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Dates
Hotel
Playing Kit
Tourists
August 1999 – Col
World Tour Newsletter #4 – 7th August 1999
Some final clearing up stuff and the cash balance.
Tickets
Don’t leave them lying around in the bar. Also please check them after the effects of today have worn off and before we go – any problems I need to sort it out quickly.
Thursday 19th Aug
Meeting for the pre-tour nuptials and shandy bass. The Orange Tree in Altrincham at 21:00. Overnight accommodation needs to be sorted for those who are travelling up that day – let me know if you need a bunk.
Match Schedule
For information really, but also to help those of you planning sea shell collecting of sheep dipping. All the matches have been arranged with the local associations to fit in when opposition/pitches are available, so consequently it may not be perfect – but then who cares! There are also a couple of other things in the schedule that have been sort-of planned.
Hong Kong
Sat 21st: Arrive 07:55. Match vs Kowloon at 17:30.
Mon 23rd: Depart.
Christchurch
Tue 24th: Arrive 14:30. Drinks in hotel bar do – already arranged by Canterbury District HA at 19:00.
Wed 25th: Evening match.
Sun 29th: Evening match.
Wed 1st: Evening match.
Fri 3rd: Send off party arranged by them.
Sat 4th: Depart 04:55 – ouch!
Fiji
Sat 4th: Arrive 10:20. Evening match in Suva.
Sun 5th: Lautoka Day in coach. Late afternoon match. SPecial party do for Bob Lloyd’s 60th!!! – which will no doubt involve the old Pinot Noir or Blanc do Blanc!!
Thu 9th: Evening match in Suva vs Fiji XI.
Fri 10th: Catamaran day. BBQ and snorkel on uncharted island!
Sat 11th: Depart 19:15.
My contact in Fiji is organsing a bus for the Lautoka day and to/from Suva for the matches. One price for the lot split by 24.
LA
Sat 11th: Arrive 14:45. Rent cars to get to Radisson Simi Valley Hotel in Ventura County. 30/35 mins from LAX. Evening match vs California vets XI followed by ‘Pizza and Beer’ – whatever that entails.
Mon 13th: Depart LAX at 18:25.
The rest you don’t want to know about.
Giveaways
Always a good touring thing to do. We commissioned The Potter (who makes pots) to throw a few plates together and then we can leave one with each association. They’ve cost about a tenner each and I ordered 10. Also bought extra 10 shirts to give to those people who’ve organised it all on the ground for us in each country. I’ve split all that between us.
Goalkeeper
We can’t duck this one. I know the game in HK and possibly one or two in Fiji are on grass – and Bob Lloyd has kindly offered to put his old Godfrey Evans cricket pads on for those providing he has had a glass of Concorde Quality wine beforehand – but we need to sort this out today.
Friday 20th – And they’re off!!
I’ve always been informed that the flight is at 10:00 – however the tickets which arrived this morning now say 11:00 – so I assume the ticket is right. If so, I suggest we meet in the Departure lounge in front of the Cathay Pacific desk, go through together and sit/snore together. Suggest meet time 08:30?? – get it over and have breakfast inside.
Individual Balances
As I said in the previous newsletter, Nick has done a great deal running the account and arranging for bank transfers around the world etc … so don’t forget to thank him. On the attached sheet is your individual account as we think it stands – less the shirts you’ve ordered. It should be about right up to a couple of quid because of exchange rates etc. If something seems wildly ‘orrible have a word and we’ll double check.
Col
7/8/99
July 1999 – Col
World Tour Newsletter #3 – July 1999
Not long now, so I thought I’d put out the housekeeping stuff.
Hong Kong
Sat 21st – 23rd August
We’re booked into the Holiday Inn Golden Mile on Nathan Road. My contact out there says it’s pretty good and certainly the little leaflet they’ve sent suggests a good measure of opulence beyond the Cresta Court.
One game organised at Kowloon HC (10 min in a cab from the hotel) on the Saturday at 5pm. Weather is likely to be humid and hot I’m told, with the odd typhoon thrown in for luck.
The hotel is all booked and paid for. 2 nights, breakfast on the 22nd, and flight transfers.
Christchurch NZ
24th Aug – 4th Sept
You’ve already seen the hotel.
There are several options for other stuff you can do in a day such as skiing (2 hours away), Whale watching (2 hours away) and Bob Lloyd has organised a trip to a vineyard (26th or 27th Aug) that also takes in ‘Hot Spring’ bathing (whatever that is?).
Three games organised throughout. All in the evening – all in Christchurch. Weather is like our spring but greener and warmer (perhaps we should pop a woolly balaclava in our bags?) – or at least a fleece thing and a plastic mac.
All we have paid so far is a deposit covering the first night. You will b billed by room at the end of each leg. That way you can charge any food/bar bills etc to your room. Estimated cost to pay is £160 pp.
Fiji
4th Sept – 11th Sept
Hot. Hot. Hot. And plenty of coconuts.
2 or 3 games likely – again all in the evening. Two local sides and/or the district team followed by a Fijian national match – I can just see Geoff Hinde tackling a Jonah Lomu look-a-like). They want us to go to the North Coast and play the Luatoka District team (Know them well) – I’ve suggested that’s OK as long as we can combine it in a day out over that side. I’ve left the rest to them. But have left open the last day for the traditional day yacht charter.
Again only a deposit paid. Approx £100 left to play pp. Breakfast is extra (£4.50 continental, £5.75 Full Monty) charge to your room as you go. All room a have air-con, Hair-dryer (Owen/Dick/Kato/Elson – please note), in-house movies and mini-bar – Hurrah!!!
Serenader’s entertain with ‘Ireland Rhythm’ ? eve’s in bar area.
Children’s KO club for Rebecca and Tolley
Ruth – babysitting service available for about £2 per hour.
Non-motorised stuff like wind-surfing, sailing dingy, snorkelling, kayaking and floodlit tennis is free. Load of other stuff like reef fishing as well. Horse riding is about £5/hr. Golf is about £11 with buggy’s the same.
USA
11th Sept – 13th Sept
Having a bit of trouble finding a hotel in LA – though I’m sure there are plenty. My local contact has suggested we stay in an area called ‘Thousand Lakes’ – can’t remember that one on Baywatch. Apparently its about 30/40 mins from the airport and downtown LA. Problem is I can’t find any hotels on the web with that address – so I’ve asked him to have a look for us. OK for another 7-10 days but might be an idea for all you visitors to LA in the past to have a think – just in case.
Thought hard about this leg of the tour and I decided that with the creeping prospect of jet lag if we didn’t plan something it might drift a bit. So I’ve arranged a game of the 11th followed by something the locals call ‘beer and pizza’ ??
Last night party on the 12th.
No Goalie
Something of an oversight this (although Ian and Gig will play for us in the HK as they’re going there for a weekend break!!!) So the options are to recruit locals as we go along. Or split some GK kit up and draw for it each game. Advice please?
Tour Kit
As usual a polo shirt to play/pose in and a T shirt to slob out in are included as part of the deal (Public opinion has forced me away from tangerine to Purple) – please indicate your size on the sheet attached and either post it, or fax it to my home (0161-904-9998), telephone or stuff it through the letter box before Saturday 31st July. As usual I realise this gives you no time – but it means I stand a chance of getting them done by Aug 7th.
Additional Polo’s and T-shirts can be ordered in advance at approximately £14 and £9 respectively. Sweatshirts are £12.
Cash
Firstly, thanks to everyone for coughing up on or nearly on time (the time locks on Tolley’s wallet happened to coincide with the date we specified).
Some people bought the insurance and some didn’t. Some have paid a different amount into the bank account after doing it on the drip over the year. Nick and myself are sorting this out in the next few days. Hopefully I’ll have sorted by August 7th as I want to hand back the cash we’ve not used. It varies between £20 and £90. I’ll confirm this with you on the 7th.
No doubt all the exchange rates will alter so take these prices a guide only. But allowing for the rebate to come back and the cash to be paid to Christchurch and Fiji the whole shooting match should be this side of £1500 pp.
Taxis, Coaches, Days Out, Tour Midge Spray, and Beer Kitty’s
I am not doing any organising on this front. I suggest someone volunteers to sort it out for the 2 days in HK – 2/3 sort out a trip each in NZ – 2/3 others for the day trips, likewise with other people in Fiji and 1/2 sort out LA – that way it gets shared out.
Sat August 7th
Warm up match and ‘get to know your room-mate night’ at Timperley HC. Match starts at 5.30 pm vs the Stay-at-Home Charlies XI. Followed by a BBQ at around 7.30 pm on the Croquet lawn in front of the clubhouse when all questions will be answered and boarding arrangements made.
I shall be asking Mr Hinde to create a special bowl of punch for the evening – something that reflects a little bit of each country we’ll be visiting.
Thursday 19th August
Eve of the tour drinks somewhere in Altrincham’s Chinatown. Some of you might know that Nick Burnett has managed and maintained the bank account throughout the last 115 months even though he himself has had to pull out. Very kind and very Nick-like. I thought we’d use some of the interest accumulated to buy him a posh bottle of brandy or something as a ta very much. Anyway we’ll give him it that night – so ssssssshhhhh!
Insurance
For those of you who bought the insurance package – here are the cover details and policy doc’s – probably a good idea to bring them with you.
Jab’s / Innoc’s
I’ve done nothing about this one – so I’ll leave you to sort yourselves out.
Visa’s
Ditto – thought I don’t believe any are required – even for the Oirish one amongst us.
Driving Licence’s
A good idea, and one of those temporary international ones would be even better.
Tour Party
As detailed above.
April 1999 – Col
World Tour Thingy
26th April 1999
Four months and counting! Things are taking shape and so another update seems like a good idea.
General
I think everybody is aware of the itinerary by now. If not the main thing to know is that we’re off on August 20th and arrive back on September 14th – the rest will come as a pleasant surprise.
Paying for it and when
After thinking about it we’ve decided the way to do this is to pay the flight, insurance and hotel deposits upfront – including 2/3 shirts to play in and swap etc … and pay the balance of the hotel bills (see below) as we go along. This means that you need to make sure we’ve got £1,300 pp by 6th June.
Insurance
I’ve arranged for insurance cover through the brokers we use at the climbing wall. The cost of world-wide cover is £52 pp, which will be deducted from your account unless you contact me by May 8th. If you prefer to arrange for cover yourselves, there is no problem, but I do need to know before 8th May. Full policy wording will be issued to you direct from the broker (John Torribles Ltd, 21 Princes Street, Bristol, BS1 4PH.
Shirts
Any preference on the main shirt colour would be welcome, otherwise I fancy a nifty shade of tangerine. I’ll be asking for your sizes at a later date (Tony H, I’ve already got the tent ordered). As indicated above, the suggestion is that I organise a pack of say a playing shirt and a couple of T-shirts to sawp/loaf around in on the beach (if you want a sweatshirt or something I’m sure it can be arranged) – that way everyone is covered, so to speak. See next update in June.
Hong Kong
I’ve made contact with Kowloon HC who we’ll be playing against on the first stop. They are happy to sugesst some things to do / places to eat etc. I’m currently sorting out the hotel, cost seems to be about £40 per room per night – more details later.
Christchurch New Zealand
The Avon River Centra, about 10 minutes walk from the city centre along the river. I get the impression this place is a bit like the Cresta Court in Altrincham. Not exactly dripping with local culture but it seems most hotels in CHristchurch are a bit formula stuff. But safe and comfortable enough. The cost here is about £32 per room per night (wwe’ve paid a deposit and you can settle the bill when you leave). Planning to play a maximum of 3 games.
Fiji
Hotel booked – see attached. After getting the NZ hotrel sorted I notriced they had a web site and from there found out they had a place in Fiji – Pacific Harbour. We’ve got a great rate for this place at £39 per room per night (again, 10% deposit has already been paid on your behalf – settle the balance as before). For those interested the golf comes in at around £11 and buffet breakfast is about £4/5. Fire walking is every Friday.
Have made contact with the Fijian HA, apparently we’re the first touring side they’ve had over there for some years and want us to play against the national team – so it’s international caps all round !! – a fitting way to end my career.
LA
Not started on this leg yet.
Organised do’s
Mr Lloyd is, I understand, to arrange a visit to his best friend’s home brew wine plot for a tour and some lunch or something. Mr Wagg has agreed to organise a crate to take you roadside rose back home – details in the June update – (Lloydy / Waggy?). Other suggestions / volunteers ??
Pre-tour
Thinking it might be a good idea to get everyone together, have a beer and a social match. I have arranged for the tour team to play an International Mandela select XI on Saturday 7th August at Timperley. I’ve booked the pitch for 17:30 after which, at great expense, a barbecue will spark into life.
Don’t forget D Day 6th June!!! Any problems give me a call on 0161-904-8397 or home fax on 0161-904-9998
Col