Retirement travel. Well the fact is, there hasn’t been much of it this last couple of years for obvious reasons. In one way the predicted travel that was intended to form a central plank of our retirement hasn’t happened either. This on account of somebody, that would be me, getting two dogs just two weeks into our retirement. We have managed annual trips to Ireland but that’s about it.
Maybe it’s the recent absence of travel, particularly this last two years, that explains why I’m making a cock-up of it now it’s back (we think) on our agenda. This in the form of travelling to Colorado in May to visit Durango and the building plot that last year we gifted to the children. We’re excusing our extravagance by telling ourselves it’s a good way of celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary (although that’s not until August).
I used to be quite good at organising our trips abroad. I positively enjoyed it. Now it’s a chore and the absence of practice and possibly my diminishing brain power, means not only do I not enjoy it, but I’m making mistakes.
I’ll give you one example, just in case you’re thinking of travelling state-side and will need an ESTA (it’s a kind of visa required for travellers to the USA). Beware choosing the first website that comes up when you Google ‘ESTA application’. The clue is the little term, ad. Which I missed and, thinking it was the official site which it has deceitfully been designed to resemble, I paid £79 each for Mrs Summerhouse and myself when if I had found the actual official site, slightly lower down the page on Google, we would have paid $14 each.
They included a little passage on their site which apparently means we had waived our right to cancel. Money gone out of our accounts and no getting it back. I think we can say that this caveat was included because they knew that when people found they had been deceived they would try and get their money back. To say I was furious would be an under-statement but mostly at myself for my gullibility. And I repeat I used to be so good at this kind of stuff.
Anyway consider yourself warned do not fall for this cheap trick like I did. Tomorrow (I started writing this retirement travel blog on Sunday, partially as a writing as therapy exercise), we’re off on a more modest travel adventure. We’re going to meet friends on the Yorkshire coast. First in Sandsend and second in Filey and Scarborough. Hopefully no room for mistakes here.
I don’t think we need a visa to reunite with the sea or maybe I’m making a mistake here as well. By the time you start reading the next part of this retirement travel blog I will know one way or the other.
And here we are at Ox Pasture Hotel near Scarborough (see photo above). We’ve just come from Sandsend where we had lunch with our first set of friends, walked the doggies along the beach and, as billed, saw the sea for the first time in over two years. It hadn’t changed at all. Which, on balance, was a very good thing.
Scarborough used to be a great place to buy second-hand books when I worked here. There don’t seem to be so many bookshops now but I did find an old favourite and bought two Agatha Christie books which I’ m hoping I haven’t read. Mrs Summerhouse bought a Michael Connolly from a charity shop. So all perfect holiday reading even in the age of Kindle on her iPad.
Retirement travel summary
I’m afraid I can’t wait until the end of this two day trip and keep to my Tuesday schedule, so that means, among other things, that it’s going to be a short retirement blog but that’s the way it has to be
PS I’m assuming I can post this blog at the hotel tomorrow morning as has become my solid habit but now I have to check. If nothing appears you will know I’ve failed -again.