23rd December

Hmmm. Getting back to England for Christmas was interesting!! You know how there are some days when you are the pigeon and some when you are the statue??? Well we have just been the statue under a whole flock of pigeons!!!

Until it went wrong, it was such a good plan!! And it all went wrong in so many small steps with every part getting sorted….until….

Lets start at the beginning

We looked at many options for 2 people and one dog, finally deciding that the best was to travel by train and ferry. Using a ferry to Portsmouth was a good idea because we could then visit Frankie in Southampton first. A good plan, we thought. Booking the train on-line was difficult because we couldn’t book for the dog, but we sorted that by doing our booking at the station. Next we booked our ferry tickets, on-line. Within 48hours we had a reply e-mail telling us that the dog could not travel with foot passengers only in a car. That left us with a train ticket to nowhere and it could not be changed!! But we sorted that - Frankie agreed to travel out for a day in Caen, bringing the car so that Dom could sit in the car on the ferry. Another £100 but still the cheapest option. So far, so good.

A week before leaving Frankie told us that we would not be able to stay at her house because of an infection that was doing the rounds, spreading like wildfire. But that was sorted - she planned to drive us straight up to Lincolnshire, then drive straight back.

We finally set off. We had a lift to the station and our friend’s car broke down on the way there, but we had plenty of time and still arrived in good time for the train. It was then that Paul realised that in the last minute dash, he had not picked up his passport. But we carried on, hoping that we could sort it out at the ferry terminal.

The train was late arriving in Paris. We really struggled in the metro with a dog and lots of heavy luggage [I.e. wine!!!] so we missed the connection. We sat for 2 miserable hours in some cold and miserable station waiting for the next train which we realised would not arrive in time for the ferry. Beginning to run out of solutions by now, we were glad to hear from Frankie who had arrived in France by this time. She was able to book us all onto a later ferry, so once again, sorted.

Paul went straight to the booking in office and the easily arranged with immigration that he would be able to travel using his driving licence as identification, sorted.

We had a lovely evening in Caen, enjoyed a great meal in a restaurant and arrived confidently to check in. then came the crunch!!! The vet had not completed Dom’s passport correctly and he could not travel and this really could not be sorted!!

Frankie and her friend used our tickets, leaving us with the car [remember Dom needed the car!!] We had to buy another ferry ticket for us and the car, book into a hotel for 2 nights, visit another vet, hire a car when we arrived in England………….and yes we finally arrived!!

Hey ho!