[Charles-P]

It has been sometime since I last posted, the sudden death of my brother was a tremendous shock and it’s fair to say I was pretty useless for several months and all the legal stuff has taken an age to sort out. I am very, very grateful for the help and support of my friends on this forum.

With the very strong encouragement of my brother’s widow we have now begun our round the world trip making use of the many kind suggestions by posters here. We began with a series of ‘hops’ in our Pilatus aircraft that started in the South of France and took us down through Croatia, Greece, and Turkey. From there we flew with Emirates to Dubai while my son and an old RAF friend of mine returned our aircraft to its home base in France.

In Dubai we stayed for ten days at the Intercontinental Festival City, a little out of town but all the better for that and it offered a superb swimming pool complex. Dubai was an opportunity to meet up with old friends and do some of the tourist things I never did when there on business. That included sundowners at the top of the Burj Khalifa, a fun day at the indoor skydiving centre and swimming at the massive water park. My wife made liberal use of the credit cards in the Dubai Mall and I am now the proud owner of some stupendously colourful shirts !

Last month we briefly returned to Europe for 48 hours to visit Monaco for the Grand Prix as guests of our friends at Mercedes Benz, not the greatest of races but of course the event is fun. We were lucky enough to catch a ride with an old friend who had his Falcon at Nice and he flew us to Muscat on his way to Singapore. In Muscat we had a three day desert safari for animal and bird watching. We are now in Mumbai where we are staying at the he Taj Mahal Palace hotel, very much recommended for those visiting the city. We leave here on Friday for a flight to The Golden Triangle cities of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, we have four night at The Imperial in Delhi.

I will update this thread as we progress.

Regards
Charles and Elizabeth.

[MartynSinclair]

welcome back Charles P – my sincere condolences to you for your loss.. I hope you are on the road of recovery and that you only have happy memories of your brother…

I am glad you are enjoying your round the world trip and hope you manage to post many pictures and stories of your experiences…

The last we heard, you were in the middle of a spat with Ryan and were in the midst of getting a transcript of a conversation before taking legal action. How did that transpire…

First time with Ryanair – Will be the last

Looking forward to reading more about your round the world travels as well as your other travel experiences….

Welcome back

Kind regards

Martyn

[Charles-P]

Martyn – thank you for the kind words, my brother and I were close and it was a deep shock.

What with everything happening I simply gave the entire Ryanair problem to my solicitor and it was closed to my satisfaction some months ago.

Today in Mumbai, on the recommendation of the Concierge, this afternoon we are doing the Mumbai bicycle tour and then tomorrow we will be undertaking the ‘Sunset sailing in Mumbai harbour’. I have not done much sailing since my University days and I only do a little local cycling when at home in our Belgium house so should be interesting !

Last night we had dinner in the Sea Lounge of the hotel here and again a firm recommendation from us, wonderful views across the water with evening cocktails.

[Charles-P]

Bike riding in Mumbai – it’s too much for some.

[SGJNI1961]

Welcome back. Sorry for your loss. I hope your current adventures will take your mind off your recent bereavement.
We also stayed in The Intercontinental FC last week. It is still my favourite Dubai hotel although our visit was somewhat spoiled by a man clearing his throat and depositing the contents directly into the pool you spoke so warmly of and then proceeding to swim in it. I ran from the pool and refused to get back into it. Fortunately, it was our last day. Why do some people simply have no manners or respect for others?
The hotel has one of the best breakfasts in Dubai in my opinion and taxi’s to Dubai Mall are inexpensive.
Enjoy the rest of the trip.

[1nfrequent]

I am very sorry for your loss, Charles. I can well believe how difficult it must be to deal with – both emotionally and legally.

If it’s not too crass, I am glad to see you back here and am enjoying your trip comments.

Safe travels.

1F

[canucklad]

Morning Charles, or more likely late afternoon wherever you are…..

Great to see you posting again and I’ll echo the sentiments of everyone else regarding your brother.

Enjoying your travelogue and looking forward to your next destination report.

[GoDownSouth]

well its alright for some.

I have had to cancel my summer holiday as I could not afford the fare to Crete with Easy Jet.

So many different worlds living on the same planet.

Hopefully I will get lucky in the next life.

Oh well back to my tiny garden to mull over my boring life.

[christopheL]

@ GoDownSouth +1

WhatsApp or/and Facebook are very usefull and easy to use for people who want to share their private trips and holidays with family and friends.

[Charles-P]

Quick review of bike tour in Mumbai.

Definitely worth doing ,there are different packages and distances covered. Ours was a two hour tour led by a knowledgeable guide. One certainly sees (and smells) a different Mumbai compared to sitting in a car ! The locals are still somewhat bewildered to see what are obviously tourists riding bikes through the streets and at one point we had to peddle bloody hard to shake off a persistent salesman (offering dubious looking bottles of water). The tour was well thought out and included a number of rest stops where the guide gave more in depth details on particular buildings and points of interest. We learnt for example about ‘Antilia’ a private home owned by Mukish Ambani, the owner of Reliance Industries. It is believed to be worth $1 billion and is probably the most valuable private home in the world. Regretfully many in Mumbai can only aspire to much, much less in their lives and it was at times heartbreaking to see close up children living in such utter poverty. I am by no means politically Left wing but clearly this is not acceptable. This tour was a perfect example of why we are doing this trip, although I have been to Mumbai many times on business I have never got ‘onto the street’ in the same way.

Off shortly for the sailing and assuming I do not fall in or Mrs P leaves me for a tanned hunk in deck shoes I will be posting again after we arrive in Delhi.

[Charles-P]

I have just now read the comments of ‘GoDownSouth’ and ‘ChrisophL’

It had not occurred to me that my posts might be annoying people, with that in mind I would politely suggest they stop reading this thread as there is much more to come. After India we are on to Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea followed by Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

[GoDownSouth]

To be honest Charles P I am a dedicated reader of the site – I am a corporate travel agent.

I actually really enjoy reading about all of your adventures (FDOS, Capetoniam, Canucklad, Lugano Pirate, Martyn et al) and it helps me to understand the clients I deal with better.

As I am nowhere near experiencing any of it for myself I sometimes succumb to a bit of jealousy and my dark humour comes out. I will get there and I hope you have a fantastic trip.

No more silly remarks from me.

[SwissExPat]

@Charles-P,

Sorry for your loss and am glad you are enjoying your trip. By all means continue to tell us of the travels. Enjoyable reading.

However, you ‘Set a Hare running’ when you said that you would post up the transcript of the Ryanair phone call. That you now say that you are satisfied with the matter closing having handed it over to your Solicitor is not really Cricket.

YOU might be satisfied but you have certainly disappointed fellow BT forum members by not following through on your promise (in the absence of some significant explanation).

[Johnnyg]

Charles-P,

Please carry on with your reports, I am not as widely travelled as most on here, but I have gained many insights and aspects off the forums for my travels.

Bon Voyage

[AlanOrton1]

Welcome back Charles P. I’m sure you’ll have some wonderful memories from your trip.

[Author]

Posts