John Edward Cooper’s Notes

DAY 1 - ARRIVAL IN MONTENEGRO


Budva

On arrival at the airport, you should retrieve your cases and proceed through customs to the Arrivals Hall and wait there for your Tour Manager or local representative to make contact with you. Please bear in mind that they may be travelling on the same flight, and so could be the last to arrive at the meeting point. Please remain there until met.

The coach will then transfer you to the four-star rated Hotel Ami, where we will be staying for 7 nights. The transfer time to the hotel is approx. 2.5 hours (excluding border crossing).

Hotel Address:-

Hotel Ami,
Nika Andjusa, Petrovac 85310,
Montenegro.
Telephone number +382 33 472 200

This evening our Tour Manager will be on hand for any queries and will join us for our included evening meal in the hotel.

The alarm clock was set to sound at 12.30am… I was ready, 1.45am, with an hour till 2.45am when G— B— would arrive. I set up Virgin Media voicemail, by dialling “1571” and following the spoken instructions that ensued. For I intended to switch off the internet hub and the telephones including the latter’s voicemail recorder. I hid the backup storage devices… in what are now their usual hiding places. To reduce the amount I would carry in my rucksack, I’d got Janet to pack my shaver in the suitcase, so I didn’t shave this morning. (She’d expressed an unwillingness to be doing final packing on the day of departure.) The shaving mirror, the power supply for the Asus computer, various plugs and adaptors, the mobile phone charger, and my medications and dressings likewise had all gone in the suitcase. I’d listed what I needed to pack in the rucksack… (An important omission from the list, as I discovered on arrival at the destination, was the WD Elements HDD. I use it for my diary, for storing photos, and for much other information. Everything I’ve ever written on the computer and much other historic information in the form of images — almost all my diaries and memoirs — are on that, so it’s essential to me. So that made me a little anxious that all my “eggs” were “in one basket”, back at home, vulnerable. My treasure ought to be in heaven, and I should be dead to this world; but, in fact, to a large extent my treasure is in these storage devices. I discovered, as well, that I’d forgotten my in-ear “headphones”.)… Checked Gmail… Because there’d been recent flight delays and cancellations due to air traffic control issues, I logged on to “Jet2.com | My flights” (02:21–02:24), but found nothing there to suggest that there’d be any disruption. G— arrived, 2.45am, as arranged. He said, towards the end of the journey, that because of closures of exits he was going to go a different way. So it was that we didn’t pass under the iconic brick arches of the railway viaduct at Stockport. He dropped us off at an upper level of Terminal 2 a bit after 5am (when we went from Terminal 2 to Nice Airport in May it was at ground level). We crossed the road, entered the building, and went down in the elevator to the ground floor to try to find where I perceived the Jet2 check-ins to be; but I found nothing that was familiar to my eyes, and indeed we found ourselves heading towards “Arrivals”. So we went back up in the elevator, and eventually found the appropriate check-in desks for Jet2. I think Terminal 2 has been refurbished and restructured since May. There was a very long queue of people (“Is this the end? No! Is this? No! Ah, here it is!”), which disappeared remarkably quickly on the directions of a member of Jet2 staff at the head of it. She admitted us to weighing machines, which printed the luggage tags for us to attach to the cases. Then we just had to put the cases on a conveyor, which fed them onto another conveyor running transverse to it. Thence to Security. It wasn’t obvious where one should go for “FastTrack”, so I asked someone, and he pointed in the opposite direction to a not-obvious sign.… There was a small queue at the Security scanners and hand-luggage conveyor, at which we found ourselves for a few minutes; but it was nothing compared with the slow, suffocating, snaking shuffle that we’d otherwise have had to endure. Neither of us was pulled over for inspection of our hand luggage, so we were through fairly quickly (5.55am). Thence, into the duty-free shops “maze”; then out to the area with other shops, bars, cafés, etc. to wait for our Boarding Gate number to come up on one of the screen displays. I had “Southern-fried style formed chicken goujons with coleslaw, barbecue sauce and lettuce in a wheat wrap” and bottled water from Boots. I sat with that, and Janet went to W. H. Smith for a 7Up Free. Eventually on the screen, the instruction “Go to Gate A7” came up on the line displaying “08:05 Jet2 LS989 Tivat”, so we strode down the long, fairly wide corridor (with its moving pavements that weren’t moving!) to the waiting areas either side of Gate A7.


Thursday 7 September 2023 07:27:52 (BST)
Waiting at Manchester Airport, Terminal 2, Gate A7


Thursday 7 September 2023 07:28:24 (BST)
Waiting at Manchester Airport, Terminal 2, Gate A7


Our pre-printed Boarding Passes

“Boarding Group A” weren’t the first ones to be called to board the aircraft; our boarding started, ca.7.40am. It shouldn’t have been called a “gate”, rather a “stairwell”, which led down to an airbridge and thence onto the aircraft. Apart from initial nods, I was undisturbed in seat 6D by any trial of having to talk to the couple sitting to my right in seats 6E and F.


Our selected seats on the outward flight of the Boeing 737-800 (shown in black)

At ca.8.03am the captain’s voice came on the address system; I can’t remember what he said about — or whether he said anything about — any delay to takeoff; he estimated that the flight time would be 2 hours 45 minutes. He said that the temperature in Tivat was 24℃, and by mid-afternoon it was expected to be in the low 30s. At 8.28am the aircraft began to reverse, but stopped. The cabin crew took up their positions in the aisle and went through the emergency instructions routine. Taxiing started, 8.33am; take off was at 8.42am. So we were 37 minutes late taking off. I worked out when we would expect to land — 8:42 + the captain’s estimate 2:45 + the time-difference between BST and CEST 1:00 — i.e. 12:27. The captain came on again (10:26): we were flying at 37,000 feet in a south-easterly direction over Amsterdam. He mentioned other cities and places over which we’d be flying, and concluded that our estimated arrival would be “two hours from now”. I used the loo at the front of the aircraft when no catering carts were passing and when no-one else was waiting for it. Later, those waiting were filling the aisle back six rows to where we were seated. There was a latter passing of the cart just before descent started, and I purchased a little bottle of prosecco for £7. The captain came on again (12:02): we’d be landing in an estimated 20 minutes. It was turbulent during the descent (12:15). We landed at 12:23; the doors were opened at 12:29, with ladders fore and aft to enable descent to the runway for a fairly long walk to the terminal.


Thursday 7 September 2023 12:34:22 (CEST, and so hereafter)
Alighting from the Boeing 737-800 at Tivat Airport

The airport was small, with passport control situated immediately within the entrance of the terminal, baggage reclaim immediately beyond that, and with customs and the arrivals hall leading off that.[ii]

[ii] It was ideal for arrivals, but not for departures because it totally lacked facilities airside.

Thursday 7 September 2023 12:40:28
Tivat Airport: waiting for Passport Control


Thursday 7 September 2023 12:53:44
Tivat Airport: at Baggage Reclaim


Thursday 7 September 2023 12:58:30
Tivat Airport: baggage reclaimed

We headed for the man carrying the blue Riviera Holidays sign: he checked our names off his list; and, when we were all gathered, he led the way to the coach. “It was lovely and warm,” Janet wrote in her journal. He introduced himself as “Andrew Dick” and the driver as “Mladen” (though this would not be our driver for the rest of the week). The travelling time to Petrovac could be as little as one hour; but Budva, through which we had to pass, might as likely as not have traffic hold-ups. (The itinerary’s “The transfer time to the hotel is approx. 2.5 hours (excluding border crossing)” must refer to a journey from Dubrovnik airport, for there is no border crossing between Tivat and Petrovac.)


Tivat Airport to Hotel AMI Budva Petrovac, as plotted by Google Maps “Directions”
(Click on image to enlarge.)

He handed out photocopied sheets, with a map of Montenegro on one side, and a map showing its position in the Balkans on the other side.



(Click on images to enlarge.) Map of Montenegro, and a second map showing its position in the Balkans. Originally, “Tivat” was almost completely invisible on the first map because it was black text on a black background, but I’ve restored it on this copy. The “useful words” would have been more useful if letters which in Crnogorski have diacritics had not lacked those diacritics.

Tomorrow, Andrew told us, there’d be a tour of Budva in the morning, and a journey of 1½ hours in the afternoon to a wine-tasting.
 The number of people on the coach seemed quite modest, but there were 18 others coming from Bristol, making 47 in all.[iii] He himself had flown in from Gatwick.

[iii] “Too many!” we decided, long before the conclusion of the tour. From here on, it’s small-group or “Signature Tours” for us. In fact, neither of us feels inclined to go abroad again in the foreseeable future.

 Banks in Montenegro were open 9am–4pm; closed, weekends. But ATMs were readily available.
 He recommended that we don’t drink the tap water: not that it was in any way harmful, but might have a high chlorine content.[iv]

[iv] In fact, in the hotel room I would mostly drink tap water, and found it not appreciably different to the water back home.

 His advice on tipping local guides wasn’t really advice: it would be up to us!
 Riviera Travel’s local agency was “Travel Europe”, so that might appear on signs in the hotel instead of “Riviera”.
 There was a new law stipulating that shops close on Sundays, but cafés and outlets selling booze weren’t affected.
 We made good progress on the journey to Petrovac until 13:50, when on entering Budva we encountered a slow-moving traffic queue.
 What to do on our free day? Janet and I wondered, in view of the abundance of mountains, whether a “jeep safari” would be possible.
 Andrew’s suggested way out of the hotel was from “Level –1” in “Block A”, and out from the back through the double doors of the dining room;[v] there was a supermarket there, and the road just there was where the coach for our daily tours would be parked, and that also was the way to the promenade and beach.

[v] Janet and I would later disapprove of the use of the dining room as a thoroughfare, and after doing it once or twice started exiting the hotel by the front door on “Level 0” and walking around to the back.

 Dinner was included this evening; it would be a buffet (welcome news to us); and it would be from 7pm.
 Andrew described what we’d find when we got to the hotel: it was divided into two blocks, Block A and Block B. Block A was served by two lifts opposite Reception; and the dining room (already mentioned) on “Level –1” was also accessed by the same lift. Away to the right of Reception, along a corridor, also served by two lifts, was Block B.[vi] We’d be given a wallet with a blank key-card in it, also containing two other cards with writing on them: the latter were for the obtaining of beach towels (they were of no relevance to Janet and me, then!).

[vi] I’m confused now as to which was “Block A” and which was “Block B”. Cf. the similar footnote tomorrow.

 Breakfast, which would also be a buffet, would be available in the dining room, 7am–10am. Tomorrow’s excursion to Budva, though, would start at 9am.
 He’d mentioned the supermarket; he now incidentally pointed out that the hotel didn’t like people bringing their own provisions into the hotel; so if people were going to do it, they should do so discreetly.
 So we arrived at the Hotel Ami. We had to hand our passports over. Andrew suggested that we don’t forget them, and indeed perhaps collect them at dinner time. “We had a complimentary apple juice,” Janet recalled. Eventually, Janet and I got to the counter, handed over our passports, signed a form, and received our cardboard wallet with the three cards.






Wallet for the key-card

Our room was in “Block B”. The corridor leading to it seemed to have a dead end, till an automated glass door there opened, revealing an area with two lift-doors. And so we got into our fourth-floor room with a sea view (14:46).


Thursday 7 September 2023 15:02:20
Room 409, Hotel Ami, Petrovac


Thursday 7 September 2023 15:03:14
Room 409, Hotel Ami, Petrovac


Thursday 7 September 2023 15:03:58
Views from Room 409, Hotel Ami, Petrovac


Thursday 7 September 2023 15:04:10
Views from Room 409, Hotel Ami, Petrovac


Thursday 7 September 2023 15:04:28
Views from Room 409, Hotel Ami, Petrovac: Katič (left) and Sveta Neđelja (right) islets


Thursday 7 September 2023 15:04:40
Views from Room 409, Hotel Ami, Petrovac: Sveta Neđelja islet and church

After I’d set up the Samsung computer on the desk and found the internet password I checked e-mail accounts (14:43 BST: I didn’t change the computer’s clock to CEST): two further Facebook notifications. After Janet had done the unpacking, we went out, following Andrew’s directions; going back to the reception area, we went down to the floor below (“Level –1”), went through the dining room and out the glass doors at the back of the hotel. Into the road ahead of us we turned right, then left along a footpath, somewhat uneven and punctuated with flights of steps, nearly 200 yards, down to the promenade. Turning right, we walked along a short distance, then stopped at a beach-side bar in the open air under an umbrella. “Heavenly sitting there in that heat, overlooking the Adriatic!” Janet wrote. I had a bottled dark beer first; I’d have expected the adjective to describe this to be “crno”, but the word used was “tamno”. Janet had a Coca Cola Zero. Their practice here — and, as we discovered, nearly everywhere — was to issue a bill with each round, not produce one at the end when asked.


Bill from “Galija”, printed, “16:14:03”


Thursday 7 September 2023 16:29:52
Refreshments at promenade bar/restaurant “Galija”, Petrovac

Then I had a couple a draught Niksićko beers, 0.33ℓ (by default and by mistake) and 0.5ℓ (asked for specifically), and Janet had bottled sparkling water both times.


Bill from “Galija”, printed, “16:38:17”


Thursday 7 September 2023 16:43:38
Refreshments at promenade bar/restaurant “Galija”, Petrovac


Bill from “Galija”, printed, “17:01:40”


Bill from “Galija”, printed, “17:01:45”


Thursday 7 September 2023 17:44:38
View south-west from bar/restaurant “Galija”, Petrovac


Thursday 7 September 2023 17:53:50
Bar/restaurant “Galija”, Petrovac

On the way back to the left turn back to the hotel we saw an Italian restaurant “Paradiso” and decided that we’d go there tomorrow evening. We’d seen an ATM nearby and now withdrew €500 (17:57), before returning to the hotel room and depositing it in the safe. I tried to ring my phone from Janet’s, but it reported that there was not enough credit. That’s two SIMs that we’ve put in that phone, from O₂ and from EE, and have spent £10 on each, and we’ve been robbed both times, damn them! I tried to ring Janet’s phone from mine, but it reported that the number didn’t exist. When I changed “07…” to “00447…” in my phone’s “Directory”, i.e. changed it from its UK form to its international one, my phone reported that it couldn’t connect, or something. I found that I’d forgotten to bring the WD Elements HDD. I tried to do write-up with a new Word document, but it crashed with no “Recovered” version. I did subsequently create another new Word document, but found the little Samsung notebook keyboard too fiddly to continue. At 7pm we went down to the ground floor, then along the corridor to the reception area, where we retrieved our passports, then down to “Level –1” to the dining room. As we’d been led to anticipate there were “Travel Europe” tables set aside. We were the first ones in, and we selected a table for two. There were two soups available, but one was fish which I don’t like and the other mushroom which I loathe, so I passed them by. I made ample use of the cold tables and the bains-maries, though. Back in the room, because I’d created a Word document “2023.doc” in a subfolder “2023” in “Documents”, I transferred today’s 16 photos to a sub-subfolder “20230907” in “2023” in “Documents” (19:08 BST, i.e. 20:08 CEST).…
 To our great consternation, a singer-guitarist started singing and jangling below outside. We’d been told about him on the journey to Petrovac, but we hadn’t realised that it would be so loud and so prolonged: song after song after song without a pause. We were in bed just after 9pm, having been up since ca.1 o’clock this morning, but were kept awake by that noisy noisome bastard and his guitar. We had the balcony door shut and the air-conditioning fan blowing on full power, but that still did not mask his noise. Janet rang Reception: “How long…?” I think she was told “10.45pm.” The call was longer than that, for as Janet wrote, “I phoned Reception and asked about transferring to another room — such a pity: we have a great view — as this will happen every night. We’ll know tomorrow.” She continued: “We were both in bed just after 9pm but, of course, I couldn’t sleep. At ca.10.15pm I decided I’d go mad [if it didn’t end soon]. I went in the bathroom, shut the door — but I could still hear the bastard.” (So both of us, in our separate accounts, have impugned his parentage.) When the disturbance stopped, I looked at my watch: “22:40”. “When the noise stopped”, I should say, for the feeling of disturbance and stress continued even after relative silence was restored. As Janet wrote: “Finally he stopped, but I was so unhappy and upset I doubted that I’d sleep despite being so tired.”

[Friday 8 September 2023]