George's Villa Joys - A Cypriot Surprise of Solar Panels And Sweetness

 We stayed in several amazing hotels in Cyprus but George's Villa was an unending pleasure and a non-stop surprise. His email message on the morning of our arrival was reassuring. George is, if not eccentric, at least an individualist. He has a huge number of solar panels, putting power on and off the grid, and chickens to provide breakfast eggs.

We had expected it to be good because it had rating of over nine out of ten on booking.com. We were a little apprehensive when we turned off the motorway, though narrow lanes across a field, under graffiti-covered pillars of the motorway, twisting turns around more fields, along a narrower and narrower road, past a derelict building, up to the a remote wall with barbed wire on top and a high gate.

However, it was a relief when the gate swung open and a beaming little man raced forward to greet us. Followed by his two dogs and several cute cats. How many cats?

They have about twenty cats - 'I've lost count!' grins George. Two docile dogs. 

We parked beside his solar panels. At my husband's request, George gave us a guided tour of the panels and told us how they work and how he sometimes takes power from the national grid and sometimes passes power back to the grid.

A cage of ducklings. Swallows' nests. Arbors of grapes. 

The bedroom was up an outside wooden staircase. He helped us carry up our suitcases. His Vietnamese wife, Hana, came running to help us.

Beautiful Bedroom

Bedroom in George's Villa. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

The big bedroom has a big bed. More than twenty three pin sockets. Two phone adapter slots. A Tiffany style bedside lamp. Loads of hangers.  34 handles to drawers or cupboards to wardrobes. 

The kitchenette area with full size, double door, working cold fridge. 

The large glass top desk, big enough for two of us, had a black world map on the top (actually stuck on the underside where it cannot get damaged and showing through the glass).

Best Bathroom

Angela Lansbury in the bathroom beside the spa bath in George's Villa. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

When using the  Jacuzzi bath allow fifteen or twenty minutes to fill it. You must cover the outlets with water. The top jets send water arching up, so you should fill the bath with water higher than the water jet.

A glass of fresh orange juice was presented to us on arrival. 

Hana (think of Hannah) brings a breakfast tray at only 5 euros per person extra, well worth it, for the food and fun. The room had a toaster. Anything missing - butter. No coffee maker, but a kettle and Nescafe. I should have saved the coffee capsules from our one expensive night, the expensive luxurious hotel Indigo in Larnaka, three times the price of George's, and decanted the coffee grounds.

Hana is a nurturer. She is quick to understand complicated questions when you ask and point. 

Surprises? Search for the toilet control behind you to flush the toilet and you will set off the single water jet in your behind. 

Shower

The shower has six working body level light sprays, activated when you turn one of the knobs. (Another knob is on off for the water shower from the hand held shower fixed on a slider. 

I didn't find out what operated the overhead shower. Three kinds of shower in one shower is one up on the two in the other hotels we visited. I read on Tripadvisor that the radio controls worked a few years back. I did not get them working but didn't spend time trying them out.

Noise and Windows

The noise from the motorway is heard on the terrace, but cannot be heard in the bedroom when the shutters are shut.

Insect Netting

The windows are shielded from insects with metal netting - another thoughtful touch missing from every other hotel we had visited.

We though George's villa was a bargain. (In the photo of me beside the spa bath, I am wearing another bargain, a butterfly pattern top bought in Nicosia for three euros. See me in more clothes on my other blog dressofthedayangela.cblogspot.com)

If you google George's Villa you will find that there are several George's Villas around the world. The one which I visited and recommend is the one in Perakhorio, Cyprus.

Useful Websites

booking.com

https://www.booking.com/hotel/cy/george-39-s-villa-perakhorio.en-gb.html

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g190383-d11788132-Reviews-George_s_Villa-Nicosia_Nicosia_District.html

Packing a suitcase efficiently, learning and teaching

Problem
How do I learn to pack a suitcase?
Can I get somebody else to do mine?
Can I teach somebody else to do their own better?

Answers
I just watched a video on Facebook showing an oriental looking lady folding tops like long sleeved tee-shirts, then a large item such as a duvet or sleeping bag.

Basically, you fold the item right to left half way, then left to right, making an item with two vertical folds into a long vertical strip, then fold that half way upwards. Finally you bring one part around inside out and back around the rest or it to make part of it into a bag securing the rest of it.

With a long sleeved piece of clothing, you fold the arms either into the middle or diagonally. Then use one of the sleeved or the back as a boag around the rest of it so the folds don't come apart and it stays compressed and in shape.

Start learning with a small item such as a tee-shirt. Then learn to fold a larger item.

I bought folding items, which look like triple mirrors or triple painting with two hinges joining the two outside pieces to the central piece. They are supposed to help get all your items tthe same size to make a neat pile to put in a cupboard.

The video is most impressive. Not just what she does, but also the speed. I have often watched demos at exhibitions. The person doing the job probably spent an hour or day or week training, repeating until they got faster and faster. Then they remember what to do, and are tired of it so they are keen to rush through.

I've seen chefs and knife demonstraotrs chopping up carrots and cucumbers in 20 seconds. I would go much slower, scared to cut myself. But I only ever do it once every six months. The same applies to packing a suitcase.

Packing Services
Some hotels offer unpacking and packing services. If you have an expensive suite you might get offered this for free as part of the valet service.

Packing On Hangers
I find packing and unpacking quickest if you keep everything on hangers. Take the item out of thw wardrobe on the hanger. The top edge is already straight. The lower edge follows the edge of the suitcase. A bouse or skirt might need only one fold. A longer item folds back a second time from the top. If necessary you then fold in from the sides, again using the suitcase iteself as the frame.

Which Hanger?
If you have had an item laundered or dry cleaned at a hotel it often comes back on a hanger or neatly folded. If you don't wear it, then it's ready to be packed neatly for your next trip.

If you have to choose a hanger, I find large hangers take up space. Plastic hangers sometimes break. The safest is a thin wire hanger, the sort you get free from dry cleaners. If you want to look neat, packs of hangers are sold by department stores, on line, or from bargain shops.

Free Hangers
I have also asked stores such as Marks and Spencer if I can keep the hanger. Often they say yes. If you are short of hangers, ask every time. Even if you get rebuffed half the time, you still get one or two new, handy hangers.

Double Duty Hangers
If you have a hanger with a dry cleaned item and a plastic cover on top, you can hang another blouse on top. Ideally you want to do this without too much creasing nor hiding of what is underneath.

On one occasion, I could not find any hangers. I asked a shop assistant if I could keep the hangers if I bought items. I bought a bra, matching pants (Americans call trousers pants and would say underpants) and a couple of cheapest t-shirt. I then had three hangers and I added my own clothes on top of the bought item for packing.

You can usually use a hanger for two items. If you add a third or fourth or something heavy you risk breaking the hanger.

Unpacking
Unpacking is easy. You lift each item out and hang it up on the rail in the wardrobe. (Americans say closet. In Britain we occasionally have a walk-in closet, but usually only in a hotel suite or mansion.)

For a five day conference I have five or ten outfits. I hang item for day one on the right, for evening one outfit on the left. Matching bra, slip or underwear is on the same hanger.

(An alternative method is to hide glamorous outfits under boring buttoned up coats. The idea is so no staff are tempted to try on the outfit or take it.)

You keep adding outfits right to left. I might be wearing one outfit more than once. If so it goes back at the left so I wear something different every day.

When an outfit has been worn, and you won't wear it again, it can go back in the suitcase. Then on the last day you have only that day's clothes to pack.

If you find an outfit is wrong for the climate, or too small, you know you are not going to wear it, or you adore one outfit which you wear every day, anything not needed can go back int the suitcase. This speeds up packing, and decision making when getting dressed.

Another system: Black skirt or jeans which I wear with everything, every day, goes on the right. White blouses or tee-shirts go on the left. Each tee-shirt after use goes inside a laundry bag, either sent off to the hotel for washing, washed and hung up in the bathroom to dry before packing to go home.

If you are short of time and need to pack dirty clothes, your night clothes on the last day, or your clothes from all week, pack dirty items in a laundry bag so they don't infect clean clothes. They are ready to be pulled straight out of the case and carried to the washing machine when you unpack at home.

We used to talk about German efficiency. Now we think of Japanese and oriental efficiency and Chinese business sklil. My biggest regret is not insisting that a three year old pick up his own clothes and toys and put them away each hour and each evening before bed time. What they learn at 3 they do at 30. If you pick up a child's clothes and toys they will still be throwing things on the floor later in life, as chaotic students, or singles who can't commit to marrying or can't find anybody to put up with their untidy habits. If you teach your toddler to do this, they can come round and tidy up for you when you are sick and tired or old. You won't need to ask. It will be a compulsion, an obsession. You know those people who insist on straightening your pictures, tidying your house as they walk around it, making tea, playing mother, instead of letting you be hostess. (In Asia often the eldest daughter. The same happened in large families in the UK in my maternal grandmother's day when by the time the oldest girl was twenty she had ten younger siblings to look after to help her mother who was pregnant or widowed or both.)

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have other posts on packing. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Got your passport? Lost your passport? Door keys? Sunglasses?

I bought a black silk skirt on eBay. The crestfallen seller says she can't find it. She will refund my money but keep looking and if she finds it shall contact me again.

I know the feeling. My own notable losses:
1 PASSPORT COVER HIDING PASSPORT
I bought a pretty silver cover for notebook and put it on my passport. I missed a press trip to a theme park in France because at the last minute I could not find my passport.

Moral: If you place a cover on a passport, make sure the word passport is visible - either written on the outside of the bag or wallet or cover, or listed elsewhere in a list called something like VITAL INFORMATION, or your packing list.

2 FORGOTTEN PASSPORT
Many taxi drivers before setting off for the airport all ask: Have you got your passport(s). Have you got your tickets? (Get them out and check in case you changed your coat at the last moment into something warmer or lighter, or changed to a bigger or smaller handbag.) The taxi driver's reason for asking is usually, "Yesterday we were half way to the airport when ..."

3 PASSPORT STORED IN SUITCASE
I once left my passport in my suitcase. Next year or next trip I forgot. I always look for my passport first. No point packing if you don't have a passport. You need the time to get to the passport office to get a new one or hunt for it. Eventually the family said, pack now, get something done, and look for it later. I got out the suitcase and found it. After a stressful time worrying and searching. I needed the holiday.

My mistake was a classic case of 'it seemed like a good idea at the time'. I had thought, I'll leave my passport in the suitcase so I can't go without it.

Well, is it in the outside pocket or in the inside pocket (and the suitcase key lost). How many suitcases do you have? Will you have forgotten where it is by the time you take your next trip?

No point hiding it in the suitcase so burglars won't find it. A policeman told me: One of the things burglars do is look for a suitcase or large bag in which to conceal or carry items from the house.

4 MISSING KEYS IN SUMMER BAG? BEACH BAG
My late mother returned from holiday and lost her flat's front doorways. Luckily my father had his. My mother worried. (About that and another problem. You could blame either worry. Or the fact that she had too many worries, or was a worrier. She had a stroke and died a week later.

My father then worried about the missing keys. Should he change the locks and pay for new locks and new keys?

I dealt with the easy problem first. Collect mother's clothes and bags. I went through each of her bags checking the pockets inside, before taking them home or giving them to charity or throwing them away. My father watched as I went through each bag. At least half a dozen. He got impatient. "Don't bother - they are all empty."

I got to the last one. Guess what I found? Yes, my mother's door keys inside a straw beach bag.

Moral; Search through the pockets of clothes and bags and suitcases before storing them.
Search through the pockets of clothes and bag and suitcases before giving them to charity. Search through the pockets of clothes and bags and suitcases before going them to another member of your family or a friend.

On holiday: Search through the pockets of clothes and bags and suitcases if you have lost your passport or door keys, sighted glasses, sunglasses, hotel bedroom keys, or anything else.

5 SEARCHING SYSTEM
You've lost it?
I presume you have run through the checklist of:
1 Is it parcelled/packed up and ready to go on the hall table? In a plastic bag ready to be folded and labelled?
2 Did I put it in the car boot to go to the post office? Is my missing item pushed or fallen under car seat? In the car side pockets?
3 Is it hiding under something else - larger / same colour. Another skirt. A pile of newspapers.
4 Is it in the room where I photographed it?
5 Is it hanging in my wardrobe? (Check under other garments from both hanger level and skirt level, hidden under another coat, jacket or skirt?)
6 Is it hanging behind the door on a hook such as in the bathroom?
7 Did my tidy-minded spouse take it to a charity shop or throw it away without telling me.
8 Have I worked clockwise around the house, tidying as I go.
9 Have I checked below and behind all flat surfaces and between all furniture (eg bedside tables and chairs, bookcases).
10 Did I leave it in a suitcase from last year's holiday for security or storage or out of season clothes?
11 Is it somewhere else outside the home: - shed, garage, conservatory, lobby, hall hat rack, car or van, home of parents, children, friends, home office, work office, study, attic, basement, inside washing machine or tumble drier or behind them? In airing cupboard? On ironing board?)
14 Have I left food in the fridge, or in a large cool box or picnic box?

Also have a system. Always keep your passport and keys in the same place. Tell another member of your family. Keep a note - even if it is coded or encrypted. One day you'll be the one who has everything right and you'll be able to quickly sort out everybody else's problems and forestall disasters.

People will wonder how you do everything so well. Experience. Like the taxi drivers, learn by your own mistakes - and the mistakes of others.

Angela
Author of How To Get Out Of The Mess You're In. (Lulu.com)

Living Abroad or Holidaying - shopping cheap and quick

Would you believe it - you can shop from John Lewis in the UK anywhere in the world, for about £10 delivery charge on those items which say available for international shipping. I had looked for John Lewis and the system saw my computer was logging on from overseas and up popped sg.johnlewis, but when I hunted for the store no such place existed in Singapore, it was all online.

I was looking for heatproof table mats. You arrive in your second home or rented apartment and suddenly decide you must have some item you have six of at home like coasters and table mats. The trick to searching online is to know what terms to use.

Here's what I discovered:

DAESO
Japanese company, selling items for only two dollars (Singapore dollars) found all over the world:
China, Japan, HK, Macau. Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand.
I went to the branch in the centre of Singapore on basement 4 B4 at Ion, Singapore's equivalent of Piccadilly Circus. For two Singapore dollars I could buy
Bookends (I think it was for one bookend, so $4 for the pair, but still a great price;

At the sales desk I found the cashiers accepted only cash or NETS which is the local debit card.  They had the items I'd been looking for: pads to go under furniture so it doesn't scratch the floors, zips to make my jacket pockets more secure, hangers, floor mops.

UK
In the UK Poundland (Harrow and elsewhere) now take credit cards. (So does Primark, selling cheap clothing store, which usually has gloves and socks for £1, t-shirts and vests for about £5 upwards, often a rummage box of flip flops for £1 or £2, and a sale rail or bargains.

Singapore
DAESO
fishpond.com.sg (free shipping worldwide)
Mustafa Centre (huge 24 hour store) online I couldn't even check the MRT (nearest train station or bus), but I could read about the company.
Qoolo
Spotlight

UK
99p stores
BHS
Poundland
Pound stretcher
Poundworld
Primark
Online:
Amazon free shipping if you join Prime; Ebay (prices and shipping vary; lots of clothes and products from China offering free shipping); Etsy (USA and worldwide; prices and shipping varies).

USA & Canada
Dollar Tree
Dollar Stretcher
Etsy

Australia
Daiso

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.