After breakfast i thought i would go for a walk to find the market and local beach, it was further to walk than i thought. After lunch i spent the afternoon on the beach, i am in my apple cart now, sunbathing and swimming.

After dinner i sat at the grill bar, i was having a few vodkas when i was beckoned over to join some people. His name was Al originally from Liverpool but now living in Canada, he spoke with a Canadian accent but could still speak Scouse. The two ladies he was with Maureen and Colleen were sisters from Canada. Maureen asked me was i going the disco, so i said ok great. So the four of us went the disco, we danced and had some drinks, Colleen got talking to a Hungarian guy from Canada. So we all got together and had some drinks and shots, we had a great night. It turned out to be Maureens birthday the next day so Colleen and me put it over on the microphone and everyone sang Happy Birthday. Unfortunately Colleen and Maureen were going home the next day.

I had a good long sleep about 10 hours. I went for breakfast then went and lay round the pool for an hour until it was time for the welcome meeting. I booked to see the dolphins, i couldn’t wait for that, it was something i had always wanted to do. After the meeting i went to the beach, it was fantastic sunbathing and swimming in the ocean. I stayed there until about 6pm then went to shower and change for dinner.

Dinner was a bbq outside and at 10pm they had a water ballet show, how they don’t fall over i don’t know. I had lots of vodka and later chatted with a Canadian guy and a German couple, then retired to bed about 1/2 am

When we arrived Holguin Airport the sun was shining and it was very hot, the coach journey took about an hour and we arrived at the hotel about 9pm. We were booked in and i was shown to my room, which was nice, clean and spacious and my bed was huge.

My legs and feet felt terrible, they had swelled so much during the flight i thought they would pop.I unpacked my case then showered and changed. I then went to find the restaurant, i always find this a bit daunting when i first arrive as i can never find anything. I had a few drinks with my meal then went to the lobby bar for a while. I lasted until 10pm, Cuban time (3am UK) then the tiredness took over again so i had to go and sleep.

My taxi arrived on time, it took about an hour to get to the airport at Manchester. when we arrived no one knew where to go it was very confusing. I and the others on the pickup eventually found terminal 2, then i made my way to departures, we were like cattle being herded. It was so busy the ques were so long but i eventually made it through security, it is very tight now and i think even more so after the recent terrorist attacks. I did some shopping at the duty free shop, i waited until then to get my sun lotions and some perfume. Then i made my way to the departure gate, everything was running on time. We boarded on time and everything was going smoothly but unfortunately we had an hour delay. It seems someone had set the fire alarms off and some of the passengers had got lost in the confusion. Eventually everything was ok and the missing passengers were located, boarded and we were able to take off.

I was sat with a nice Scottish couple, i was next to the exit, not a good place to be i found out. The air conditioning dripped on take off and landing and i was unable to sit straight or stretch my legs out in front because of a box at the side of me. We had a lunch of chicken in tomato and pepper with potatoes and a snack of cheese and tomato calzone and a scone with jam and cream. The flight took about 10 hours, i was so tired i slept most of the time.

The last day at work hooray !! i arrived home my usual 3pm and again began to try and finish my packing, i hate that job so much. Even more so this time as my baggage allowance was only 15kg ( my toiletries weigh that much !!) instead of the usual 20kg, and that is difficult enough. I spent a few days before weighing and trying to decide what i should take to wear, trying to pick out the lightest items. Usually i have all matching items including jewellery to wear with each outfit but not this time. I even had to go out and buy a new smaller light weight suitcase, my last one being too big and heavy now and that probably weighed about 10kg on its own. The new case cost me £60 but i would rather pay that than excess baggage costs.

It was very difficult trying to weigh everything on a pair of little kitchen scales, but eventually i did it and was finally able to close the suitcase, that is always a relief. I had a bath, washed and styled my hair ready, i was being picked up at 5:30 so i didn’t want too much to do the next morning. I finally got to bed around 1:30am i was so tired. finished

Hello everyone !! Well i am back from my holiday in Cuba,  over the coming days i will  be writing  about  the  amazing and wonderful times and experiences i had there.

I woke with a bad head again so had to take tablets and sleep more … Kathy’s mobile rang about 11am, it was her son so she arranged for him to come and take her home, that was about 12:30 … So I have spent the day getting all my washing done … I wanted and needed to go to the shop but the rain was so heavy again i just thought i am not going out in that to get wet again … I need to sort my packing too but there is a concert for Princess Diana’s birthday so i am busy watching that .

Last night i went out with my friends Kathy and Ruth … I had just got on the bus when the rain started again … I met them in our usual place The Big House…  We just had the one drink and then went to the Irish American Bar … We just had the one drink there too and we were going to go back to the Big House but when we got outside there was police and everywhere was cordoned off … We went back into the bar again but they had stopped serving because of the problem … So then we got a taxi to the other side of town … The rain was coming down heavily … We ended the night in the Liverpool Bar … They had a couple of singers on and we had a dance … I had to keep my eye on my drinks though … Kathy was drunk and was picking my drinks up and using mine to mix the drinks !!! I had to check her a few times.

When the bar finished  and we came out the rain was torrential … it took us a while to get a taxi and by the time we got home … Kathy was staying at mine … we were drenched …