Where To from Here?

Ok, I am BORED!!!! I want to go home already.
This feeling has come upon me relatively swiftly and surprisingly. We have climbed Paklenica out. We’ve done all we can/want to do here. Perhaps if I were not gimpy, there would be more scope for us. But I have done most of the easy stuff. There are some pretty cool looking routes in the 6a+ or 6b range. But I know that right now I would fall off those routes and I am terrified of the consequences for the ankle. I am being sensible and so I will not climb any more. As for N climbing harder routes – well, Paklenica has a lot of fantastic easy routes, but not a lot of the sort of routes that he likes. So we are a bit stumped. And, as much as we have discovered the joy of walking into town for Toblerone, sitting around the campsite for another 8 days with only grocery shopping to distract us is not what we’re up for.

Realising that I was bored with Paklenica made me consider the question of “what now?” and I came to the conclusion that I would not be unhappy to go home early. I am all campinged out. The novelty of living in a tent has worn thin. I would love to sleep in a bed. I would love a kitchen of my own to cook nice food. I am over scuffling for oven space with fellow campers. I am over washing my clothes by hand in a basin or the shower. I am sooooo over it.

Thus, we have accelerated our plans. We leave here (tomorrow) a week earlier than originally planned. We have changed the car booking. We will stay in Zadar (IN REAL ROOMS!!!!!!) for two days and then drive north. On the way to Pula, we plan to stop in and see the White Rock mountains (Bijele Stijene.) From there we want to stop in Rijeke for a day of beach and a day of climbing. Then on to Pula for a day of Pula and a day trip to Rovinje. Unfortunately, that only takes us to October 03. I’m afraid I am a bit unenthusiastic about seeing it through to 15 Oct. Make no mistake, Croatia is a beautiful country. I would recommend it to anyone as a vacation destination. (Despite the evil troll that works at the Croatian embassy in SA.) But two months is too much for me. I have seen an overwhelming selection of pretty coastal cities, Roman ruins, old medieval towns, ancient city walls, gorgeous cathedrals and impressive architecture. There comes a stage (oh, I know this sounds spoiled and people are going to snort in horror at my ingratitude) at which another Roman ruin is just another Roman ruin. The next old town and cathedral is the same as the last. I don’t want to trawl across the country to see one more picturesque sight. I’d quite honestly rather go home and see my family and friends.

But - I can’t. Bloody BA wants to charge me an extortionist rate to change my flight. Apart from the R750 penalty change fee, they will charge me a thirty pound (that’s a lot of Rands) “service” fee because I have to go through their contact centre to change the reservation (despite the fact that it’s their website’s short comings that necessitate the contact centre intervention.) No one told me this when we booked the tickets. Plus, they will knock me for the difference between my old fare and the new one. Due to “availability issues’, quoth the consultant, fares are more expensive now. I would need to pay more because the space on the earlier plane is now going for a premium rate. Sadly, the fact that the seats still available on my current flight are going at the same rate as my desired flight (I checked on the website) makes no difference. They will charge me the more expensive rate and then sell my space on the original flight for the same expensive rate. I know that this is the way the air travel world works, but it kind of sucks. And it means that I will not be going home early. I am waiting for a confirmation email from BA, but I suspect the final figure will be somewhere in the region of three to five thousand Rands. Plus the R750 penalty fee. Plus the thirty pound “service” fee. Humph. I am stuck. STUCK!

We have maxed out our Schenen visa days and so we can’t go anywhere else in Europe. Places like Russia are a joke in terms of us getting last minute visas. Beurocracy, thy name is Russia. We briefly considered the idea of going somewhere in the Middle East that doesn't necessitate visas, but I will not - WILL NOT!!!! - spend my female tourist dollars in any country run by a bunch of mysogynistic bastards who have institutionalised discriminating against people like me. I wouldn’t have minded going to the UK to visit friends or cousins, but I only have a transit visa (48 hours in the country) so it is out of the question. N could go. He has a ten year multi entry visa. Lucky him! But I don’t have the luxury. I am now casting covetous eyes upon Ireland. South Africans don’t need a visa to go there for short visits. And it’s a place that I have always wanted to go to. We didn’t consider it before, because it is expensive for those of us earning in Rands, but it might just be the answer I am looking for. I would love to see Ireland.

So now we have a couple of decisions to make. Is it worth the extra money on air tickets? Are there cheap accommodation options? Where to go, what to see…
I am starting to get quite excited about it. Hold thumbs that we get to go, and let me know if any of you have any bright ideas!