The Big Adventure

misscousinitt

Aww GG - so sad to see you go...but understand you feel it has run it's course.

Thanks for all your posts and contributions - I have made some notes in my book for my own future down the line.

Wishing you happiness and health in 2017 and way, way beyond.

All the best.

MCI x

Goldiegirl

Hello everyone!


I thought I'd drop by and say hello, just to let you know what's been happening.


I've been back from my holiday of a lifetime for nearly 4 weeks now, and I have to say, it was fantastic, everything we dreamed of. But it very nearly didn't happen!


Four days before we left, I had a really bad vertigo attack, the first in 2 and a half years, and the worst one I ever had.


I had sensed that I was going to have a turn, as for the previous two weeks, my hearing had dropped, my tinnitus had perked up and my ear was feeling blocked.


Looking back, I had got stressed about the idea of being away from home for such a long time, and as stress seems to be my Meniere's trigger, I probably only had myself to blame.


While I was laying there feeling so ill, I had mentally said goodbye the holiday. As attacks tend to come in clusters, it felt too risky.


Anyway, the next morning, my hearing was better, so I felt confident enough to carry on with the holiday.


Fortunately my hearing continued to improve, and my tinnitus went away again, so at this point I'm now completely fine. But it's taught me a lesson, I really can't stress myself out about stuff.


The holiday itself as great. Calm seas the whole time, The weather was mostly very good in Australia, but New Zealand was a bit disappointing weather wise, but they've had a lot of rain this year. But we saw most of the things we had intended to see. The Pacific crossing was brilliant, sunny the whole time.


My personal highlights were Kangaroo Island, Sydney and San Francisco. I'll try and get a few photos posted.


Since we've been back it's been quite busy. Obviously had to get all the washing done and settle back down. Being away for 7 weeks, there was quite a lot of admin to do as well.


We had a 5 year savings bond mature, so I've been finding homes for the money. We've opened two new monthly savers each (Virgin and Santander) both of us now have the new NS&I three year bond, and some has gone in our SIPPs and S&S ISAs. Some more went in a Kent Reliance Bond, and the rest is in a TSB instant access account, which has an interest rate of 0.80% until August. Will have to think of something else to do with it then.


Added to that, O2 charged us both for Texts and O2 Travel we didn't use. Between us, the over charge was about £50, which they refunded quickly, but the complaint wasn't uphold as the charges were 'correct'. I'm trying to get a proper explanation from them, but it's like dealing with a brick wall. I've ended up emailing the CEO - his office is investigating. However, I got a plausible explanation for what may have happened from an O2 Community forum, so I'm not going to push it too far.


HMRC have got Mr Goldie's tax code wrong, and they're overcharging him by £27 a month. It's to do with his state pension starting last October. They gave him the correct tax code last year which took into account he was only getting a pension for 6 months. But now they assume he had his pension for the whole of the last tax year, so they assume he's under paid tax. This will apparently be resolved 'soon'. Will wait until May payday, and if its not resolved then I'll have to chase them.


I've noticed prices in the supermarkets have been increasing. I'm hoping my average supermarket expenditure will remain similar to last year. Before we went on holiday, we 'ate out of the freezer', to clear it out. So, our spending for food has been quite low so far this year.


Since we've been back, we've decorated one bedroom and intend starting on another one tomorrow, so it has been quite busy.


We've also bought a new washing machine. The old one wasn't performing very well at all. Sometimes washing came out looking worse than when it went in. We've also bought a new Vax, as our old one was very near death.


As ever trying to keep a balance, between saving and spending.


After we've finished our decorating we'll move on to the garden and get t ready for summer. Then hopefully, we'll have time for a few days out!

greent

Lovely to hear from you, Goldie - trip sounds fab! Glad the vertigo cleared before you went and that you've realised stress is a factor.

Look forward to any pics you post!
xx

AlexLK

Holiday sounds fantastic, did you sail all the way to Aus?

Glad to hear you're feeling better too.

Karmacat

Hi Goldie! Lovely to hear from you, I'm so pleased your Meniere's disappeared before your wonderful holiday. And you haven't been slacking off after, have you ... thats a lot that you've achieved.

newgirly

Hi goldiegirl, it's lovely to get an update from you and I'm so glad you managed to still go on the trip, it really sounds amazing

Goldiegirl

A few photos -


Beautiful Kangaroo Island

Goldiegirl

Seal Bay, Kangaroo Island

Goldiegirl

Admiral's Arch, Kangaroo Island

Goldiegirl

Sydney


Bondi Beach