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Josie's Holidays Page

As a child, most of my holidays were camping ones. Mostly in North Wales with my Dad and sisters. Here we are in 1981 somewhere on a camp site near a steam railway (they were always near a steam railway because that's where my Dad wanted to go).

Me on left (eating biscuits), Jennie in the middle, Trisha.

Me in a Youth Hostel just outside Dublin, 1988. This was my first holiday without my family. I went alone on my bike (see Bike Page) in October for a few days. It was fab and definitely worth going, even if I did end up with a puncture, a lost ferry ticket and sleeping under a warehouse roof rather than riding home through the rain at 1am. This is the only picture of me on this holiday as I was alone and had to get someone I didn't know to take it.

I didn't really have holidays during and just after my degree, partly because I couldn't afford them and partly because I was living in Menai Bridge which is a holiday resort itself, half a mile from the sea. So I had people come to stay with me for a holiday. Here I am on top of Great Orme (near Llandudno, North Wales). I went out on a trip with a gang of friends, all of whom were too embarassed to be photographed with me in my 'flasher mac'.

So my main holidays were camping trips and days out at this time. I still do a fair amount of camping now, but have been known to fork out for the odd hotel.

Me on a camping trip 1996. I was living in Stoke, near the Peak District, 1994 - 1998 and - not having a vehicle - used to cycle around quite a bit. My sisters invited me to a camping weekend in the Peaks so I cycled the 25 miles there, and back the next day. And I was well knackered, as you can see in this picture. It was also the hottest day of the year. Tough luck.

Me in Paris 1996. Went on a bus trip with a load of mates from Stoke. It took 18 hours to get there and then we had three hours wandering around in Paris before retiring to the hotel for the night. So managed to get this photo of me by the Eiffel Tower and not much else. Worth it for the crack on the bus and the food once we got there. Where I lived at the time had a shower and no bath so I had three baths in the hotel that night.

We went on a trip to the Lake District (B & B) in 1998 - as I'd never really been 'up North'. Stopped off at Haworth to see the Bronte house and at Blackpool on the way back. Here I am next to a waterfall on one of my many walks.

The next big holiday was Benidorm 2001. Here I am reading my book (Captain Corelli's Mandolin) in the lovely Spanish December sunshine. Books go everywhere with me, especially on holiday, but this particular book would probably have been abandoned after the first 10 pages had it not been the only one I had taken!

And here I am on the same balcony, showing the building site in the background. Thus is Benidorm life: sun, sea, cement. (Tee-shirt slogan, by the way, is 'BRAZEN HUSSY')

Went back to Spain over Easter 2004, but this time to Fuengirola on the Southern tip. Amazed at how close to Africa we were. Obviously I hadn't looked properly at a map before going! The beach was lovely.

And here I am holding a baby crocodile at the croc park in Torremolinos. This was a really hot day and all the crocs were out lazing in the sun. Scary size they were as well.

Yes! We went to Disneyworld and what a time we had! Turned up in Florida just as Hurricane Charley did and raced the storm from the airport. But we survived and here I am next to another survivor to prove it.

There were some amazing rides in the theme parks and lots of things to see. I was adamant that I would meet some Native Americans while out there but in the end, this is as close as I got, and they're not even real people either.

There were some pretty scary rides too, I went on this one called 'Atlantis' and it was excellent. Mostly inside, there were light shows and a roller-coaster ride and four drops, this was the highest.

And just to prove that I did it, here I am at the bottom soaking wet!

I seem to have a 'thing' for putting my head inside the mouth of ferocious beasts...

A big craze in the theme parks is to have your picture digitally grafted over someone famous. I wanted to be Lara Croft but Alys insisted on this one. I've often been told I look like Glen Close but can't see the resemblance myself.

In 2009 I visited Italy and here I am in Verona writing a message on the graffiti wall next to Juliet’s balcony. Here is a close up of the message.