brass label attached to them. In fact our coach party were the only guests staying in this budget hotel.
Two of you are familiar with Devon.
First trip to Devon was to a hotel in Torquay. The Tor park hotel. We had organised trips to Totnes, Dartmouth, Buckfast abbey. brixham and Plymouth. Have photos of all. Coach driver was very talkative giving us history of places and some very bad jokes!!!
Second trip to Devon was to the other side, lynton, just above the famous flooded village of lynmouth(1952) and we had organised & memorable trips to Minehead, Ilfracombe and Barnstaple.
I met some interesting people who lived near me at different times and learnt facts such why a church in Guisely near me has new stocks. Turns out that the old historic one's were stolen.
Will post a few photos later.
I love south Devon and Dorset, most of my seaside holidays in the 70s were down there. Agree not quite what it used to be but being a Midlander and not having a beach within a reasonable driving distance to just nip to I still really like the south west for my much needed summer hols. Not Cornwall though, not keen on the vibe there and its too far LOL! In recent years I've come to love the Isle of Wight too particularly the south and eastern bit.
I miss the Devon I knew then, in the early '70s. Then, Totnes was still a traditional Devon market town, full of native Devonians and native character. Now, it's like a cross between Richmond-upon-Thames and Glastonbury - full of rich hippies. The village we lived in was mentioned in the Domesday Book, and had families living in it who went back many generations - including to the middle ages. Now, virtually all of them have gone - displaced largely by Londoners. It's an enclave of the ultra-wealthy. It's very sad, but it happens everywhere, I'm afraid.
Did you? I used to live in Devon...I miss it
If you say Kent, I'll be surprised. It's a very strange place. People are generally quite insular and not very friendly. Maybe that's why it kind of suits me - not that I'm insular in other ways. Judging by some of the attitudes I've heard on the streets and read in the local papers over the years, people are pretty reactionary.
Where did you visit in South Devon? I used to live near Totnes.