Well, the moment has finally arrived where I am writing my last blog entry here in the UK.

I am surrounded by boxes, bags and mayhem. I have a permanent knot in my stomach and can’t quite decide if it is exhileration and excitement or just plain fear! I think it is a mixture of all three….plus some others too!

So, until I get my computer rigged up in France, I shall be concentrating my efforts on last minute packing, tip trips and saying my goodbyes.

Time to switch off and I’ll return once we have embarked on our new French life!!

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I booked the tickets for our out-bound journey through Ryanair today and although the flights have gone up and then down to a very reasonable price, I can’t help feeling a little hood-winked!

The online order form is such that if you don’t want insurance, you are told to select from the drop-down menu. The drop-down menu is not easy to find! I then found it and chose the appropriate ‘no insurance required’ choice and clicked. Only when I get to the end and have completed, do I find that I needed to do that with each person….seems pretty obvious now, but it is not at all clear on the form. It would appear that there is no way of going back to amend choices made earlier on, unless I am really stupid and missing something , somewhere. So, Diddy and myself now have insurance, whether we want it or not!

I am also smarting at the baggage selection, even without baggage, I am charged £2 for ‘priority’ boarding…there seemed to be no other option. So now The Boy can go on before me and Diddy to select our seats.

I am especially annoyed as I have been through this before and vowed I would double check everything first, but even with prior knowledge, it is a process that seems to be deliberately complicated and misleading.

The flights may be cheap but the add-ons just keep rising!

Here is a breakdown of the flight expenses:

• £29.97   Flights (cheap as chips!)
• £80.20  Taxes, fees and charges…including credit card fee
• £11.40   Aviation/WCHR levy…whatever that is!
• £10        Insurance
• £131.57  Total paid

See what I mean…hoodwinked!

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When I first read about Ryanair charging extra for ‘larger’ passengers, I was quite unfazed by it…after all it is the sort of thing they would do!

But the more I chewed it over, the more I thought it was the sort of thing that my favourite news website, Newsbiscuit, would run. And lo and behold, it turns out it is a Newsbiscuit article and well worth reading too…it had me laughing anyway! I even laugh at the photo of the smiling Ryanair girl! Classic stuff!

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 I forgot, in my previous post to tell you about my experience at the airport on the way back.

I must have a dodgy-looking demeanor, as this has happened to me before with my video camera. I was stopped at the customs check and all my luggage was looked into in great detail. The people are very nice and ask permission to check your stuff, I’ve never seen anyone refuse permission and I’m not about to go all militant and make a stand.

So, what do they find? Liquid semtex? The makings of a simple but effective scatter-bomb? A nuclear device….(too much 24!) No, it’s my make-up! This is the first time I have ever taken make-up to France. I seemed to get it out of Stansted with no problem, but along with bottles of fluids etc, make-up is now a banned substance. Like I’m about to hold up the air-hostess with my lipstick….(’Sorry love, that’s not my colour!’)

So, the customs man frog-marches me (no pun intended) to the check in, where I have to pay to have my hand-luggage put in the hold! So much for saving money! He was in no mood to have a smile or a joke, he’d obviously done this a few times already!

I know, they are only doing their jobs but I was pretty mad by the time we got to the waiting area.

And then you get the really keen, gotta-get-the-best-seat fliers. They are usually middle-aged and you can spot them a mile off…..every time there is a bing or a bong from the tannoy system,they are on their feet, ready to dash to the boarding card girls. They always sit at the front and are slightly irritated when told to ‘remain seated’ blah,blah ,blah. When called to go through, they hassle and push and stand far too close, breathing down your necks until you have been ushered through. They are a million times worse now that priority for families and small children has been stopped. These are the sort of people that would have disguised themselves as women on the Titanic to get a place on the lifeboats!

Once past the boarding card girls, the fun begins….anyone would think they were on a mile sprint as they hot-foot it to the staircase at the foot of the plane. And they always win! You can feel the smugness as you walk onto the plane and they are sitting at aisle 6…(as we all know, you can’t sit in aisles 1 to 5.) They’re sitting there with their Sudoku books and sandwiches and eye-masks and inflatable pillows, as if they have been there for hours. (Maybe they are on a round trip and never actually got off!)

And they always win because they are unfettered by small children and family. Why does little Johnny have to have a tantrum right now? Why does Chloe have to fall over just as we get on the tarmac? Why does the wind take the boarding cards from my sweaty hand right at this moment? Can’t Grandma wait until we’re airborne to use the loo?

It’s such a great, satisfying feeling though at Stansted, when you see them around the carousel, still waiting for their suitcases to arrive from the depths of the luggage-handlers world. Bruhahaha!

 There is some justice in this world after all!

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Well, I had heard the rumours and even seen a few photos, but I have now seen it with my own eyes!

 Bergerac airport has gone all posh!

Bergerac airport now has plenty of parking, gravel walkways (not good for pulling luggage along!), shiny trolleys, security barriers and a pre-payment machine (situated in probably the worst place they could have managed!)

Make sure you pay for your ticket before you go back to the car-park, or else you will be denied escape and will incur the wrath of fellow travellers as you dash off to pay, unable to back out, due to the volume of traffic behind you! Yes, sorry, it was us that cut short your holiday by ten minutes!

The cafe is still functioning, if a bit limited and with a definate temporary air about it, but with the promise of better things to come….

The cost of parking is quite reasonable…the first half hour free, the next hour 1 euro. I didn’t manage to memorise the other tarifs as we sped out with very red faces, but it looked fairly affordable!

It’s good to see that the charm and sophistication of the luggage collection is still intact. I would have missed the roller-thingy, the camaraderie of the scramble and the metallic-scrapey sound as the suitcases are hauled along, the crushing of small children….

….aah, dear, sweet, Bergerac airport!…..

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I am pleased to report, that we are all packed and nearly ready to leave for France.I say ‘we’, as there were complications with the childrens father, who wasn’t able to have them during the first half of the half-term week. So we are all going.

I decided not to book any baggage as, 1) it costs £7 (or thereabouts) per case and, 2) we only have a few bits for a 2 night stay.

This morning, we packed our little hand-luggage ruck sacks. The Boy has  a Lightning McQueen one, Diddy’s is Arial and mine boring black…I’m hoping it will look smaller!

We weighed them on the weighing scales, which is quite an art…the scales switch off, just as you step onto them. We are all well within the 10kg mark. We got the tape measure and measured carefully the dimensions of each ruck-sack, all perfect…

Then to the picnic. Off to Sainsburys for all sorts of goody’s, after all, we are at the airport for a few hours, (over lunch) and then on the plane for another hour or so. We get hungry travelling and have as much fun with our picnic as anything else!

I just hope they don’t charge extra for the lunch boxes, it does say each passenger is allowed one item of hand-luggage. Are they that strict? We’ll see!

All I need do now is entertain and feed two excited children. Oh, did I say I have to intervene in a few fisticuffs too?

Still, only one more sleep and a few hours left to go…

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The next time you have a panic attack and guilt complex about even thinking of using Ryanair,  have a read of this article. It, well, attempts to put things into perspective.

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I found this article today doing some background research on the Lot et Garonne. It’s quite an old article but very interesting. In fact, I want to pack a bag and go exploring now, having read it! Having seen the latest Ryanair offer, it’s quite feasible too.

I have been staying at Beauregard for 20 plus years now and it is a joke in the family that I never get to visit any places! Friends and family talk of trips to Domme, Rocamadour, the beach, the Pyrenees, Bordeaux. I have been nowhere! A few day trips to the Lascaux caves, Ste. Foy La Grande and Marmande.

I think the problem is that when you go to the same place, you become familiar with it and know that you can do the touristy-thing whenever you like. Which in my case, just hasn’t happened. Don’t get me wrong, I have really enjoyable holidays at Beauregard. I love pottering about, sun-bathing, swimming, chilling, reading my books; it’s all I need to have a great time. My motto seems to be, ‘We’ll do the trip tommorrow!’  

After all, I’ve lived in London for most of my life and have never been to Westminster Abbey…. for the same reasons , I would guess. 

And with the imminent move, I am really looking forward to doing the ‘touristy-thing’ and reporting back in Beauregard the Blog!

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Here are some tips on the best times to book your super-cheap, best value flights for your holidays.

It all makes good sense too….I know in my experience, it pays to check well in advance and if it’s cheap and roughly the right time….book it quickly! A few days deliberating can make a lot of difference to the price. As can a day either side of your ‘ideal’ travelling day.

Here is the summary paragraph from the article:

THE LONG & SHORT OF IT You can get last-minute deals on charter flights and package holidays, but you should book scheduled and no-frills flights in advance. If you’re hoping to fly in the next month, the best booking moment is between Wednesday 10pm and 6am the next day, after the 7th of the month. Travel midweek or, if you must fly over the weekend, leave after lunch on Saturday.

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Enjoy a holiday at Beauregard.Click here to find out more