We give in...

Ok, ok. Things keep changing. Now we will have to self-isolate for 14 days when we get back. (Food parcels welcome, leave on doormat).

And Boris is threatening to make ALL 70+ year-olds self-isolate "for months" whether well or ill. Not sure if that applies to oldies from the colonies, but we're not waiting to find out. 

Flying kanga will bring us home at the end of the week, leaving London Friday, arriving Sunday. Assuming the sky doesn't actually fall in before then.

So see y'all on or after 5 April.

Not Poole, but not Belfast either

On Thursday evening we are told  that the ship will leave on high tide mid-afternoon Friday, one day later than scheduled. Rumours fly about all Friday morning on the Astoria, but it isn't until well after lunch that they announce that the cruise is to be "curtailed", because our destination ports are starting to ban entry of cruise ships.

We are disappointed but not surprised. We console ourselves with scones, jam and cream, and later a pre-dinner drink and our complimentary bottle of wine with dinner, as we work on our Plan B. About 2/3 of the passengers disembark as soon as the cancellation is announced, but we have the option of staying until morning, and as we have nowhere to go, we stay for another free dinner and night's accommodation. And it really is free because the cruise company is giving us a full refund AND a big discount on any future trip with them. Surprisingly generous - I hope it doesn't send them broke.

We begin contacting the various friends we were planning to visit post cruise. We are aware that we may be seen as a health risk, so we aren't really surprised that by dinnertime two friends have said "pass" and one hasn't responded. But a long shot email to a friend who is usually out of the country pays off - the virus has prompted her to return to the UK and she will be pleased to have us stay with her in Deal next week.

On Saturday morning as we are packing to leave, we decide that a weekend in Winchester is an attractive idea, and that's where we are now. Winchester is a lovely old town. The Royal Winchester where we are staying is a sixteenth century building close to the town centre. Once checked in we stroll the pedestrianised High Street where there is a Saturday market to poke around in. Later when we go to look at the Cathedral I find there is a performance of Bach's B minor mass tonight. I go online, buy a front row ticket (probably thanks to a virus-driven cancellation) and spend the evening listening to a top performance of a glorious piece of music in a beautiful cathedral. If I were home in Australia, it would have been cancelled, and I'd have missed the wonderful Hanover Band, not to mention the Southampton Philharmonic Choir and a collection of impressive young soloists. 

So we may not be in Belfast, but things are pretty good. Skin on my hands may fall off from excessive washing, but no other health issues so far.

Poole - still

Absolutely nothing to do with any virus, Corona or otherwise. We are still in port because the ship has not yet passed some Coastguard inspection. Usually they give passengers staggered embarkation times so that the process is smooth and quick, but with inspectors still on the ship, we all queue up in a waiting room and the boarding process takes hours. Initially we are told that departure will be delayed from 3pm until llpm. Just recently a second announcement to say we'll leave 24 hours late. I reckon they'll skip Belfast to get us back on schedule.

I have been eating circumspectly, laying off wine and coffee to avoid seasickness, all for nothing.

Astoria, berthed in Poole

Things to look at while not cruising

Poole

Night accompanied us around the world, leaving us behind in a pink dawn just as we reach London at 6:20. Exit from Heathrow absolutely painless, no special checks. Thai Airlines do have a special video on what they are doing to minimise risks, and we are invited to report to a doctor at Heathrow if we feel ill.

Which we don't, so after a strengthening coffee we find our way to the Central Bus Station and on to the 205 bus to Poole. A dreary circumnavigation of Heathrow making more stops, a struggle through traffic and roadworks on the M25, then a fast run down the M23. Signs of recent heavy rain, waterlogged and flooded fields, rivers running high and fast. Cold, windy, patches of rain and sunshine, but Spring is in the air. Patches of daffodils, bright gorse in flower, and the bare trees are smudged with the green of lichen and new leaf buds.

We explore Poole thoroughly on foot after checking in to Quay House, energy holds up until mid-afternoon, when we feel we need a rest.

Risk management conundrum: do you risk falling down stairs by not hanging on to the potentially virus-contaminated handrails?

Travel trap: don't hang on to unused currency for the next trip. Peter brought £75 with us but when he tries to use a fiver to pay our fares on a local bus in Poole to get us from the bus station to our accommodation, he is told it is no longer legal tender, replaced by new notes in the last twelve months. We try a bank, who send us to the Post Office, but no one will change the notes unless we have.UK bank account. Or you can post them to the Bank of England and wait three weeks (really?). When I see an HSBC bank in the High Street, I wonder if an HSBC credit card will do, and to our surprise it does, and we swap the lot for nice new plastic ones.

Quay House, where we stayed

Thames Street, where Quay House is located

The Old Customs House, where we wait for the cab to take us to the ship.

Bangkok - so far, so good

Plane from Melbourne was half empty, which is a bit weird these days.

Masks a bit more prevalent here in Bangkok airport, but not universal. Most (all?) staff are masked, which makes interactions with them and the attendants on the plane a bit impersonal.

Packing rule: wear the bulkiest pair of shoes to keep them out of your bag. So I'm sitting in tropical Thailand in boots intended to keep feet warm in Iceland.

Beginning to get that spaced out feeling when one has been up too long. Looking forward to a kip on the next flight.

Yes, we're really going

Despite all the doom and gloom news, we are at the airport, in a nearly empty Air New Zealand lounge, waiting for our Thai Airways flight to Bangkok.

We had another moment of doubt about going because another family member who has been ill for a couple of weeks was deteriorating, but he went into hospital yesterday, and at least is now getting some treatment. So we are a little less concerned about him, and can go back to worrying about what could happen to us.

At the airport, mask wearers are in the minority, although one of the check-in girls wore both mask and disposable gloves. Here in the lounge there is a chap in mask and Akubra, making him look like someone from a very old Western.

There is another couple our vintage here, but from their accents I would guess they are homeward bound, not brave (or foolhardy) travellers to foreign parts like us. Will be interesting to see how full the plane is.

We have packed bulk cold weather gear: thermals, warm pants, sweaters, waterproof overpants, jackets, beanies, scarves, hats, gloves, boots, even crampons in case Iceland lives up to its name. Even so our combined carry-on baggage weight was a mere 22kg.

Will blog more regularly than I usually do, as we know that many are concerned or curious about how the venture will go. So watch this space 

Here we go again...

After a few days of wondering whether it was sensible for a geriatric couple to launch themselves on to a cruise boat when COVID-19 is sweeping the globe, we've decided to go. Four days left to do all the things I couldn't put my mind to while the decision was in doubt.