Alright britain (and Dubai),

i have a bit of news for the festers. God willing, this new post i've created actually appears where it should, and not in the bit where there seems to be a post about a cat jumping into boxes of different shapes and sizes!

I have recently asked the lovely Ayesha to become my wifey, and due to the intoxicating level of hay fever medication and alcohol in her bloodstream at the time she said YES!

So i'm due to hold some appropriate shindig in the forthcoming year it looks like.

Are any of you up for a nice couple of weeks in Sri Lanka, say mid July (even though nothing is actually booked)?

All festers plus significant others will of course be invited. and initial investigations are showing that it may be much cheaper to block book some airplane seats if you can all get on the same plane going out there.

love to your mothers.

Loz

Holy crap, congratulations Loz!!!!

Also, do you mean this July, or 2010?

Fantastic news Loren! Congratulations indeed!

legend... nice one boss... really happy for you both.

married life is awesome - my wife made me two! (YES TWO!) fry up big hairy awesome breakfasts this weekend!

she has to now though... i've got her trapped

Blimey! Well done that man. Congratulations that's fantastic.

I especially applaud the commitment to keeping the 'Fest "1 Stag do (at least) a year" track record alive.

Excellent work Lorenzo!

Booya! Woop woop! etc.



Yes, I'm hoping you mean next year given that mid July is, um, today.

Congrats. Excellent.

Good job soldier. You make a great couple! She's got the looks and the brains, and you er... took prep once.



Clifton, I really hope you are pulling my leg. Although knowing you anything is possible. Yes, that's right, we are all going to jump on a plane in 2 days time for a shotgun wedding in Sri Lanka. Numpty.

Yeah, I failed badly on this one.

Congratulations to you and Ayesha.

cheers my good people for your good tidings.

Just to confirm for the noj, i did mean next year, July 2010.

more details will follow as we actually manage to book anything, but start speaking nicely to your bosses to wangle some time off next year.

Holy crap. I don't check badgerfest for 2 days and look what happens! Another one is being married off!

Very well done Loren and I'd love to come to Sri Lanka. You sure you want to wait till 2010 though? Gives her time to change her mind....

Best to Ayesha. Really happy it looks like she'll be sticking around.

Noj - loving your fail.

Imagine my shock when I thought it was Dannyboy who's proposed to Ayesha.....and then actually read who posted the comment.

Well done mate - I was wondering when you'd not let that one get away! Good man! Congratulations and Sri Lanka - yeeeeehuh!

Govi*

hello fight fans,

i have further news of dates and stuff (and biscuits, but more on that later).

Ayesha has been over to Sri Lanka and booked a lovely hotel and church for the 31st of July 2010 (which is after the world cup by the way, i've already checked! ).

Anyways, if you are able to join us for a week or two, we hope that lots of you can come and we can rent out some lovely apartments in colombo and show you and ayesha's friends the island.

I've spoken to some travel agents and they have said that you can get some sizeable discounts when booking tickets as a group on a flight out there.

Is it possible for you guys to coordinate a date and then i can talk to some of these travel agents?

For accomodation and stuff, we'll get someone to book it out in Sri Lanka as it will be a lot cheaper.

love to your mothers.

Alpha Team - we have a new mission

That's a ten-four good buddy.

Sounds swizzle - the family dhar (dogs, children and the travelling bear) might be in blighty then. if not we're over to the land of Ravan in a shot!

Right. Thought we might try and sort some dates for those of us who are going out to SL.

I'm thinking either:

Option 1: Sat 24 July - Sat 7 August (means wedding is half way through)

Option 2: Weds 28 July - Weds 11 August (means we get out there a couple days before the wedding and then 10 days to chillax, explore SL etc afterwards)

So basically, who's up for it and are we all up for 2 weeks/10 days??

Sam - good work. I'd be up for a 9/10ish weekend to weekend rather than a full 2 weeks. Just don't have the holiday time! So I suppose that is a vote for the latter option but come back a bit early (eg 7th August).

Looking forward to it though.

I'm with Dan - option 2 sounds better but 10 days would be better for Holiday time purposes.

Option 2.

Loren mentioned that if we timed our travels with his family members (and thus got up to a certain number for a group booking), we might be able to save some money, so it might be worth contacting him to see what they are planning.

Hello everybody, right well i suppose i'll give an update:

Today, due to the fact that both my bosses were out of the office, for the first time in about a month, I spent the morning on the phone/email to some of you lot and the travel agent.

It looks like the group discount would only apply to those who want to travel out and come back on the same day, but this is an issue as you all are okay with going out on the 28th July, the return dates are slightly split.

I mentioned this in the emails I sent around, but the price for most seats around that time (through the travel agent that we are using) is £550-£560 on a direct flight with Airlanka, which seems to be the easiest flight also. Even when I got a quote for a discounted rate assuming that everyone would go and come back on the same dates, the saving was about £30 for each ticket, which isn't as much as i'd hoped for.

So let me know what dates you are after and what your name is as on your passport and i'll try to get seats reserved for you.

If you could let me know this week that would be great!!

I'm on the mobile, and my work email is loren.anandappa@simsl.com

Ciao for now.

Govi, for you, just let me know about what you would want accomodation wise, and dates, I guess you can make your way to Colombo a lot easier.

Loz, it is possible that I will be able to make it out for the wedding (though Tizzy definitely won't). Do you have an idea of how much accommodation is going to cost? I need to draw up a budget and see whether I can stretch to it.

jonnyboy, i'm working on the idea of a few shared accomodations for the duration, i'll try and get you and everyone else some prices by the end of the week.

Also people, from the foreign office site:

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living...eania/sri-lanka


just some info about travelling to SL, pretty standard stuff. Elections should be well over by the time we are over there, but most importantly:

Entry requirements
Visas

Visas are required for trips to Sri Lanka. British Nationals receive a 30-day visit visa, free of charge, on arrival. All other visas, including for those undertaking voluntary activity and paid or unpaid work, should be obtained at a Sri Lankan High Commission or Embassy before you travel. You should contact your nearest Sri Lankan diplomatic representation for full details.

Passport validity

Your passport should be valid for at least six months beyond the end of your intended stay.

Danny boyo, I think that means you might have to get your passport renewed.......

In fact, i'm going to check mine as well.

Very good spot there Lozza. What a pain. Does that mean I can't book until I get my new passport?

Righto Ladies and Gents, time to get things clear in my head...

Flights about £550 return, No Hotels included.
Destination: Sri Lanka... but more precisely?
Dates: Fly Out: 28th July, Fly Back: 11th August??
Festers: Loz, Sam, Dan, Govi, Jonnyboy?, King?, Pete & Jennie? Ween & Em? Chris & Rosie?

when do you need to know whats going on to reserve with the group?

Hi peeps,

The number for our travel agent is:
0208 434 0411
07887 608 553

Just say the reference 'anandappa' and then you should be able to get the £550 rate, till the end of the month, which is today and tomorrow...

if you want, I think you can just pay the deposit part now. That should get your seats booked on the plane.

I'm looking into the accomodation matter now, we still have a little time to decide what the concensus is. I'm for staying in Colombo until the wedding is done, and then going on the tour around SL for about 5 days, with the remainder of the time back in Colombo.

What does everyone else think?

The tours are a bit more expensive than just staying in Colombo, but travel, meals and accomodation should be included during them.

Dannyboy, i'm not sure about the passport thing, I reckon you keep the same number, but I don't know for sure. I'll have a look and get back to you if I find anything.

Peace

Hi peeps,

The number for our travel agent is:
0208 434 0411
07887 608 553

Just say the reference 'anandappa' and then you should be able to get the £550 rate, till the end of the month, which is today and tomorrow...

if you want, I think you can just pay the deposit part now. That should get your seats booked on the plane.

I'm looking into the accomodation matter now, we still have a little time to decide what the concensus is. I'm for staying in Colombo until the wedding is done, and then going on the tour around SL for about 5 days, with the remainder of the time back in Colombo.

What does everyone else think?

The tours are a bit more expensive than just staying in Colombo, but travel, meals and accomodation should be included during them.

Dannyboy, i'm not sure about the passport thing, I reckon you keep the same number, but I don't know for sure. I'll have a look and get back to you if I find anything.

Peace

Passport numbers change on renewal.

can't say yay or nay yet Loren as I am not seeing my Line Manager until Tuesday and she will let me know about whether or not she will grant hols, she's been on leave so sorry for the wait. Bummer means we miss out on the speciality Anandappa rate!

testing blah blah

looks like this should work now.

anyway - loren - passport not an issue as they take details when you do the online check in thing.

just paid for myself pete and jennie £150 deposits each (though they charged a 2% (£3) card fee per person). Balance due on the 15th.

He said that Mike and Sam have both paid/deposited as well. Looks like we're there for the first round of bookings.

Drew / Tart / Rosie - you're up next!

Okay, having gone back and forth on this a few times, I'm now certain that I won't be making it to Sri Lanka. Gutted, but just isn't on the cards both in terms of getting the time off and money.

Roll on the stag-do though!

As Bloodnock said: 'He always wanted to visit Ceylon'.

ok we are booked same dates as Dan and Mike but coming back at the 2am flight on the sunday not the later one. cool. x

Jonnyboy, i know that i already expressed my bummed-ness about your not-being-there, but I feel i must say it again, in a looking up to the sky and howling at the moon, almost like Lion-o out of thundercat style, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

But on very much brighter note, I am very much overjoyed at your persuasive skill with you line manager Rosemont!!

Drewsan, it's over to you.

By the way everyone, I am looking at getting you some lovely apartments for the period before the wedding. Then on the monday we should go for a five day tour (v. relaxing, no rushing around), around SL. Could be a bit of trekking, especially up Sigiriya, and wet with the Elephant orphanage, and then a bit of beach (v. Lovely).

For the period after the tour, we could get back into some apartments in Colombo, and then just do some moseying round, day trips, split up into smaller groups for the rest of the time, till the sunday when some will go and then till the wednesday till the rest go.

Please have a look on websites on SL and have a look at what takes your fancy. Ladies there are some lovely spa type places, actually I think we could all do with a bit of that.

anyway let me know what you are wanting to do and i'll look into it.

ttfn.

L-dawg

For those who have paid deposits i've just remembered that balance payments were due on the 15th. Did anyone remember to pay?!

Yep

hello everyone,

I have been looking at accomodation pre-going-on the tour, and it looks pretty reasonable, There are 3 bedroom apartments at this place called the Hilton residences, about a 7 minute drive from the Hilton where the wedding will be. If I get two apartments for the group (hopefully Drew and Simona will be able to come), then it will work out pretty cheap for you, approximately $110 for each apartment per day, so that's $35 a day for each bedroom, about 26 quid.

I'm trying to work out the tours still, there are some fancy ones, which are quite pricey, but we are trying to do the bartering and see where we get. i'll keep you lot appraised.

Re the apartments, how does that sound? would anyone want to spend a bit more and get some individual rooms instead?

Sounds pretty good to me, a long as each couple has a bedroom it should work out.

Having said that we may need to book a separate building for Drew and Simona just to avoid all the shouting.

Loz - prefer to be together in an apartment but prefer not to be together in bed with another guy. I dont like arguing about spoons. Twin beds for us loners if you please.

That 2nd tour you sent me looked fine. It had beach and elephants. What is much fancier than that?

This all sounds good for us...one of the women I work for runs a clinic in Sri Lanka and she suggested the tea plantations and some of the temples as also worth a visit.

All sounds good Loz

Yes, sharing not a problem - flats and not beds that is, I would annoy Pete if we were sharing beds as I understand he is a delicate little sleeper and I am a fidget. Can't have feuds on our holidays now can we?

oh, p.s How many nights will we be in Columbo? Im guessing about 2 or 3? Oh and have had elephants, tea plantations and that there festival at the place beginning with K being worth a visit although you have to book accommodation at the place beginning with K early as the Buddha's Toe is popular...oh I can't remember the name of the place...hold on I'll find a link...


Here you go, It's Kandy and not a Toe but a Tooth, silly me!

http://www.srilanka.travel/index.php?optio...mid=157&lang=en

Also, I was thinking that Aragum Bay looks bloody lovely and worth a few days monging/ surfing/ mooching?

I think you should bring Pete birthday gifts WHILE interrupting his sleep to get the full effect. As long as I can hid behind Chris and deny all knowledge, that is.

That's a very good idea Jennie, maybe I can engage him in innane conversation about women's hairstyles or some such to really twist the knife? x

I'm not sure when the psychological torture of Pedro theme kicked in, but can I join in?