One Man Travelling...

Into the unknown Redundancy at the end of August loomed. What to do next? Don, a colleague of mine who, unfortunately was to join me in the unemployment queue had been prompting me to visit Tenerife for years. Why not, another job at my time of life was a remote possibility, I owed nothing to anyone?  I commenced browsing the internet during July 2011 discovering a substantial drop in the price of a ticket to Tenerife South airport on Monday 1st November of that year. Easyjet would transport me, a cabin bag and my suitcase from Gatwick for the princely sum of £60.00. I booked.

May bank holiday weekend and I am still without my car which was quite fortuitous as I would never have heard about or made this trip. Browsing Woods Coaches for a suitable day out I came across a coach trip to Llandudno's 'Victorian Extravaganza' weekend. Living in Leicester at the time this is about as far away as you can get and I would never have dreamt of driving there on my own.  Going by coach was cheaper than filling my tank and no hassles finding a parking space on arrival.

The next event which formulated future my travel plans, and subsequent blogs, came about when my car failed its MOT requiring replacement headlights which proved very hard to find! I found myself approaching the Easter holidays with no means of transport. Harking back to my youth I remembered the 'Mystery Tours' which ran from Durham City bus station during the summer months on a Wednesday afternoon. A bit of 'Googling' revealed that coach trips are still very popular and I eventually settled on Woods Coaches of Leicester where I happened to be living at the time. A trip to Whitby by steam train caught my eye. Born in the North East of England this was a destination of choice when my dad was feeling exceptionally keen.

... and the seed of an idea.  My car failed its MOT in January 2011 due to headlight failure. Whilst on the lookout for replacements I purchased a season ticket with First Bus to travel to and from work. As Easter approached and there was still no sign of new headlights my thoughts turned to the days when, as a boy, we used to go on coach trips to the seaside and I remembered that people used to go on 'Mystery Tours' on a Wednesday from Durham bus station. Now living in Leicester and having the advantage of the internet I found 'Woods' coach tours. Being fond of photography of old I decided to keep a record of the excursions to show other members of the family. I was amazed at hour far and how cheaply you can travel, arriving at your destination refreshed and without the hassle of finding parking or worrying about the odd drink. You can also admire the view as you go. Out of this 'Onemanonabus' was born. (I tried 'TravellingMan' to accommodate other fo...