Spring 2012

 

As you see from the title of this blog we are going to China.

This is possibly one of the most exciting things we have done and we have a rainy day to thank for giving us the idea to take a trip and Grandpa's diary which enabled us to make the decision on where to go.

We were sitting in bed one morning (you may not want to know this) and it was raining hard. We were chatting about all the sensible things we had been doing with some of our savings. Double glazing, solar panels etc. The rest we were saving for a rainy day, like you do.

Turns out we had both been thinking that saving for a rainy day was not a great plan and that a BIG trip would be a good idea.

Having decided on that part all we had to do was to decide where.

“You have always wanted to go to Shanghai to see where your dad lived” said Tone. “You have always wanted to go to Australia to see your cousins” said I

There is also Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. How shall we choose?

As it turned out the choice was pretty easy in the end.

Last year my cousin Phillipa had transcribed some notes my Grandpa had made when he travelled from Barry in Wales, where he had lived all his life, to Shanghai, where he had got a post in the Municipal Surveyors Department. She had sent the notes to various of her family and they make very interesting reading.

When I saw the date that Grandpa left Barry the decision was made.

He left on 20thApril 1913 on the 3.40pm train and travelled to Shanghai. Amazing!

He travelled via London, Ostend, Cologne, Berlin, Warsaw, and Moscow where he got on the Trans Siberian Express. Soon after Moscow the train was derailed by terrorists and that is something we don't want to repeat! He took the Trans Mancurian train and other trains to a town called Dalian where he caught a boat to Shanghai.

100 years on on 20^th April 2013 on the 3.40pm train from Barry Tone and I will travel to Shanghai.

Now how do we make that happen.