Certainly not! This is purely a selfless act of helping a friend in need, who coincidently also needed to escape from his own family!
Nick Terry, a long-standing family friend, now lives and works in Brisbane, Australia. Around 2 months ago, he e-mailed me with the news that he had suddenly been made redundant and had decided to take three months out to recharge his batteries and to spend more time with his wife, Liz, and three lovely daughters.
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| Nick (Obviously in his Younger Days!) |
To my surprise, he also came up with the proposition of meeting up in Chile for a couple of weeks....
He may well profess to be enjoying the Aussie lifestyle (with his Tom Daly impression above), but I can't see him sporting that gear in the icy fjords of Chile!
In spite of still recovering from a fractured hip from a skiing accident back in January, how could I decline that heartfelt and desperate plea for help?......and allow him to drink beers all alone in those Santiago bars!
So, a plan slowly started to evolve. Whilst I had previously visited Chile very briefly (23 years ago!), I didn't really know much about the country....apart from General Pinochet, the wine and more recently, the rescue of trapped miners.
However, now I am looking forward to finding out what a diverse country it really is. One particular highlight should be our 4 day ferry trip which takes us through the fjords and past glaciers almost to the southern tip of the continent.
Apart from that, I must admit that Nick has done all the hard grafting in researching where to go and making the appropriate bookings. However, I still enjoy the freedom of just turning up in a new place and sorting out where to stay on arrival.
Once again, my main concern is how my own girls will cope over the next weeks without me! At least it will provide a temporary boom in the local economy with all that extra business for the Kings Heath & Moseley take-aways!
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