A trio of uplifting moments

Sunday 25^th June to Thursday 29^th June 2017

As I have recorded in a separate blog, we awoke on Sunday morning to the news that Diane’s father had passed away; we spoke with her brother and sister-in-law back in Australia about all of it.

With that news, it was time to make decisions about our plans for this week.

First and foremost was where to leave the boat – a no-brainer really – we had been in Lemonroyd Marina about 3 weeks earlier and it was lovely, so a phone call to Marie at an appropriate time was needed – in the meantime we needed to cruise from Wakefield at least Castleford – during this time a lovely lady called Karen rang back from Lemonroyd – we explained our problem and she was able to help, so that problem was solved.

Diane was busy looking at plane flights and we managed to find them – leaving Wednesday and we would be in Brisbane on Friday – we allowed a couple of days to sort things out with the boat and just make sure that we had everything that we needed.

 On Monday we were advised that the funeral would be the following Monday, which worked out well; Mitch and Sara would be able to fly in from Los Angeles on Friday – landing within an hour of us; we also were able to get a unit at the resort with Rob and Sonia (where they manage) –all set.

We cruised up to Lemonroyd on the Monday late afternoon – it was quite still and peaceful and a bit of warmth from the sun even at this time – would love to do a bit more of all of this type of cruising.

We moored outside the marina for the night and after seeing Marie in the morning we went in and found our berth – luckily there was no wind and we could easily reverse into the allocated spot.

Everything sorted and by 10:30 we were physically and emotionally drained – this was just one of the steps in getting back, but a fairly crucial one; so from here we were ready for the next one and the one after that and so on.

In the afternoon, we decided that a bit of a walk would help, so we wandered into the village; had a coffee and bought a few things at Lidl that we would need and then back again – the round trip was no more than a mile and a half.

We also managed to book train tickets, on-line, for the trip from Leeds to Manchester Airport for the following day – by doing so we saved £22.

The following morning, Marie generously provided transport to Lemonroyd station – she is a lovely person.

In next to no time we were in Leeds and after a coffee we were heading towards the airport.

Once there a series of very wonderful events seemed to start from nowhere – we arrived there and went to the Emirates Customer desk – our initial booking had us in seats not next to each other for the long leg between Dubai and Brisbane.

What nice people they were – after explaining the circumstances they moved a few people around and we were then in seats next to one another – we were very pleased with that.

At the baggage counter, Diane cheekily asked were there any exit row seats; the young girl behind the desk found a couple and we were set.

At the check-in point (where they make sure that your passport and boarding pass is still OK), the same young girl from baggage check-in was there and when it was our turn, she took our boarding passes away (surprised looks on our faces – “what’s happening”), when she came back we had Business Class seats – totally unexpected – Diane was a bit teary-eyed about it all and I was non-plussed – such a lovely surprise and it lifted our spirits immeasureably – only for the first leg but it was so nice.

Despite our reasons for having to travel, Diane had a smile on her face for the first time in 4 days and she enjoyed the upgrade and despite having just the economy class tickets for the second leg, she was much happier.

Problem now is that she did enjoy it so much that she wants it next time we travel – we will see – life is just a bit too short as we know, and why we were flying, we may just do it for future flights.

12 Miles, 5 Locks

YTD:  613 miles (987 km), 320 Locks, 19 Tunnels, 9 Lift Bridges, 19 Swing Bridges

Total: 5245 Miles (8441 km), 3471 Locks, 143 Tunnels, 75 Lift Bridges, 191 Swing Bridges