Barbie

I managed no sleep at all after a stressful qork day and a 4.15am pickup playing on my mind.

Our flight was only half full and I had a whole row of seats to myself for our 2 hour ride to Poland which was marred by Elaine falling foul to extra vigilant check in staff who changed her an extra £70 as her case was a fee cms over their height limit.

The airline staff pointed out that my passport is due to expire soon which I knew, having had niggling anxiety about it as there has been much coverage lately about people being unable to travel despite a seemingly unexpired document,  with the issue date of their passport being over 10 years ago.  What probably seemed liked good, esrly preparation to me in June 2014 means mine which states it expires in Jan 25 will need to be replaced as soon as I return home, in readiness for my next trip in June.

The arrival hall was one of the quietest I've visited for years and we quickly navigated through passport control despite having to be in the All other queue post Brexit and despite the border staff scrutinising my passport very closely.

We took a bus and then a tram to our hotel, celebrating that the ticket machines had English language option.and that our rooms were ready early when we arrived at our hotel.

Adele and i did some sightseeing in the afternoon after enjoying a tasty goats cheese salad in a cafe near to our hotel.

The rest of our group took a later flight and joined us for a pre dinner drink and then dinner.  Yvonne was, as anticipated, very excited.

After dinner we went to a nearby bar where I had a mulled wine and Emma tried a Barbie cocktail that matched her drink and was topped with candyfloss.