Packing....

Note to self...next time I travel write the luggage address labels before packing the address book at the very bottom of my case

Flybe are great, I am sure you will have a lovely time. The Northern lights are amazing, I hope you have a magical time

I fly with Flybe from Birmingham to Aberdeen then on to Kirkwall on Monday newist Hope I get to see the Northern Lights, it's on my bucket list.
Getting jittery about the weather now after watching the Flybe aeroplane take off almost sideways in Shetland

What a great place to be on New year , Aka when do you go?

I love the way these threads meander

Same here, absent, but in my case it was a group of boy scouts .

NfkDumpling Nothing to do with bird watching but I have never forgotten nipping behind a convenient bush after a picnic while travelling through France down to Spain when I was in my teens. Not a soul in sight until it was all too late – a huge hay wagon came trundling up the track with half a dozen cheery French farmworkers on top of the mound of hay waving wine bottles and shouting "Vivent les anglaises". Quel horreur!

Looking forward to meeting a few Vikings but wary of twitchers. Not worried by bladder problems due to a 10 gallon bladder!

Aka my phobia about the whereabouts of birding blokes with binoculars is from a trip to Snettisham in W Norfolk to see the waders flocking. A mile and a half walk to the beach/shingle bank, freezing cold, no loos, no bushes over a yard high and bods with binocs looking in all directions. In desperation I went behind a scrappy bush which, of course, as I stood up and turned around became the front of a bush from the other direction. And there was this bloke .......!

phoenix; don't worry; this thread will be ongoing as I'm going to America for 2 weeks and am planning what to take already [I'm going to have a practice fortnight before I go].

Laughing makes me cough. And yes, it is risky!

Bum! Mis-use of brackets! Double

Oh numpty that I am, I didn't check the date of the OP! [tchblush)

glass as said before I can, but not necessarily in that order.

(Is there an echo in here?)

Have a lovely time Aka Watch out for the Vikings and all those fire balls

Can any of you cough and laugh at the same time

When we take off to the wilds I try and be as discreet as possible but should someone see my bum, I know there is no chance of them recognising me !!

My squatting days are well and truly over and my approach now is more of a very wide legged stance whilst gazing at the sky or a slight bend as I study the terrain!

I was going to Northumberland phoenix and, as usual I took far too many clothes, but I had no idea how bad the weather was going to be. I am, however, going to invest in a She Wee. I had a conversation with a girl working in the chemist [who was much younger than me] and she recommended one [especially as she goes camping a lot]. I'd pointed out that twice in one week I'd been stuck in a 'going nowhere' sort of traffic jam and both times became desperate for the loo [can't get out of the car when you've got a mile of stationary cars and their drivers looking at you]. I was in a complete panic both times . When I was young and we used to do lots of travelling I found that wearing long billowing skirts solved that problem [it was like having my own tent].

Thank god, all my pelvic floor, large as it is, is intact and functioning!

All that imbibing, here's hoping your heid's no loupin' on ne'er day Slainte

Still trying to figure out why 'blokes with binoculars' have this effect on you Nfk but whatever floats your boat

Phoenix you sound like that woman in the advert.

Off out now....more food!!!

Well, I can Aka but not necessarily in that order!

And I quite often find that a really big sneeze requires a hand over the nose and mouth and a firm crossing of the legs.

I love my She Wee. Always pack it - except for city breaks. It's a real boon for bird watching (all those blokes with binoculars). There's rather a lot of me that I'd rather not expose, especially this weather, and the ability to squat these days is very hit and miss!

Can one cough and laugh at the same time?