Home again

After a bumpy flight we are now back home in Blighty and suitably immersed in the reality of having to go back to work to pay those bills!! However, as is customary I like to summarise the things I have learnt on my adventures and share them with you all.



The sun setting from our bedroom.....an arty visual metaphor!

 Food and Drink

1. All inclusive does not actually mean all inclusive!

2. If you order chicken here be prepared for chicken on the bone

3. Wanjo juice (local juice) is a great mixer for vodka based cocktails (and a great way to get cocktails on your "all inclusive package")

Culture

1. Gambian people are perhaps the happiest people on the world.

1.1. Yaya the bartender is the happiest person in The Gambia, thereby making him the happiest person in the world.

2. A Gambian river trip to fort James Island will seem to take an eternity - thankfully there was beer on board!!

3. Children make use of all manner of rubbish. My empty water bottles became impromptu drums for the children to entertain the next group of tourists.

4. The amount of Delasis you get for your £1 makes for an impressive Del Boy wad of cash.



The children used my empty bottles to *drum* up some business.
The one on the left is a relation of Cousin It from the Addams family!



Look at my wad!!

Climate

1. The weather here is deceptive. a wind can make it seem cool while in fact you are burning yourself to a crisp.

2. Sarah does not like Gambian evenings outdoors - too chilly!!

Wildlife

1. 50% DEET Jungle formula does not deter Gambian Mosquitoes; having a Sarah next to you does!

2. Magpies here are black, like crows and the crows here are black and white like magpies. 

3. Make sure you bring your own loo roll to Lamin Lodge, otherwise you will be regretting it!

4. You cant get any good wildlife shots with an iPhone.

Green Wood Hoopoe in the tree. See if you can find him? The
limitations of the iPhone for twitching!!



The General showing us his commando skills....

Anyway that is all for another year (which promises to be a very hectic and busy one!), so it is time for me to sign out. I hope you enjoyed the blog, and keep your eyes out for the next one.

Gammy Beer......

Previous experience (and regular blog readers will know) has taught me not to try and chance it by going down on the day as traffic chaos in London could seriously increase your stress levels!!! So early on in the process Sarah and I decided to book in for an overnight stay, so there was no mad panic to get here on the day. 

Things were going smoothly and we were half a hour into our journey down the road when I had a horrible sinking feeling - did I pack the malaria tablets?? A quick pull over onto a side road and opening of the case brought an element of relief as I had packed them deep in my case. Thankfully, I remembered them as I think Sarah might well have throttled me on the roadside having spent the past few days reminding me to pack them!!! 

On our way to the hotel we popped in to visit Sarah's mum, before setting off to brave the concrete nightmare that is the M25. Unusually, the road was stress free, and there were no hold ups whatsoever and we have arrived at the Hilton at a reasonable time and are currently settling in next to the runway in preparation for out early flight tomorrow morning. There is something strangely relaxing about the sound of jet engines roaring past ever 45 seconds or so (sorry, did I say strangely relaxing?? I meant to say irritatingly regular!!) but on balance it is a price worth paying to have the luxury of getting up in the morning and just walking across a sky bridge to the terminal.

To add a little bit of grandeur to our stay we have upgraded to the executive package - where you get a nicer room, a bit further away from the runway, and you get access to the executive lounge which has a happy hour from 6pm to 9pm. For an additional £35 I figured both Sarah and I could easily quaff our way through that much money in drinks so here we are sitting in the exec lounge drinking tea and nibbling scones and cookies, waiting until 6pm before the real fun begins...... 

***update***

We have supped some cocktails, and drank the complimentary booze and nibbled a few hors d'oeuvres before retiring back to the room to order room service. It became clear to me how the hotel to offer you endless free drinks, but the. Answer was simple it was to stock the bar with all manner of nasty cheap lagers that no one really had the desire to drink. That said, there were some admirable efforts by people to get value for money - we particularly liked the American family who instead of taking the kids to the restaurant for a meal (where you would have to pay), decided to dine exclusively on the nibbles in the executive lounge. There was also the three Mancunian single males who occupied a small table each and spread their laptops and papers out to make it look like they were working hard, while supping on endless bottles of 1664. We all know what they were downloading, and it wasn't the latest sales figures ;)

Anyway, I digress. We have drank, we have eaten and now all that remains for me to do is fall into the land of nod (Sarah is already there) so that is all for now, I need to head to bed so that I don't miss my flight - the next post will be from The Gambia where I will endeavour to give you some insights into Gambian culture, while swatting malaria laden mosquitos away with one hand and supping a nice big cocktail with the other.....