10 not so perfect 2015 moments

Blogs tend to focus on the picture perfect postcard side of life… Nobody really wants to read about the less successful or less beautiful parts of the year.  But actually looking back on some of the less glossy moments of the year has made me chuckle.

The travel linkup theme with the lovely Emma, Angie and Jessi for January is travel wish lists and 2015 favourite moments, however as I have already shared these I thought I’d go off on a tangent and tell you about the matte side of life!

Failing the passport control questioning

All I can say is thank goodness I got the questions wrong in the UK with a British Passport! This year I have lost count of the number of times I’ve popped over to Switzerland on business.  Normally I go to Zurich and rarely do I get stopped and questioned at the UK Border.  The time I did get stopped I’d been to Geneva – which the guard politely informed me of when I told him sleepily that I had been to Zurich, ‘no Mrs Parker, you were in Zurich last week, this week was Geneva’… It was time for a holiday and thankfully I went directly from the airport to a few days of sailing (where I didn’t get enough sleep either)!

Being seasick

The worst malaise one could wish for when you are supposed to be having fun and away from creature comforts (thus not being able to crawl in to bed and recover).  I have never been seasick before – I’ve felt seasick, but with time spent staring at the horizon it has passed.  On the Fastnet Race this year it got me for the first time.  The sea wasn’t that rough but the angle we were sailing across the waves wasn’t very comfortable – I was sleeping in the forepeak (front of the boat, where it is the rockiest) and by the time I was up on deck in my waterproofs for my watch I was feeling pretty grotty indeed.  Sadly it was dark so there was no horizon to focus on.  Instead I clipped my life line on and sat with a few of the crew inspecting the view of the water and our impact on it!Aborted landing 

Oh Flybe how I love thee…  I had a day trip to Edinburgh on a breezy summers day.  I had a smart new work dress and both of the stewardesses on the flight up and back had complimented me on it – I was pretty impressed with that!  What I didn’t like so much was the extra lap of the Hampshire countryside we did.  As we came in to land at Southampton the plane must have been caught unexpectedly by a large gust of wind (or the pilot got it wrong?) and our back wheels touched down half way along the runway and noticeably close to the motorway that is at the far end of the runway!  Immediately the propellers roared back in to action and we toured Hampshire one last time before a successful landing that got the pilots a cheer!

Dairy free disappointment

I love nothing better than afternoon tea and my university friends and I have a tradition of taking tea for a birthday in October.  This year we went to the Landmark and we hadn’t been for a few years.  The winter garden restaurant is light and airy and fantastic for people watching – it also isn’t overly stuffy and so is always a good choice.  I had of course phoned ahead to make sure my dairy free reservation was in place – no problem!  Sadly on the day, it was not possible for the chef to make dairy free scones – I guffawed and explained that ‘block stock is dairy free and I can make them myself…’  It was disappointing that despite the detailed booking they hadn’t prepared – they did recover it well though as I had a fruit platter big enough to share with our table, crumpets (which I adore) and we didn’t have to pay for my meal (which paid for an extra bottle of fizz instead).

While I am on dairy free disappointments, a shout out to dining ‘sans lait’ in Belgium.  At a work conference at a hotel near Brussels it didn’t go smoothly….  One evening the rest of the table were all served pheasant and it looked dairy free to me.  However I was served spinach and ricotta pasta.  I politely asked the waiter if they had given me the vegetarian dish by accident.  He checked with the chef who popped out ‘non, madame, vous êtes dans l’erreur, un peu de fromage’…  In the end I got pheasant, which funnily enough had no dairy!

Americas Cup World Series

The Great British summer in full force – wind force that is.  This year Portsmouth hosted one of the events that form part of the America’s Cup qualifying rounds – and with Ben Ainslie Racing based in Portsmouth and with plenty of friends involved in the team, we got our tickets well in advance for this grand day out.  On the Saturday the weather had been fine while we watched on TV, on the Sunday however it was windy and wet.  We had a really fun train ride over there – the whole carriage was full of sailing buddies all dressed in full waterproofs- we all looked like we were going sailing and it smelt a damp and musty like a yacht!  Sadly by the time we arrived in Portsmouth, one of the big screens in the race village had blown over making the area unsafe for public use and the event had to be cancelled.  We did still have a nice day out with friends though!  For 2016 we have tickets for both days so won’t be taking a chance with the event management and their TV screens!

Drinks in India 

The trouble with short business trips overseas is that it is necessary to get enough sleep in a bid to avoid too much jet lag.  On my last night in Hyderabad I decided that after work and an early evening swim, I would order room service and get into my pyjamas before 7pm.  I was just about to log off (as I had a 4am start to get to the airport) when I got a Skype message from a colleague ‘are you free to chat’.  I assumed they were in the UK and replied ‘speak tomorrow, I am in India, flying back in the morning, I’ll call when I land’. ‘Where abouts, I am too?’ was the next message, to which I replied that I was in Hyderabad and ready for bed. ‘So am I, are you staying in the Westin?’ was the next question.  I am indeed… I could see where this was going.  ‘See you in the bar in 10 minutes?’  Up I got, work attire back on and off to the bar for a few drinks… Is the world really so small – it would appear to be so!

Blenheim maze confusion

My father always tell me to read the instructions carefully – he knows me well as I rarely do.  When a friend and I went to Blenheim in the summer we didn’t even realise there were instructions for the maze – why would their be: you go in, find your way to the middle and retrace your steps back out?  Not so at Blenheim as there is an entrance and an exit.  We of course went in the exit without stopping to read any signs and were totally befuddled by the lack of a centre, until we eventually popped out the entrance and all became clear, as we read the instructions for the maze…

Acadia in a cloud

We went to Acadia National Park during our 10 days in Maine – throughout the trip we were blessed with stunning weather and revelled in all the sunshine and glorious views.  Sadly though on one day it rained, and it rained, and it rained!  Still – scenery is pretty in all weather right? Hmmm – maybe not in what felt like a monsoon.  We toured the park and to be fair, there were bits of prettiness and good views when the rain did let up momentarily.  However Mr P didn’t even get out of the car at the top of Cadillac Mountain to take in the view… As you can see I was stupid enough too and it was stunning.  It said on a sign that ‘from the summit you finally get the sense you are on an island….’ Not so much on this visit!

The mystery of the iPad

This is actually Mr P’s story – but I couldn’t leave it out, as it is incredible.  We flew to Boston in first class – and it turns out that his iPad cover is the same cover as the first class upholstery (after a few tipples that is).  iPad got left behind in the 747 nosecone.  As soon as we realised we tried to get in touch with the airport and also BA customer lost property at the airport.  Futile – even the twitter team support that is normally so helpful was futile and frustrating, none of the teams that should answer phones at Boston do, nor do they reply to voicemail and even when we were back at the airport for our return leg to London BA were pretty unhelpful and didn’t know how to get into their safe where they store lost property…  iPad was lost, insurance claim was made and a new one purchased.  2 months later Mr P gets a call from a private members club in London (the respectable sort). iPad had been found in one of the rooms and they reset it to find his contact details and got in touch.  Mr P’s father now has an iPad.  How the iPad got from an plane stand in Boston to a fancy central London members club will never be known but I have a feeling it would be an interesting tale!

Hotel Parker feedback

This review by a friend is one of the funniest things I have read this year and so I thought it was a funny way to close out this post.  It is fair to say I have a little way to go before Hotel Parker hospitality levels reach the heady heights of what I seek whenever we go away….

Happy new year to everybody – what bits of 2015 make you cringe or laugh as you look back?  Amongst these minor mishaps 2015 was a fantastic year for Penelope and Parker – we had some amazing adventures on land, sea and air.  2016 is as yet unplanned (although we are planning on sunseeking in the Canaries in February and in Israel in April/May) but its fair to say my bucket list isn’t getting any shorter!