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FOCUS - OCTOBER 2015 39 Holidays more hectic than happy Hanks is proud to oer the rare skills of scratch-baking still done the Old Fashioned Way with all natural ingredients and no llers or preservatives so you can take time out to relax. 204 Queen St. Port Perry 905-985-2172 ONE MORE REASON TO GIVE THANKS. Traditional Thanksgiving Pies mincemeat apple and pumpkin pie Holiday cakes and cookies Festive tarts and cinnamon rolls Pumpkin-spiced mufns Fresh baked bread and dinner rolls Pumpkin-spiced mufns Traditional Thanksgiving Pies mincemeat apple and pumpkin pie Holiday cakes and cookies Holiday cakes and cookies Festive tarts and cinnamon rolls ORDER NOW was mandatory. We had also discovered a fellow pas- senger Melba a self-proclaimed well-to-do seasoned traveller found fault with everything around us. Constantly complaining about minute details and blaming Franco for everything she was responsible for a near mutiny on our coach. Vienna our next main stop started interestingly enough with the bus becoming lost enroute to nding our hotel. Roley our driver was taking directions from Franco who could not nd the property. I learned later that we had somehow lost our initial reservation and Franco was try- ing to nd a new hotel for his 30 charges. After several hours of combing the city we stopped at a hotel that could accommodate us and I found myself sleeping on a cot in a tiny room. Tourist Class had a whole new meaning for me. Even Roley the driver was complaining openly about our guide. The following morning it was announced that Melba had decided to return to New Jersey the evening before and we could not help wonder if she left of her own free will or was asked to do so or perhaps Franco had hidden her in the luggage area of the bus. From Vienna we crossed into Italy and it was as if we had been transformed into an entirely different tour. Franco was home and began to explain every detail of life in Italy. Our visits to Venice Florence Rome Milan and Pisa were refreshingly wonderful. I was sad to leave Italy fearful of what lay in store. Fortunately for me I was young and resilient whereas most of the passengers were over 50 and not willing to let issues roll off their backs as easily. We continued into France and stayed in Paris which was uneventful from a problem perspective. Franco was back to his old self pointing out the odd bridge or a passing train without any reference other than Look a train or Look a bridge. I jumped the tour in Brussels and took a train to visit with my relatives in southern Holland before taking the Hovercraft back to Dover no more ferries across the North Sea for me. Looking back it was an adventure still vivid in my mind. Since then I have taken great care in planning every detail of every trip I have ever taken for as interesting and eventful as that rst exploration was it was not one I ever want to repeat. 158 Casimir Street Port Perry 905-985-2268 virginia.frewmarlintravel.ca MC TICO 4577532 LUXURY CRUISES TOURS The Hidden Wonders of Europe River Cruising Swing by for a copy of the 2016 brochure. Jonathan van Bilsen is a photographer author and columnist and can be followed at photosNtravel.com