Week-end Away & Turkey 2010

In May 2010 we went away for the week-end to Weardale, Nr. Alton. Our sons and prospective daughters-in law had bought this as a present for my husband's 60th birthday.

http://www.touristnetuk.com/ne/durham/towns/weardale.htm

We travelled to a fabulous farmhouse, arriving early on Friday afternoon. It was a complete indulgence for us, especially my husband who had absolutely nothing to do all the time we were there.
The meals had been planned and food taken accordingly and for evening entertainment we played board games
The weather was warm and sunny the whole week-end and all we could see from the farmhouse was rolling countryside. The only sounds to be heard were that of lambs and birds. What a tonic.

Turkey
In September we went abroad on our own for the first time. We chose Calis Beach in Turkey as it is an area that we know, it is flat and is renowned for its spectacular sunsets.

Olu Deniz

Calis Beach

Hotel Oykun

                               
The hotel that we stayed at was carefully chosen as it is a small family run hotel which is only a very short distance to the sea front.We were meticulous in our planning and chose to fly from a small local airport and  pre-booked seats.

All went well for the first five days: It was a most welcome break for my husband who could enjoy a very well-earned spell of relaxation. The weather, hotel and its location couldn't have been better and each evening we went to the seafront to watch the magnificent sunset.
Then horror of all horrors: whilst we were out on a boat trip I became most unwell and for the majority of the trip needed the loo. What a long day this turned out to be with no provision to leave early.

Once back at the hotel my husband spoke to staff and immeadiately went by taxi to the nearest large town to the duty chemist for all manner of tablets. I couldn't keep anything inside my body - not even water - but I know that I had to keep drinking to avoid de-hydration. How poorly I was and so afraid that I wouldn't manage the flight home which was in 36hours.

We hastily arranged for wheel-chair assistance at the airport and also to have our seats swapped for the flight home. Thankfully all went well, but we were so happy to be back in the UK. The G.P. was called and arranged for tests to be done,(I had been unlucky to have picked up some kind of bug/virus) it took around three weeks before I began to eat and I lost quite a lot of weight.


This taught us quite a lot - it doesn't matter how much planning, you cannot anticipate everything. We are now certainly more aware of medical extras that would have proved useful in this situation.