Dilemma

...Still in the sad post Boris world... and the sad world post Shirley's mum. Time to think about another holiday...

At first I thought Hong Kong. Just £715 return with Qatar Airlines then £35 a night at the Silvermine Beach Hotel on Lantau Island. I had it all planned out - until that is I dipped into "The Rough Guide to Hong Kong and Macau". To paraphrase, it said that one would be advised to avoid visiting Hong Kong at the end of July through to mid-August because of heavy rainfall and the possibility of typhoons... So I have decided to give Hong Kong a miss.

So where? Where? USA? We'll be going back when Frances spends a year at university there. Caribbean? Again that rain factor and besides Jamaica and The Dominican Republic sound risky. I have been just about everywhere in Europe and coastal Spain for example holds no sense of excited anticipation for me. Perhaps Sicily? Perhaps Turkey again - remembering the lovely holiday we had in Kalkan two years ago.

I trawl the Internet for deals and I check out travellers' reviews in Trip Advisor. I seek maps and photographs. I find out what the beaches are like. Sandy or pebbly? Is air-conditioning included? Is airport transfer included? I tell you, I am a travel maniac and though I say it myself - rather wizard at finding flights, accommodation and exploring the fine details of resorts.

I notice the time that a flight departs and when it returns as flight times in the middle of the night can sometimes really spoil your holiday experience. I wish you could do online degrees in tracking down great holidays because I'd win a first. It's much more fun than the daily grind of being a teacher - the books to mark, the assignments, the reports, the targets, the improvement plans - the crap! I'd rather be dreaming of the famous lagoon at Olu Deniz.

I'm circling around like a harrier hawk. Beneath me I see Turunc and Side, Gokova and Kas, Fethiye and Olu Deniz. It hasn't always been like this. I remember our first excursions abroad as a young married couple. We were still paying for those trips six months later as we counted the pennies and struggled to pay phone bills, the mortgage, the credit card bill etc.. Now, if we wanted to we could go anywhere in the world. Does that make us rich? You know. I think it does. To be solvent and secure. So many people on this planet would give their eye teeth to be in our position. It's not really a dilemma after all. It's a bloody dream come true!