Maralyn's activity

We travel on DFDS from Newcastle to Amsterdam and then onwards to our home near Cassino in Lazio. Regarding the ferry, there are a few tips I would give you. The pillows in the cabins are thin and uncomfortable so we always take our own. The quilt is thin but the cabin is always warm so that isn't a problem.  Take your own toiletries, they don't always supply them. Travelling with a 3 year old I would also suggest you take some food and drink on board with you. Food and drink on the boat are dear, especially if you have drinks in the cocktail/cabaret room.  But I recommend the breakfast which is about 11Euros.  There is a huge buffet breakfast to choose from and ideal to have had a good meal before a long drive ahead.   Watch out regarding drinking alcohol on the ferry because when you arrive in Amsterdam you will be breathalised as you leave the boat. Have a good journey. Wish I was doing the journey for Xmas too. Maralyn

Gosh, what did you eat and drink for 400 Euros for two people!!  If you were wiling to buy dinner for TWO for 400 Euros then a 40 Euro tip shouldn't be a worry. Or is Australia that expensive? LOL Maralyn

  We all, I'm sure, have a tale of woe regarding Red Tape, Bureaucracy, and damn right Rudeness.........  I had a real smile when I read the above on your post Flip as I am currently trying to get visas organised for me and three others - one an Irish national - to go to Lagos in Nigeria as we are doing some restoration work in the Cathedral there.  Talk about red tape, bureaucracy and damn right rudeness!!! This has been worse than anything I have encountered in Italy.  We are due to fly next Tuesday but unless certain jobworths get there act together we will not be doing so.   Needless to say, after a three week stay in Lagos I will be flying to Italy to spend a couple of weeks in my home there, relaxing in the silence and beauty of the surrounding mountains and enjoy the heat minus the humidity of Lagos.  Mind you I love my job and having been there before, met some lovely people and enjoyed my stay in Lagos, I am looking forward to going - once I get our visas!! Maralyn

Oh dear, poor Nigeria always gets such bad press when it comes to scams. Granted, there are scams coming from there. Give a dog a bad name etc., I deal regularly with various organisations in Nigeria and they always do bank transfers to my account in the UK in advance of me producing the goods so I cannot complain.   In turn I have had cheques bounce, credit cards unauthorised etc., from people in the UK but never from Nigeria.   Unfortunately the minority of scammers in Nigeria are giving the whole country a bad name.  And scams are done worldwide but it has become the norm that a scam is from Nigeria. With me wanting money in advance of goods people abroad I deal with may think I am a scam merchant?! LOL But I agree, watch out for your property on the internet. Best of luck with the sale. Maralyn

Thank you for your suggestions.  I am coming over three times during the year for a total of 7 weeks but Ron, my husband, will be staying at the house longer than me to do some work on the house and land. I cannot wait to come over but it won't be until May due to work commitments. We don't have central heating in the house so it was no pleasure being in the house a couple of years ago during the winter. It was warmer outside - minus 4C inside! One day we will get it installed but meanwhile I tell people we can't be at our house due to lack of flights from Newcastle to Rome during the winter, not that I am a wimp! Maralyn  

We would like to build a canopy above our front door but our problem is that our front door has an arched "borrowed light" window above it and then the whole frame is then edged in an arch made of stone.  This means that if we put a canopy above the stones it will be so high above the front door itself.  And if we put it lower it will cut off the top of the arch which spoils the effect.  We think, as the house is about 200 years old, that the original door was a wooden arched one.    Anybody got any ideas for us then please. Sorry to intrude on your thread. Maralyn

After no problems hiring cars for a few years, the last two times I did I was certainly diddled by Hertz and Autoeuropa for absolute lies on their part which I tried to fight but it came to nothing.   Firstly, Hertz. They gave me a car which was only half full of petrol and said I should fill likewise upon my return. The car was also dirty inside and out.  I returned it a week later, three quarters full and remarked there was more petrol in it than when I collected it.  About a month later about £48 was taken by Hertz from my credit card. When enquiring about it they said I left the car empty.  I denied this and the only way I could have proved it was by producing a receipt from the garage near the airport.  Of course, over a month later I did not have this (if I actually got one). They would not take my word for it and said nothing was on their sheet except the car was empty of petrol. This is a blatant lie on their part.   Autoeuropa.  They charged me over £50 saying I had picked up the car hire late, after their offices closed at 11pm so charged me another days hire because they had to have someone wait for me.  I said I picked it up about 8.30/8.45 and at 11pm was sat in an ice cream parlour with friends who had travelled with me, some 120ks south of Ciampino.  They said that couldn't be true. Even Easyjet were helpful and produced an email confirming I was on the flight arriving at 8.15.  So what was I meant to be doing until 11pm when I supposedly picked up the car?  They would not believe me and still charged me. I tried fighting it to no avail.   I am not a liar and was extremely upset that they took money from my account a good month after my return to the UK.  I felt well and truly conned. I don't like the way they keep my credit card details open after my period of hire.  I run a business and when a transaction is complete I destroy the customers' cards details.   Now we bring a car from the UK at the end of March and leave it in Italy for just under six months. We get a train from Rome to the nearest station to our home (Cassino) and a friend picks us up for the 20 minute drive home.  This is a lot cheaper in the long run, even taking into account the journey from the UK to Italy/return in our car, and we feel pleased we are not giving these dishonest companies our money.   We did however, prior to these problems, rent cars from Europecar when booking with Easyjet, and in spite of the prices being a little higher we never had a single problem.    Just make sure you get the forms they fill out signed by them for the condition of car and petrol, both on arrival and return.  I wonder if these scams are just in Italy or worldwide? Maralyn  

Please keep the heat there for at least next week, minus clouds and storms.  I am flying out on Monday for a week for our village festa and after the dizzy heights of 17C today, cloudy and sunny, chilly tonight and rain due over the weekend, well I just want HEAT!!!! Maralyn

Sounds like insect poop.  Theirs tends to be mustardy coloured.  If you look on your windows or the cills there may be mustardy dots and this is insect poop.    They have to go to the loo somewhere and why not in mid flight eh!   maralyn

I have made enquiries with various tour operators and Newcastle Airport and no-one is doing flights to Rome or Naples from Newcastle other than the major airlines and they are via London, Amsterdam, Paris etc., and take forever and also land in Fiumicino.  Ideally I need to be in Ciampino to get the train to Cassino.   I contacted Easyjet and they replied that they now only fly from Bristol to Ciampino but who knows in the future.   Leeds/Bradford is not such a good journey for us with the A1M and M1 and then across to the airport.  Traffic can be a problem.    Glasgow sounds good timewise going out although that would mean the train to Cassino would arrive at gone 1 in the morning which isn't good for being picked up by a friend to take me home.  Also what time would it be coming back into Glasgow?  From Newcastle the 4.30 plane out meant that the return flight to Newcastle arrived at 11pm.  If it was the same flight arrangements, the Glasgow flight would be late in and then problems getting back to Durham.  I should have looked on the Ryanair site before prattling on above because I may be talking total nonsense!LOL   So it looks like Edinburgh to Ciampino is our most sensible option.  I have worked out our flights for the year and as my husband and I are passing ships we will drive up for the early flight, leave the car at the airport and whoever is returning a week later will pick the car up to come back to Durham.  Watching out for the million and one speed cameras en route!!!!    It is a bind but there are people with more problems than that.  We have just been lucky so far in having an airport half an hour away from us in the UK to go from and arrive/depart at easy times.   Who knows, it may happen again.  The flights were always fully booked when we went on them so I cannot understand why Easyjet have withdrawn them.  Sounds more political than economical to me.   Thank you all for your advice.  If anyone knows of cheap Durham to Edinburgh (and vice versa) train fares I would be interested in those please. Maralyn