Dads Unauthorised Travel Blog - Two Virgins but only one Christmas Miracle

Sometimes it's just best not to know what is happening whilst the girls are travelling. I mean, I know we only get the edited highlights anyway, but there was a bit of a throw away comment from Meg one evening, in between visiting a Tropical Rainforest and scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef about doing a bungee jump. Is it odd that my first thought was is she covered on her insurance? Well it's too late now, and things went well, so check out her amazing video. At least she was heading towards water rather than dry land!

As I get older, I have become more wary of heights, so not only would you never in a month of Sundays get me jumping off a high platform attached to a bit of elastic, you wouldn't even get me walking up to the platform. Ellie was sat watching events unfold with a beer in hand, now that is more like it! 

Well the girls have done the Australian East Coast and they are now in Bali ready to celebrate New Year. They finished Australia in Cairns and then flew back to Brisbane for Christmas before heading off to Bali. They have crammed so much in and they have visited some beautiful places, with I hope lots of great memories.

Now as part of our voyage of 'relationship rediscovery' following parental abandonment by our daughters, I decided I'd take Mrs Riley on a date to the cinema. Its a while since we've been to the pictures, the main reason for not going is that after about 15 minutes I usually nod off, so for me it's just a very expensive sleep. Anyway Knives Out an Agatha Christie esq who done it? sounded like my type of movie, staring Daniel Craig (I think this was the attraction for Mrs Riley). Anyway if you haven't seen it yet don't worry about any spoilers, I think I managed to stay awake for 30 mins, It must be the big comfy reclining seats that do it. I just couldn't help myself, it's such a lovely feeling when you are drifting off to sleep. Then suddenly I was brought back to reality by a ringing mobile phone. There are some dickheads about doesn't anyone take any notice of the message to switch off your mobile. It rang for a few times and It was only as I felt a throbbing in my pocket that I realised the Muppet with the phone on was me ...... no one ever phones me! Mrs Riley muttered something about there's always one, why does it always have to be you .... bit harsh I thought! The call was from my football mate in a state of wild excitement, had I seen the score? Sheffield Wednesday were winning 4-0 at half time. For those that don't know anything about Wednesday this is like a once in a lifetime experience, we never score 4 goals and not in the first half. Even Wednesday couldn't mess this up, could they? Anyway for the rest of the movie I was glued to my phone following the remainder of the match. It's nice to know that I haven't lost that magic touch, I know how to show a girl a good time. 

Well it's been a bit of an odd Christmas this year, no mad dashes and fighting the crowds in the supermarkets, no panic buying (apart from enough wine and beer to keep us going until Easter). We caught up with the girls via face-time on their Christmas Day and ours and although they didn't quite manage Christmas Dinner on the beach there was an impressive home cooked Christmas dinner served (next year girls over to you). We travelled up to Sheffield and had a lovely time with family spending Christmas Day with my Dad. We have an odd Christmas tradition of having mushy peas with our Christmas dinner. I've no idea how it originated, and to be honest its dropped by the wayside in recent years, probably due to health and safety reasons as sprouts and mushy peas are a powerful combination. Anyway the tradition was revived this year, suffice to say it was a windy afternoon and just as a precaution we slept with the hotel window open. I think I'll stick to fish and chips with my mushies in the future.

Over the last few days, I've come to realise that the antithesis to the miracle of Christmas with the Virgin Mary and peace on earth and goodwill to all men, is Virgin Australia. I've never come across such an incompetent company that sucks all the optimism and good cheer from you, to the point where sticking pins in your eyes would be more pleasurable.  As the girls headed to Bali, Ellie's rucksack was lost by Virgin Australia between Brisbane and Darwin. In fact I'd go as far as say if Virgin had been responsible for getting Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, they would probably have arrived around Easter, the three wise men would have ended up in Baghdad and the Shepherds in  Bangalore (which coincidentally is where I think their call centre is). In the communication age, I've never known a company so inept at communicating, "I'm so sorry for any inconvenience and we will update you as soon as we have any information" is what's written on the call centre prompt card. After 5 phone calls with no response from Virgin (that's airlines not Mary), I'd have more confidence in them if they told me the Angel Gabriel will appear to bring glad tidings of great joy once the bag has been found. To be fair they never have any information, so they never call, it's a good system! After 5 days I think Ellie and bag are about to be repatriated, fingers crossed.

To make matters worse, Meg has managed to twist on her ankle and fall on the stairs (I'm told alcohol was not involved) requiring 5 stitches on her leg just under her knee, Its hard to believe that the girl who has jumped out of air planes, climbed to Everest base camp and completed a bungee jump without a scratch has managed to be grounded by a staircase! So rest is the order of the day for Meg, until the wound starts to heal. 

Anyway that's enough drama for now, it's nice to know that despite Virgin Australia's inability to be able understand social media, email, messaging and telephony communications my daughters don't have the same problem and dad still has a special place in his girls hearts, "dad can you just phone Australia about my missing bag"- happy Christmas EE, and "dad can you transfer some money to cover my medical costs until I come home?" I almost feel like I'm there with them, I'm beginning to think it's only partial parental abandonment. 

Happy new year to everyone, and I hope 2020 will be a fantastic year for you and to my daughters, missing you both, enjoy Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos

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