European Road Trip - The last part!

Mike and I were on the last leg of our European Road trip, after leaving Tuscany we were both weary and dare I say it - hung-over!

First stop; a fleeting trip to Lake Como, we were only there for a few hours but it didn’t disappoint. Lake Como it’s 56 sq miles in size and the third largest lake in Italy. Even though where we stopped was busy, the lake somehow made us feel very serene. I can see why celebrities love the location for living and vacationing, there was an abundance of luxurious houses and expensive cars. I would love to go back and stay one day but we had somewhere else to be.

Lake Como

We were on our way to Chamonix, a town situated on the borders and mountains of Switzerland, France and Italy. This was my favourite drive of the whole trip; I made a comment that momentarily confused Mike – “Oh my God, mountains, my first mountains” he couldn’t believe I’d never seen a snow-capped mountains in person, my camera had an excellent work out, I was mesmerised.

We arrived at Hôtel du Bois, which is a wooden clad snow lodge and it boasted some incredible views of the mountains. Waking up with this view was exciting and a real highlight although slightly marred by the fact we forgot to put the “Do not disturb” sign on the door and a poor maid walked in on me completely in the buff – there was a shrill of “Oh PARDON” and I was left red faced!

The view from our room!

Once my cheeks had gone back to their normal colour we made our way back to Dijon since we’d slept through it the first time there! I, being a foodie, had to stock up on real Dijon mustard and Ginger cake. The centre of town was so charming and reminded me of a real life set of Beauty and the Beast movie. Sadly, like at Como we had very little time to appreciate Dijon as again we were on the road, this time to Versailles.

The Palace of Versailles was yet another item on my bucket list and we arrived at the Hôtel Le Versailles which was so close to the palace that we could see it from the balcony in our room!

We were looking forward to some delicious French cuisine but it seems that on Monday’s France seems to shut down at 6pm leaving us eating crisps and marshmallow bars for dinner! We got an early night ready for an epic day at the palace.

I got up very early as it was our last day in Europe; we had 67,000sq feet to cover before driving back to the Euro Tunnel.

Just like all the big tourist attractions the palace was great to me as a disabled visitor. We didn’t have to queue, so I didn’t get swallowed up by the humongous crowd already eager to get in by 9am, plus we had a dedicated lift at our disposal.

Inside the palace was astounding, so opulent and luxurious, full of history, secrets and so much furniture! I was most excited about the hall of mirrors, photos and videos do not do the hall justice it was beautiful with an exquisite ceiling (regular readers will know that I have a ceiling fetish!) and then something awful happened, my camera died, Mike and I had both thought each other had charged it and extra batteries – I think travel fatigue was setting in.

Hall of Mirrors

It was a glorious day and we walked through the palace grounds exploring the maze’, fountains and Grand Trianon, poor old Mike was exhausted he must have walked miles by the time we left 6 hours later. We went via the gift shop where Mike bought me an extensive book about the palace with lots of photos to make up for the lack of my own photos – what a love!

The grounds at Versailles 

And so it was time to leave... as we drove back to Calais, Mike and I were already reminiscing about our 3000 mile epic drive through the Italian countryside and the French cities, laughing over drunken wedding memories and salivating over all the scrumptious food and wine we’d indulged in.

From my personal perspective I think this road trip was great for Mike and I, we’d had a difficult few months before the holiday and I think we were both stressed and mentally worn out, but two weeks of time to chat, reconnect and laugh until we cried was amazing and I can’t wait to do it all again!

L xxx

European Road Trip - Tributes

When Mike and I were invited to Tuscany, Italy, to attend my good friends Kirsty and Toms wedding, we were incredibly excited! A lifelong dream of mine was to go to Rome. Since the historical city was a mere 3 hours away from the wedding venue, we booked up three days in Rome with plans to hire a car to get to Tuscany. Only after we'd booked flights and hotels did we find out that because Mike hadn't been driving a year yet, no one would hire a car to us - doh!

I made a joke about driving the whole way, which seemed completely ridiculous but then we thought, why the hell not!? It would be a nice holiday, time spent alone with each other after a very difficult and testing year and I could tick a few items of my bucket list*!

(*Note: I'm not dying, a few worried people asked if I was ill, after I posted photos called Bucket List. I'm just very aware that my body is deteriorating a lot quicker than others my age, I'm on the top dose of my current pain killers and the next step up is depending on morphine, so I'm getting the bucket list done now!)

After packing my entire summer wardrobe, European car kits, enough sun cream to sink a ship, our trusty sat nav Sabrina (yes, we name inanimate objects) and a cooler box of water, we set off in Optimus Primera (our 16 year old Nissan Primera car).

We headed to Folkstone to catch the Euro Tunnel to Calais. By the way, if you're disabled, you must let the Euro Tunnel staff know as your car has to be put on first for fire safety reasons, but this also means you beat the long queues - bonus!

After chanting the following to himself "Drive on the right, drive to the right on the side of the road on the wrong side of the car!!" Mike took to the road in Calais, staying to the correct side of the road and even when faced with Italian drivers later on, he did a brilliant job, getting us to every destination without a hitch!

As I've mentioned in my blogs before Mike and I are Geneology geeks. We took the road trip as a chance to pay respects to fallen relatives, who had died in the First World War. We went to Wancourt, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France to visit the British Cemetery, there we visited my Great Uncle Stanley Starling Hudson, who was my Great Grandmothers older brother. Stanley had died aged 21 in 1917. I picked and left poppies on his grave and signed the guestbook.

Stanley Starling Hudson
(My Great Uncle)

Then we headed to the Thiepval Memorial of the Missing, an iconic monument to Historians, Geneologists and families all over the world. It was a stunning location, peaceful and calm and weirdly, no birds were heard at any of the sites we visited.

Lastly we headed to Dernancourt Communal Cemetery in the Region of Picardy.  We visited Mike's first cousin three times removed, Charles Garrick, who also died in 1917 aged a heartbreaking 19 years old. Mike laid his poppies and we headed to Dijon.

Charles Garrick
(Mikes cousin, 3x removed)

Now, I must mention that Mike had been in California for several weeks, up until two days before our trip. We got to our lovely hotel the Kyriad Prestige, in Dijon only for us *both to pretty much pass out at 7pm, forgoing dinner and we didn't wake until 7am on Sunday! (*I was not jet lagged but I can sleep anywhere, any time - I had Narcolepsy for years so I've had extensive sleep training!) I had a feeling that there would be a lot of early nights and very early mornings - sleep would become a luxury!

L x

The Proposal!

With Valentine's Day almost upon us, I thought I'd share Mike and I's engagement story. I never got to write about it as my brain was fogged with drama and a heavy dose of codeine! So, for new followers, I'll recap how Mike and I met.

One of my best friends Leanne and I met in an unusual way. My pal Mike P started dating Leanne's buddy Lauren. Suddenly Leanne and I were relationship widows, so we formed a singles alliance built on road trips in Leanne's bright orange 1980's car and a diet of junk food, booze and self pity.

Leanne joined an online social and dating group, she convinced me to join too. I'd met my ex online but had been single for 18 months, although I signed up, I wasn't too fussed about being in a relationship again.

Then I met Mike aka VanillaGorilla and I was LilPinkDuck.. I fancied the pants off him but he lived 80miles away, neither of us drove and I couldn't travel on my own in the wheelchair, so I blocked his profile. Lucky for me, Leanne and even Lauren (who would come up for air occasionally!) kept unblocking Mike or Geology Boy, the nickname they had bestowed upon him.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

The Proposal

9 Years on, the boy and I have a mortgage, a merged DVD collection and have fended off countless questions of marriage and babies. I was very laid back about the whole thing, I know plenty of unmarried couples who are perfectly happy, but every time we'd go on holiday, I'd wonder whether he was going to propose . 3 trips to Australia, 4 to Spain, Ireland and an epic trip to New York later, my hand came back empty.

From day one, Mike had said that he'd want to get married and have two babies by the time we were 30, so when I turned 30 on June 5th of last year, I was a tad confused, none of these plans had materialised and yet we were still happily together.

A year before I turned 30, Mike and his family had booked a holiday to Disneyland Paris combined with a week in Bordeaux in June 2014. Off we went, to the land of fine foods, excellent wines and the happiest place in Europe - Disney!

Disney was amazing, no matter how old you are, the place gives you goose bumps and sore cheeks from all the smiling. On the second day there, Emma, Mike's sister, told us that she'd booked us in for dinner at Jules Verne, the restaurant inthe Eiffel Tower! I was beside myself with excitement, a trip to the centre of Paris with the best views in the entire city!

So, on June 19th Mike and I caught a (double decker!) train to Paris. I thought he was a tad moody, but put it down to him being tired. As we walked out of the train station, we were faced with the Arc de Triomphe, which is so much bigger than I realised. We started walking/rolling into town and there, in the distance, was the Eiffel Tower, the beacon of France, the monument of so many films and TV shows.

The tower was also a lot bigger than I had imagined, it was also majestic and more beautiful than I'd given it credit for. After dropping our stuff off at a hotel we headed for an early dinner.

My oh my! If you ever get the chance to go to the Jules Verne restaurant - GO! The food was simply exquisite, the service was second to none and the champagne flowed beautifully. I felt on top of the world. The France skyline surrounding us, with blue skies immerging - I felt so lucky, maybe too lucky and I have never been so full in my entire life!

After dinner we went back to the hotel so that Mike could change out of his suit and into his infamous Hawaiian shorts. I felt so full, I started to nap but begrudging left the hotel to make the most of Paris.

We had photos of all the views from the Eiffel Tower and none of the tower it's self, so we headed to the grassed garden surrounding the landmark.

There were hundreds of people doing selfies with the Tower. Coach trips, couples, friends and artists huddled together to get the perfect shots. We were no different, using Mike's gorilla pod fashioned into a make shift selfies stick.

We were about to leave when Mike said he had a gift for me, he handed me a package with his sisters address on the front. I opened the gift to find a pad lock with the words "Lynsey Ellard and Mike Garrick together in Paris". I was silly excited as I'd not had a chance to get a padlock made to attached to the famous locks of love bridge, which was on my bucket list.

Moment's before Mike asked

I hugged and kissed the boy, I was so thrilled he had been so thoughtful and romantic but then he told me to check the packaging again for another gift. I felt another padlock and read the words...

"Lynsey Ellard, I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with U! Will you marry me?"

I looked at Mike, back to the lock, back to Mike and to the lock once more.

I asked "Really??" Mike laughed, I giggled leapt at him at with a kiss then said "Of course I will...... and finally!!"

I was giddy with joy and Mike explained why he had forgone some of the proposal traditions. He said he was too scared to kneel down, as he was worried I'd keel over, sensible as I have trouble standing at the best of times. He hadn't chosen a ring, this was more my influence, I rarely wear jewellery so I thought it best that we chose it together.  If I was going to wear a ring my whole life - I'd have to love it!

Mike hadn't managed to ask my parents hand in marriage as he had flown in from California hours before we'd left for France, he phoned them straight after the proposal, luckily they said yes!

I spent the next hour calling friends and family (running up a £100+ bill!) although I couldn't get through to a lot of them with signal and overseas phone issues sadly.  Then I completed my very modern love story with a very modern announcement on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, with the photo below I put the words...

The boy did good!

The ring we chose together

"What a locky girl I am! We're #engaged! The boy #proposed on a lock of love in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris!"

A very ‘locky’ girl indeeed!  

L x