Devall Travels

In 2014 most of Europe will be remembering the start of the First World War. Even the British Government has recognised the importance of the Centenary. The UK got involved on August 4th 1914, when the King made the formal announcement that Great Britain was at war with Germany. It had all kicked off earlier in the summer with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo by Bosnian Serbs on June 28th 1914. I had hoped that my trip will be on July 16th 2014; the 98th anniversary of my Grandfather Charles' cousin William dying of his wounds on the Somme, at the dressing station at Corbie. The problem is that it's difficult to get time off in the last week of the school term. So, it might have to be delayed until the weekend!!! The date has slipped to the weekend of 19th and 20th July. Corbie Extension William Devall I am hoping that Claire will come with me on the Triumph and that in future years that the rest of our small family will continue to make th...

The plan so far is: Day 1 - Home to St Quentin in Picardy Day 2 - St Q to Dijon Day 3 - Dijon to Orange Day 4 - Orange Day 5 - Orange to Epernay Day 6 - Epernay Day 7 - Epernay to Home. Not a bad trip up and down the east side of France.

Why not? We wanted a trip to France where we might get a chance to see the sun.  Last year we "did" lower Normandy and to he honest the weather was superb most of the time. At one point near Disney Europe we had 40 deg. on the temperature gauge in the CC. Previous years in northern France haven't always been that marvelous. So we decided it should be Provence this year. Provence is quite a long way, so maybe just the top?  Orange looks to have a few Roman antiquities and Avignon is nearby. So Destination Orange is born. The method of travel will be the Peugeot 207CC, Again.

One of the reasons for the Miami area stay is so that we can we can get down to the Keys.   I had a look for a hotel in Key West. The prices!  Wow!   In the end I chose this one, The Blue Marlin, on price and locatiion plus the old fashioned appearance.   http://bluemarlinmotel.com/  

Had a Google search for flights to Fort Myers from London.  I found that Air Canada had listed the flights via Toronto and I was wondering if it was available a little cheaper. In the end I used the Skyscanner app on my phone and it picked the same flights as before but through a travel agents in Reading it worked out cheaper than direct. So after googling them to check that they are ATOL registered  I booked.  The fare comes out at £672.78 each. That includes all taxes plus the ATOL airline tits up cover.  A little cheaper than Virgin and much cheaper than BA. Why Fort Myers (RSW)?   The first week we are at Punta Gorda in the Fisherman's Village Resort.  If we fly into Miami or Orlando we end up with a longish drive to the resort from either the main airports that we British flock into. MIA to Punta Gorda - 178 miles Miami International is 178 miles from the resort. Given the arrival time in Miami, the mess about to enter the US through and Homeland Secur...

https://devalltravel.blogspot.com/search?q=NO13 The Saga cruise was posted to a different blog and so I have made a link to go here.

Flickr photo album .