Monday, March 15, 2010

Seeking sights and sunshine


The daffodils still haven’t bloomed. However, the buds are swelling. Our first flowers of the season can only be days away. Even better, the daytime temperature is finally heading into double digits. Today's high reached 11°C, while Wednesday’s high is forecast to hit a balmy 14°C. The warmer weather has arrived just in time for the Spring Equinox, now less than six days away.

Garry and I are busy making final preparations for three holidays planned for April and May. Two are side trips which make up our annual round-the-world ticket, and a third is a discount special from British Airways. We’ve scheduled each to coincide with forthcoming public holidays. However, we’re a little anxious as British Airway’s cabin crew have announced plans to strike. Currently the published strike dates are outside those of our travel but previous strikes disrupted flights for days afterwards. Hopefully, there will be aircraft in the right location on the right day over Easter.

The first vacation is an extended Easter break in Sweden. We’re flying to Stockholm for three days, before heading north to enjoy two days at the famous Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi. Garry is keen to see Stockholm, while I’m keen to go north of the Arctic Circle and chance our luck for another sighting of the Northern Lights. We saw aurora borealis for the first time two years ago in Iceland, also at Easter.

Our next vacation will take advantage of the first public holiday in May. We’re off to Greece for a week of island hopping and touring ancient Greek ruins. Our tour takes in three days in Mykonos, two days in Santorini, followed by two final days in Athens. We’ve taken advantage of off-peak rates and booked ourselves into some incredible hotels.

Our final vacation will be a long weekend at the end of May, once again taking advantage of a public holiday. We’re off for three days in Copenhagen, neatly rounding off Garry’s progressive tour of the Nordics. In recent years we’ve made it to Oslo and Helsinki. Hopefully, we'll encounter some reasonable Spring weather over the next few months.

1 comment:

rhonda said...

Lucky you. it all sounds fabulous. I hope you find some warm weather although I don't imagine the ice hotel will be too warm. What a great experience though.