OV9

We've just had 46hrs continuous rain with another 19hrs forecast from tomorrow morning; no point going to Scotland or Wales now

I'm booked to go on a charity trek to Peru doing the Inca trail and visiting Machu Picchu. Trip is 10 days and trek is for 5/6 days and goes up to 4200m.

Excited about it and having to get fitter in the next 6 months. Should be fun while raising some money!

McSwede wrote: Wed Mar 16, 2022 9:45 pm I'm booked to go on a charity trek to Peru doing the Inca trail and visiting Machu Picchu. Trip is 10 days and trek is for 5/6 days and goes up to 4200m.

Excited about it and having to get fitter in the next 6 months. Should be fun while raising some money!

that just sounds like a "holiday" swede...

Rich B wrote: Wed Mar 16, 2022 11:29 pm

McSwede wrote: Wed Mar 16, 2022 9:45 pm I'm booked to go on a charity trek to Peru doing the Inca trail and visiting Machu Picchu. Trip is 10 days and trek is for 5/6 days and goes up to 4200m.

Excited about it and having to get fitter in the next 6 months. Should be fun while raising some money!

that just sounds like a "holiday" swede...

That much exercise isn't my idea of a holiday plus it's for charity mate

McSwede wrote: Wed Mar 16, 2022 9:45 pm I'm booked to go on a charity trek to Peru doing the Inca trail and visiting Machu Picchu. Trip is 10 days and trek is for 5/6 days and goes up to 4200m.

Excited about it and having to get fitter in the next 6 months. Should be fun while raising some money!

Not wanting to come off as a dick, because I'm genuinely excited for your

We did this a few years ago (as a holiday) - great experience!

Hope you have a great time!

tangent - currently my favourite Strokes track.

DaveE wrote: Thu Mar 17, 2022 4:21 pm

McSwede wrote: Wed Mar 16, 2022 9:45 pm I'm booked to go on a charity trek to Peru doing the Inca trail and visiting Machu Picchu. Trip is 10 days and trek is for 5/6 days and goes up to 4200m.

Excited about it and having to get fitter in the next 6 months. Should be fun while raising some money!

Not wanting to come off as a dick, because I'm genuinely excited for your

We did this a few years ago (as a holiday) - great experience!

Hope you have a great time!

Ha. Not at all It should be a great trip

McSwede wrote: Wed Mar 16, 2022 9:45 pm I'm booked to go on a charity trek to Peru doing the Inca trail and visiting Machu Picchu. Trip is 10 days and trek is for 5/6 days and goes up to 4200m.

Excited about it and having to get fitter in the next 6 months. Should be fun while raising some money!

The time has come and on Saturday I'll be heading to Peru for my charity trek to Machu Picchu. Being a charity event the flights are long/cheap. Flying out is Heathrow, Madrid, Lima, Cuzco all with at least a 2hr wait in-between. Home leg is Cuzco, Lima, Sao Paulo, Heathrow.

When I signed up to do this event I was getting in good shape and signing up had me ready to kick on. Sadly things went a little pear shaped. First of all I tore a calf muscle at the gym and that set me back many weeks. Anyhow, I recovered and started running again and going to the gym for 2-3 weeks, at which point I went to our annual company conference. Day 2 was some forced fun with loads of fun outdoor events, one of which was rounders. Up steps McSwede, I proper twatted the ball and set of sprinting on my lap of glory only for me do do my left hamstring This left me out of action again for quite a while.

During this recuperation period we started hitting the summer run of entertaining customers so I was out all the time .

The long and short of it is I'm not in the shape I'd have hoped to have been in for this trip but f*CK it, I'll be fine.

Other than the fitness thing I'm really excited about what should be a fantastic experience (so long as my heart doesn't explode).

On the plus side I've raised £5k for charity

Oh wow good luck, keep us updated.

I still cba to go abroad so keeping it in the uk. Very uninteresting mainly altho staying in the Crescent Hotel in Buxton soon - if people know the Bath Crescent its of the same design and has just been renovated.https://www.visitbuxton.co.uk/the-crescent/

Oh, has that opened at last? Do report back what it’s like.

Also haven’t been abroad for a while but choosing port/airport carefully probably wouldn’t be an issue now.

We're off to Thailand in October. Flying into Bangkok, spend two nights there and then we've not decided yet.

Any recommendations? Want to spend some time at a beach place, was thinking Phuket, but apart from that we're open to ideas.

Edit: obviously have the children with us.

@McSwede FWIW I spent some time in Cusco some years ago, and the story went that Machu Picchu wasn't too taxing. Huayna Picchu is supposedly a lot tougher, so if you're going that bit it might get more fun.

Hopefully Cusco is still as lively as when I was there anyway! Look forward to the trip report.

DeskJockey wrote: Thu Sep 01, 2022 10:59 pm We're off to Thailand in October. Flying into Bangkok, spend two nights there and then we've not decided yet.

Any recommendations? Want to spend some time at a beach place, was thinking Phuket, but apart from that we're open to ideas.

Edit: obviously have the children with us.

recommendation - spend as little time in Bangkok as possible!

Rich B wrote: Fri Sep 02, 2022 6:16 am

DeskJockey wrote: Thu Sep 01, 2022 10:59 pm We're off to Thailand in October. Flying into Bangkok, spend two nights there and then we've not decided yet.

Any recommendations? Want to spend some time at a beach place, was thinking Phuket, but apart from that we're open to ideas.

Edit: obviously have the children with us.

recommendation - spend as little time in Bangkok as possible!

Why? Want to see some of the temples and the like.

DeskJockey wrote: Fri Sep 02, 2022 6:55 am

Rich B wrote: Fri Sep 02, 2022 6:16 am

DeskJockey wrote: Thu Sep 01, 2022 10:59 pm We're off to Thailand in October. Flying into Bangkok, spend two nights there and then we've not decided yet.

Any recommendations? Want to spend some time at a beach place, was thinking Phuket, but apart from that we're open to ideas.

Edit: obviously have the children with us.

recommendation - spend as little time in Bangkok as possible!

Why? Want to see some of the temples and the like.

it's dirty, overly noisy and most importantly full of "lovely helpful people" who are actually trying to con you - all the time! Literally every time you step out your door there's someone lying to you and trying to rip you off!

It weird, because when you go to a big city in neighbouring Vietnam, the experience is totally opposite.

Hopefully you'll have a different experience, but be aware of the many scams...

https://yourthaiguide.com/top-10-bangko ... uld-avoid/

Not that you necessarily fall for them of course, but I would be confident that you'd have most of these tried on you if you were in Bangkok for 48 hours.

The tuk tuk that takes you to 5 suit/jewellery shops instead of where you agreed and the "closed tourist attraction would you like to be taken to a better one" will be tried on you 5+ times a day.

Make a sport out of it and it can be quite amusing for a bit.

Good to know, cheers.

DeskJockey wrote: Thu Sep 01, 2022 10:59 pm We're off to Thailand in October. Flying into Bangkok, spend two nights there and then we've not decided yet.

Any recommendations? Want to spend some time at a beach place, was thinking Phuket, but apart from that we're open to ideas.

Edit: obviously have the children with us.

We had a lovely beach holiday in Khao Lak after 3 nights in Phuket. Took a speed boat trip out to the Surin islands for some snorkeling, which was nice.

Our California trip is gaining momentum - we're going for just over 3 weeks. Los Angeles, then road tip to San Francisco via Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks, possibly Tahoe and then 3 days down the PCH back to Los Angeles. It's a GSCE for MiniDinny, Late 50th for her, early 50th for me sort of trip so going all out.

Flights and Car Hire booked this month (as it's the sweet spot for prices for next July apparently.

duncs500 wrote: Fri Sep 02, 2022 5:10 am @McSwede FWIW I spent some time in Cusco some years ago, and the story went that Machu Picchu wasn't too taxing. Huayna Picchu is supposedly a lot tougher, so if you're going that bit it might get more fun.

Hopefully Cusco is still as lively as when I was there anyway! Look forward to the trip report.

Gavster & I did Peru a couple of years ago. We didn't do the Inca trail as we didn't have time, but once you're at Machu Picchu the climb to Huayna Picchu is not a big deal. Steep, but manageable. I did it with absolutely zero preparation although I was a little tired by the top. Next day we walked the rail tracks from Machu Picchu to Hidroelectrica. Also not too taxing.

I really enjoyed Peru, I'd like to go back. I guess they key is to call it a charity event and get other people to pay for it