Summer Holiday
It’s a long time since we packed our bags for a summer holiday. That doesn’t mean that travel has been in short supply but it does reflect the fact that our holidays have been a little unconventional in recent years. We didn’t pack a beach towel when we flew to Isafjordur but we did have a large calibre Magnum rifle in our baggage which was a necessary tool for cruising in Greenland. A couple of times we have had to struggle to get our bikes through the Manchester airport check in. Once our bags were searched because they contained large numbers of tinned steak and kidney pies. Frey Bentos of course! I think we had those in case we got trapped in the ice for a winter. My guess is that they are still lurking somewhere in a long forgotten bilge.
Like most travelling sailors boat spares and boat parts often feature in our supersized sacks. Somehow we have flown with two bathroom radiators and one year we had a gallon of antifreeze and a quart of vinegar to add ballast.
Today we lined up at the Cathay Pacific bag drop with a couple of unremarkable and matching wheelie bags containing more conventional holiday ware. A shirt and tie, a summery dress, sun hats and a pair of sandals each. No awkward explanations at the outsized luggage scanner and no tense discussions with firearms inspectors. With nothing controversial to declare our wheelie bags even disappeared on the normal conveyor belt rather than being ignominiously re-directed to the bariatric luggage department.
Yes we are off on a ‘normal’ summer holiday to the Southern Hemisphere to celebrate our nephew’s wedding near Auckland. In a stop over in Hong Kong we have a dinner date with the Ocean Cruising Club Port Officer at the Hebe Haven Yacht Club so a shirt and tie has displaced the Arctic Parka. We have packed leggings to wear under shorts in the hope that Kiwi trekkers haven’t changed their dress code since the last time we tramped a New Zealand trail 30 years ago.
I see though a few suspicious items have been sequestered in the deeper recesses of our bags. Beneath the beach towel I found a minuscule backpacking tent and a couple of sleeping mattresses. The trekking poles are in there too. There’s also a camp stove, a saucepan and a couple of plastic picnic spoons. I rather suspect that Sally’s view of summer in the sun isn’t quite the same as mine! It looks like my hopes of four star comfort will be thwarted and I will soon find myself panting up volcanos. Instead of beach side restaurants it looks like I will be fending off swarms of sandflies whilst munching a ‘not so yummy’ cereal bar!
Even without the sun-lounger, the beach umbrella and the infinity pool it’s going to be fun in the sun. A welcome change from shivering on a foggy watch and I am sure we will find plenty of adventures along the way to compensate for the lack of dog sledges, quirky boat malfunctions and steak pies.