We were all up very early this morning to get our luggage outside our doors by 6:30am and down to breakfast by seven. It was time to say goodbye to Newquay and take our long bus journey back from where we each came, except me who was not going back to Ipswitch but to London to catch my connecting Shearings tour bus to Lake Como. Unfortunately due to flooding, I wasn't able to get the connection so the Shearings people, who are really fabulous, rearranged everything so that I could go with the group who are leaving from Dover tomorrow afternoon rather than this morning and they put me up at the Clifton Hotel which is about a half hour from Dover and where all the tour guides/bus drivers also stay tonight.
It's was a long journey with about 6 hours from Newquay to London change over station where about 1,000 shearings guests from all the British destinations used this week including Bath and Windermere all converged to change to different coaches taking them each back to their starting point. I said goodbye to the lovely people I'd met and everyone was so sweet. I got lots of attention this week being American and so they were so kind to seek me out to wish me a Merry Christmas and good trip. It's funny how people who were at the hotel with us but not necessarily on our coach would just come up to me and start asking me questions about where I was from in American and even last night an older man came over to me at dinner and said he'd been wanting to ask me all week if I knew where the "buck" in reference to a dollar bill came from. He'd heard on a television program that it was because of deer traders years ago who used to use deer pelts as currency or something like that. I told him that sounded pretty good to me as I really never gave the word much thought and his explanation was as good as any I would think of. And another man who was traveling alone because his girlfriend is handicapped and he is her primary care taker at home but every 7 weeks she insists that she goes to either a family or friends house or to a care facility so that he can get away and relax. He has been to so many places in the States as well and he and is girlfriend at one time made a trip to the west coast and visited over 15 states driving thousands of miles he said. They love America and he is planning a trip back this winter to Arizona. Very nice man but he said his friends get tired of listening to him talk about America and his trips so he was excited to talk to me. It was nice to be so popular and sought after for conversation, although I didn't really have to do much talking most people were happy to do the chatting away which was nice.And we even had a lovely Russian women in her 50's who was traveling alone, a gift from her two grown daughters, and besides me as an American she was the only other non-British person. She was really very interesting, a doctor who worked many years in Africa where her Husband, a doctor as well is still working and she loves to swim so each night she would go to the beach across the street from our hotel and go skinny dipping in the ocean. Crazy, I know but she loves the water and she said after a few seconds it wasn't so cold. She even went around 6am this morning.
So that was our trip to Newquay, a wonderful experience and I'm so glad I got to see the area and meet such lovely people.
After saying goodbye to everyone and after the Shearings staff who have been amazing getting me connected with my next tour put me on a bus with a group of people who live outside London and off we went with our driver Jason and we took such a fabulous trip through London, past Buckingham Palace and lots of other great sights all decorated for Christmas and through the suburbs of London to drop all the other guests off. And then he and I headed to Folkestone which is a charming eastern seaside town near Dover. Jason dropped me off right at my hotel and then went down the street to his. My hotel is so great I almost wish I was staying her for the holidays. I have a fabulous, small room decorated in country décor and with a huge window looking right over the ocean - so perfect!
I put my luggage my room and then headed into the city center which is right down the street for a nice walk and to get some Indian food for dinner. I found a small, family owned restaurant, that had delicious food. It's run by a husband and wife who have lived in the UK for over 20 years and own the building the restaurant is in and actually live upstairs. They only open 3 nights a week so I'm glad it happened to be one of those nights and since I was the only person there because it was early the wife chatted with me for awhile about them coming from Calcutta and how now that they are semi-retired and only open 3 days a week they spend a lot of time reading and she sews, knits and does home décor and keeps very busy. I met so many retired persons while I've been here, especially on the Shearings trips and I am so impressed with how they all just keep so busy and there were several people with walkers, canes and wheelchairs who managed to make it out and about on all our day trips and really made the best of it. And rain does not keep these people down, I'm sure after living here, in some cases over 80 years, you just pick yourself up, open an umbrella and get out the door.So that was my day in transit and I'm so happy to be downstairs in the hotels comfy, old-fashioned sitting room and typing up my blog. I didn't get many pictures but here are a few of the decorations in Folkestone center and some of the lovely windows and the hotel sitting room. And fortunately I have until 12noon to bop around town and see the sights before the driver comes to get me.
