| Subject: 1977, Rome, Tunis, Malaga & Lisbon |
Author:
rich (unimaginable)
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Date Posted: 22:45:38 06/11/11 Sat
1977, we departed from Gatwick on an old Dan-Air plane that looked as if it was held together with sellotape and prit-stick. I was an 11 year old from the outskirts of Bristol and the furthest I'd travelled previously was to Woolacombe in Devon. Ha, i was one of seven kids from a three bedroom council house and although money was very tight, being such a moaner my mum and dad relented and somehow scraped up the 150 quid or so that would send me to the Med for 10 days, just to shut me up. I was the envy of the school and even suffered some abuse as even some of the more 'posher' classmates could only look forward to a weeks pony trekking in North Wales.
I think that because of my background I appreciated the cruise more than most, flying to Rome Airport and boarding a coach that would take us through the winding roads and endless olive groves to the port of civetevcchia, where we met up with SS Uganda, was such a fantastic experience in itself.
I can't say anything bad about the Uganda, I loved the dormatories, I was in Glenn, and despite all the posts about the 'disgusting' food, it all tasted like gourmet meals to me, well I am a proud product of the 'free' school meals of the 1970s.
I honestly had the time of my life in those ten long days, I visited the Coloseum in Rome, threw coins in the Trevi Fountain, and marvelled at St Peters square and Michelangelo's ceiling in the Sistine Chapel. I bartered for bongo drums in Tunis, experienced the rain in Spain and nearly got hit by a tram in Lisbon, and of course I puked my guts up while navigating the Bay of Biscay.
As much as I loved visiting these beautiful locations, the best part of the cruise for me was being on board SS Uganda, the larking around in the dormatories, winding up the Matron, the evening discos, 'Convoy' playing on the jukebox, the frog racing (not real frogs), deck hockey and that 9 '0' clock announcement 'Bing Bong, all students must return to their dormatories'.
The school cruise was the holiday of a lifetime, a chance for the 'have nots' to have a bit of the 'have' which has sadly disapeared.
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