My travels first started when I was twenty-eight, which is quite old in today’s terms and although I had been to Belgium, Holland and France with a school trip, I was painfully shy and did not enjoy the trip at all and the only thing I remembered was being ‘lost in France’, ( yes a song does come to mind ! ) after buying a collar for my dog back at home..
Anyway, at the age of twenty-eight, although I was married, my then husband gave me ‘permission’ to go abroad with my friend Ava Kiss. Her father owned a villa in a place called Roses, located on the Costa Brava, in Catalonia, Spain.roses-spain-sm
( See more details on my Rosas Blog post )
As Ava’s dad had traveled many times to this villa, we took all his advice about how to get there . This involved buying a monthly pass for the trains and ferry journey. At the time it cost about £45 ( 1981 ) I have researched this same ticket and it will cost you £149 and you can visit 30 countries, so it’s still a bargain.
Go to http://www.interrail.eu/interrail-passes to find out more.
So we boarded a train at Newcastle Central Station, which took us to Newhaven. There the train stopped at the ferry terminal, which seemed so cool at the time.
Newhaven to Dieppe Ferry. The Newhaven Dieppe ferry route connects England with France. Currently there is just the 1 ferry company operating this ferry service, DFDS Seaways. The crossing operates up to 21 times each week with sailing durations from around 4 hours.
It was a very long and bumpy crossing , but the reclining seats were great to relax in when we weren’t exploring the ship, with its bars and cinemas.
After we docked at Dieppe, we took a local train direct to Rosas, I felt anxious getting on public transport in a foreign country for the first time but Ava’s dad knew his way. Then a taxi concluded our journey to the villa..and relax.
Since then I have been lucky enough to travel/work all over the world. I feel the need to share my experiences with other people, to help them with their travels and experience. So please get in touch if you would like any help and advice and be sure to come back to my blogs for updates twice weekly.
JULIAS INSPIRATION 