you can just imagine the scene. We had just finished a lovely picnic in a remote mountain forest in central France. Relaxed and happy, we made our way back to the road where we had left our car, only to discover that we had lost the keys! it was getting dark and there wasn't a soul around. I don' think we had ever felt so terrified! None of our mobile phones had any reception so we just had to wait. Eventually, hours later, we heard the sound of car coming along the road. Amazingly, the car was the same model as ours and we waved frantically for the driver to stop. He tried this key in the boot lock and magically. it opened, revealing the keys. they must have slipped out of my pocket. I can't tell you how relieved we felt!
We were going on holiday to San Diego, USA. We’d booked the holiday online six months earlier and I hadn’t bothered to check our passports. I’d just assumed everything was OK. So you can imagine my surprise when we were told at the check-in desk that we couldn’t fly because our son’s passport was out of date. My wife and daughter checked in and off they went. Nick and I rushed home, got his birth certificate and tried to get a new passport.
There was a huge queue at the Passport Office, so I pushed to the front and cried, “My family’s gone on holiday and my son urgently needs a new passport!” Within an hour we had his passport. We rushed to the airport, but they told us we were too late and the next flight was at 5 am. At this point lost my temper. We spent the rest of the day wandering around the duty free. We finally arrived at our destination twenty hours later, exhausted but relieved that we could start our holiday.
When we arrived at the resort, we were very happy. The hotel was nice and staff were polite and friendly. The beach looked fantastic, too – lovely white sand and not a soul in sight. Then we found out why. As we were walking along the beach we noticed a sign warning people against swimming in this area. There was a nasty smell to go with it. We had to spend the entire holiday round the hotel pool instead of swimming in the sea. We were very disappointed.