Four go wild north of the border UPDATED 6/23 - Page 10 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Love the pictures of you with the donkeys! I can tell you really like them.
In Alaska we had a bunch of biting insects and my mom swore by Avon's skin so soft. I wasn't sure what midges were so looked it up and found this info..
"Midges can detect carbon dioxide in your breath 200 metres away. They are attracted to dark clothing and love boggy ground, undergrowth, and gloomy, still conditions at the start and end of the day. So, put on your old cricket whites and head for breezy, sunlit hillsides with a packed lunch instead. And if you do get bitten, don't dance around swearing. You'll only broadcast your location by releasing more carbon dioxide. A good splash of midge repellent will help – or follow the example of Scottish crofters. Traditionally they tied bog myrtle around their ankles. Today, savvy Highlanders have a new secret weapon: Avon Skin So Soft lotion. Finally, there's an old adage: "Kill one midge and a thousand will come to its funeral." Don't listen – it depends how you do it. Kill it quietly with a precision jab of the forefinger and none of the others need know."
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Love the pictures of you with the donkeys! I can tell you really like them.
I am a bit partial. I think it reminds me of my childhood, having grown up with a donkey in the field outside my parents' house.
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In Alaska we had a bunch of biting insects and my mom swore by Avon's skin so soft. I wasn't sure what midges were so looked it up and found this info..
"Midges can detect carbon dioxide in your breath 200 metres away. They are attracted to dark clothing and love boggy ground, undergrowth, and gloomy, still conditions at the start and end of the day. So, put on your old cricket whites and head for breezy, sunlit hillsides with a packed lunch instead. And if you do get bitten, don't dance around swearing. You'll only broadcast your location by releasing more carbon dioxide. A good splash of midge repellent will help – or follow the example of Scottish crofters. Traditionally they tied bog myrtle around their ankles. Today, savvy Highlanders have a new secret weapon: Avon Skin So Soft lotion. Finally, there's an old adage: "Kill one midge and a thousand will come to its funeral." Don't listen – it depends how you do it. Kill it quietly with a precision jab of the forefinger and none of the others need know."
I thought it might be helpful
Oh wow, that is really useful - thanks for that. I feel better reading it, as I have no intention of going anywhere near boggy ground, undergrowth or gloom, so hopefully we'll be Ok.
Plans are looking good and glad you were able to book a couple more restaurants! The wine cooler sounds like a good idea as I'm sure all of you will get good use of it!
Nice photos of your boys at the sanctuary and they are just so adorable! Too bad you can't take one of them home!
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Plans are looking good and glad you were able to book a couple more restaurants! The wine cooler sounds like a good idea as I'm sure all of you will get good use of it!
I have a feeling we might.
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Nice photos of your boys at the sanctuary and they are just so adorable! Too bad you can't take one of them home!
Pre-trip report – part fifteen: “Does Manchester Airport only have the one terminal?”
Monday 29 May
I headed out early to a local garden centre and finally sorted out the presents for my parents’ golden wedding anniversary. Yesterday I’d found freesias there, and I’d never seen them for sale before. Even the label said it was the first opportunity for gardeners to buy them, so I got a yellow and red one. Later, as I was potting them on, it occurred to me that I could get the yellow (golden) one for my parents, as my mum loves freesias, so I went back to buy that. I ended up with a personal shopper, a guy who started out helping me, then shifted everything I wanted to buy (including a large quantity of compost) on to the trolley, and then into my car, as I was shopping on my own. Anyway, I asked him if they had any roses for a golden wedding anniversary, and he found me a really nice patio rose, so that’s that taken care of.
As we’re on the subject of flowers, here’s how many still left to plant from the selection that came back from Warwick with us – as you can tell, the majority are now in the ground:
The real success story again are the double begonias, they are just stunning.
I do love my marigolds though, so I’ll share this photo of the dwarf ones planted out…
Now we’re getting close to the vacation, my thoughts are really starting to turn to what we need to take with us. I’m reviewing our grocery order for this coming weekend to make sure we’ve got enough of everything. I’ve decided, given the hot, humid weather we’re experiencing (seriously it’s starting to feel like Florida over here! ), we should take more water than I was originally planning. I figured on 16 small bottles of water, but frankly that’s about a bottle per day for four people. Well, while we can re-stock with no problem, I think we should start off with more than that, especially as I’ve worked out how much I can fit in the car itself. I’ve doubled the order to 32 and added in some big bottles, as on a hot day, we could probably go through a 1.5 litre bottle in one go between the four of us. I’ve also added in some kitchen roll, just in case we’re eating in the car, and make a mess.
Mark asked me a good question today. “Does Manchester Airport only have the one terminal?” Me: “No, I think it’s got more than one”. Him: “Which terminal are Mari and Raleigh flying into?” Me: “I’m not sure. He had a good point. I went and looked it up on the Manchester Airport website, and quickly established it was terminal 1, and unsurprisingly, there’s multi-storey car parking right outside the terminal, which works perfectly. Their flight is an hour, and it takes about 35 minutes from my parents to get there, so we’ll to check their flight has taken off before we head out to get them.
I also got an email from Laurie (lauriep on the boards). Now I know some of you will remember her. She doesn’t pop in much these days, or at least logged in anyway, but I’m still in touch with her fairly regularly via email. I know she does sometimes view the boards, probably as a guest, and today is one of the reasons I know that, because this was the email I got from her, as she’d been reading my pre-trip report.
I see you'll be going to visit Beatrix Potter's Hill Top Farm. You will love it. The "cottage" itself is a lot bigger than Mrs Tiggy-Winkle's home, but wonderful. The views all around the Lake district are used in the watercolor illustrations for the books and will be very familiar. You'll easily picture Peter and Jemima and Pigling Bland's adventures in that scenery. I love not only the book illustrations, but also her naturalist studies of mushrooms. When I was at Hilltop they had a display of these
Cool!
Later on in the day, Mari posted a photo of their activity from the day, I assume from something like a Fitbit, along with this text:
I knew my legs were tired!! Love the exercise. We will need it when we meet up with Mark Pendry and Cheryl Pendry in a couple of weeks!!! ��������
I do not know what she’s talking about… I pointed out it was a road trip, but she came back and said Italy was three years ago. Yeah, Ok, fair point, it was, and that did involve a lot of walking. However, there were a lot more towns to visit there, which we walked around. I think this time, it will be more of a road trip… famous last words!
Tuesday 30 May
At lunchtime today, I had various errands to run, the first of which was to do with my camera. I realised I’d lost a bit of rubber from it over the weekend, and as it’s still well within warranty, only being four months old, I took it back to the shop I bought it from. I was hoping they’d just be able to order a replacement bit for me, but it wasn’t that simple. They’d have to send it away for repairs, and that wasn’t happening, as it could take up to two weeks, and we leave a week on Friday. They told me to bring it in when we get back.
My next stop was at the travel agents, as our travel money card, which we add money to in various different currencies. I noticed over the weekend that it’s due to expire tomorrow, so I asked what I needed to do. They told me I could either cash out the money left on it, or move it to a new card. Well, as we’re not going to France until September (there’s another trip report at some point ) and we won’t be going back to America until the new year, so I figured I’d cash the money out. Excellent, that’s £50 towards our spending money for this trip.
Finally, I needed to get some more plasters or as you guys say Band-Aids. As an aside, I love the way you use a product name for something like that, but I digress… It’s the start of the summer season, which for me means summer shoes and sandals, and therefore the blisters and cuts that leads to. I knew it was bad when I went to the cupboard and there was basically nothing left. I knew I’d need some, and for the trip too, so I got a whole heap to test out, as the darned things always come off when I’m swimming. It helped that there was a three for the price of two deal, but at least we’ll have plenty for the first aid kit while we’re away…
Oh and by the way… I did all of this, a fair chunk of walking, without a bandage on my ankle, for the first time today!
Wednesday 31 May
First off, time for a single digit dance!
Mark had to leave early for work this morning, so I took advantage of the additional time I had before I had to leave for work. I found the seasickness tablets I bought a couple of weeks ago, and made sure those are now on the pile I’ve started to put together of things we need to take with us. It’s gradually growing day by day, and bit by bit, and the plan is to pack everything this weekend… wow, that isn’t that far away now!
I also set to work on some of the outstanding items for this trip, and yes there were still some! For ages (and we are talking months here ) the Steam Yacht Gondola on Lake Coniston in the Lake District has said on its website that sailings would be taking place throughout the summer. Good, as we want to take a full lake cruise. However, you’ve not been able to book anything through their website after 8 June. I had it on my list of things to do to call them and ask what was going on, but I figured I’d have another look today, as surely they had to be selling tickets further ahead than that… and finally they had. I went ahead and booked the cruise we wanted, so that’s one thing done.
The next thing was also water based, our cruise on Loch Ness. That was simple enough, I just hadn’t got round to doing it, but given we’re there on the Saturday of the Father’s Day weekend, I thought it would be safer to book ahead. We’re on the first boat of the day, and hopefully we’ll spot Nessie along the way!
I also emailed another restaurant about our Saturday night meal, having heard nothing back from the first two. Wouldn’t you know it – I got home and the latest place I’d emailed, the Glen Hotel, had confirmed our dinner. Fantastic… except… the place I emailed over three weeks ago also came back to me tonight to confirm our dinner reservation. Now what to do? In truth, I’d have preferred the place I emailed originally, as it’s within walking distance of our B&B, but how could I go back to a place that I’d only emailed that morning and say “sorry I don’t need the reservation any longer”? I went back to the first place, and thanked them, but said as they hadn’t come back to me, we’d made other plans. She was fine about it, and apologised, as my email had got put in their spam folder.
Next: “I don’t think Dunfermline is on our itinerary”
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So nice to hear from Laurie, even if second hand. Please pass on my regards to her!
You'd think a place in the business of booking things via email would be checking spam folders daily. Hopefully the new restaurant is a good one, so you're not left second guessing your choice.
Single digits! Soon you'll be on the road and taking lots of pictures for us.
I too am glad that Laurie is still in contact with you, hope she is doing well. I think it is interesting the differences in names we have for things like to you band-aids are plasters, whereas plaster here is stuff in construction or art.
The flowers are looking very nice. A golden flower for a golden anniversary is a great idea!
Final details are shaping up! I used to be guilty of calling bandages by the brand name, and tissues too (kleenex). Until my smart-alec daughter at about age 4-5 asks me why some boxes say band-aid and some don't, yet I call it a band-aid or a kleenex. Soooo..... bandages and tissues are what we call it now.
Good call on the extra water too. It's always good to have that in the car!
And hey Laurie!!
__________________
Tanya
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So nice to hear from Laurie, even if second hand. Please pass on my regards to her!
I will do.
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You'd think a place in the business of booking things via email would be checking spam folders daily. Hopefully the new restaurant is a good one, so you're not left second guessing your choice.
Single digits! Soon you'll be on the road and taking lots of pictures for us.
We will indeed! We head out in just under two days now...
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I too am glad that Laurie is still in contact with you, hope she is doing well. I think it is interesting the differences in names we have for things like to you band-aids are plasters, whereas plaster here is stuff in construction or art.
Yes, plaster means that over here too - obviously! We like to confuse whenever we can...
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The flowers are looking very nice. A golden flower for a golden anniversary is a great idea!
Quote:
Final details are shaping up! I used to be guilty of calling bandages by the brand name, and tissues too (kleenex). Until my smart-alec daughter at about age 4-5 asks me why some boxes say band-aid and some don't, yet I call it a band-aid or a kleenex. Soooo..... bandages and tissues are what we call it now.
It's no different to vacuums - we used to call them all Hoovers, which of course is a brand name too. Not so much now. I doubt any kids today would have any clue what a Hoover was...
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Good call on the extra water too. It's always good to have that in the car!
Nice plans with the dinner reservation and the lake cruise, which should be a great experience! I love doing those and have taken quite a few of them and especially in Europe.
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Thank you for including something from lauriep! I do miss her being here regularly. I always learned so much from her, especially about animals. Please let her know that I miss her and always wish her the best.
Your double begonias are gorgeous. You've actually got me wondering where I might be able to plant a few of those. Glad a few more details of the trip have been put in place.
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I am a bit partial. I think it reminds me of my childhood, having grown up with a donkey in the field outside my parents' house. 
I feel better reading it, as I have no intention of going anywhere near boggy ground, undergrowth or gloom, so hopefully we'll be Ok. 
Too bad you can't take one of them home! 
), we should take more water than I was originally planning. I figured on 16 small bottles of water, but frankly that’s about a bottle per day for four people. Well, while we can re-stock with no problem, I think we should start off with more than that, especially as I’ve worked out how much I can fit in the car itself. I’ve doubled the order to 32 and added in some big bottles, as on a hot day, we could probably go through a 1.5 litre bottle in one go between the four of us. I’ve also added in some kitchen roll, just in case we’re eating in the car, and make a mess. 
I pointed out it was a road trip, but she came back and said Italy was three years ago. Yeah, Ok, fair point, it was, and that did involve a lot of walking. However, there were a lot more towns to visit there, which we walked around. I think this time, it will be more of a road trip… famous last words! 
it wasn’t that simple. They’d have to send it away for repairs, and that wasn’t happening, as it could take up to two weeks, and we leave a week on Friday. They told me to bring it in when we get back. 
I knew it was bad when I went to the cupboard and there was basically nothing left. I knew I’d need some, and for the trip too, so I got a whole heap to test out, as the darned things always come off when I’m swimming. It helped that there was a three for the price of two deal, but at least we’ll have plenty for the first aid kit while we’re away… 
) the Steam Yacht Gondola on Lake Coniston in the Lake District has said on its website that sailings would be taking place throughout the summer. Good, as we want to take a full lake cruise. However, you’ve not been able to book anything through their website after 8 June. I had it on my list of things to do to call them and ask what was going on, but I figured I’d have another look today, as surely they had to be selling tickets further ahead than that… and finally they had. I went ahead and booked the cruise we wanted, so that’s one thing done. 
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