'Leisure'

I went without holidays away for several years, especially during my 'paying off the massive self-inflicted loan to the bank' fase. I simply didn't have the cash to go away and spend any money. But before that fase, I did actually go away on holiday and did in fact raise my loan to do so! A big no-no of course, but I did enjoy that week away, so not all was lost.

Anyway, in 1999 I took a trip to Malta together with a friend, her sister and a colleague of her sister's. Most of the time we stayed close to the hotel pool, but we did venture out on two occasions: once to the USS Kennedy and once to the small island of Gozo. There we drove around in a jeep and we went snorkeling in or near a lovely blue lagoon. Before the snorkeling though, I just relaxed on the boat and enjoyed the sun, the sea and the view. Oh, to be back there...

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U is for...

USS John F Kennedy

No, I didn't take this photo: I wish! It's a postcard I received on visiting the ship though, so I thought it passed the mark.

The USS JFK was one of the biggest (if not the biggest) all purpose carriers in the world and I got the chance to see her and set foot on her, while she was still in commission (she has been out since 2007).

While me and three friends were on holiday in Malta in 1999, one of my friends hit it off with an American sailor who at the end of the evening gave us VIP tickets to go and visit this ship. Now, this was a sun-holiday for all of us, but then again, when do you ever get the chance to see the biggest navy ship in the world? So, we caught a bus and went to the capital of Malta where she was berthed. Long lines of schoolchildren were already waiting to get to see her, but we just walked past everyone and got on for a great tour.

The ship was absolutely huge! Over five thousand people working on her and some of those people wouldn't once get upstairs during the whole trip! Of course we didn't get to see everything. I never saw the sailors' quarters, the kitchens, the hospital, the shop, but we did get to the bridge and several other areas. It was a great day out and thanks to my flirty friend, a free one as well!

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Saturday Archive 3

I haven't been on many sun-holidays where I've just lounged all day by the sea or swimming pool. Not because I don't like them (I quite do actually), but because for the last few years I've spent my money elsewhere. But about ten years ago I went to Malta with three friends.

We spent most days by the swimming pool on the roof, but we wanted to do one excursion. We decided to go to Gozo, a small island just off the coast of Malta. I don't really recall what we did in the morning but during the afternoon we had a jeep drive and we went snorkeling.

I am not the best swimmer and when I first put the snorkel equipment on I thought I was going to drown! However, after first testing it in the dry (ie above water) and finding out I wasn't going to drown just yet if I went below the water, I went down and looked at amazing colourful fish. It was brilliant! I spent about half an hour just below the surface just enjoying all the life in the water, before we had to come out again and we continued our trip. Definitely not long enough!

Miscellaneous

This photo was made on the USS John F Kennedy when it was in docked in Malta in the autumn of 1999. One of the girls I was on holiday with had been chatting up one of the naval officers and he gave us free VIP tickets to see the 23-floor ship! Of course there was a limit to what we could see.
This photo was taken in Bad Kissingen, Germany in the summer of 2006. The weather was a bit iffy: nice and not so nice changing all the time!
And this last photo was taken a couple of years ago when I went on this sailing weekend. One thing I learned is that sailing should be done by someone other than me: having the steering in the back is just not natural! We also had to learn how to make knots and here I am trying my hardest. Just a couple of seconds later the other girl and I were in a complete fit of laughter and didn't get out of that fit for at least ten minutes!

This is what you get when you find photos you didn't even know you had!