20 Jun 2021

Book a flight for 04:40!

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This wasn’t the best flight, nor was it the cheapest or most time efficient but it is definitely scheduled for the appropriate time!

Furthermore, I was able to use the whole of a voucher I was credited when a flight I had booked was cancelled by the operator due to more strict Corona restrictions coming into force at the end of 2020 so that’s good.

I guess me making this booking is only the first stage so I will update this post with my ticketing, departure and flight experience… until then, I’ll look forward to seeing my Mother on her Birthday!

I love you, Mum! x

Update:

Two days after I booked this flight, I got an email to tell me that the 04:40 departure time of the first flight has been updated to 05:10. Right now I’m content because I bagged the challenge and get to set off at a more reasonable time and have a shorter connection time but am just hoping that this is not the start of more messing around with flights being delayed and even cancelled – that’s how I ended up with this voucher in the first place!!!

Thankfully post -booking but pre-flight the realisation set in that Qatar is still on the UK’s ‘Red List’ and so this would mean I had to stay in a Government-backed quarantine hotel for my entire stay – utterly pointless!

I took the opportunity to move this Qatar flight to later in the year and re-booked with Saudia direct to London Heathrow. This allowed me to use a credit voucher for another flight that was cancelled back in 2020.

Somewhat disappointingly, the flight is not at 04:40. Nonetheless, it sets off a day earlier so I gain an additional day in the UK and will be travelling in seat number 40!

The original flight may have been cancelled but I sat in seat 40 on the one I replaced it with!
Post arrival; so it continues…

11 Feb 2021

Twentieth of 40 donations

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The twentieth of my 40 donations goes to The Smile & Olive Foundation in memory of Mohammed Attar (Allah Yerhamo).

The Smile & Olive Foundation (founded in 2012) provides relief & aid to displaced persons and refugees to help them rebuild their lives. Today they operate across Lebanon, Turkey & Iraq. The empowerment of women & young girls through capacity building & developing transferable skills is a primary focus.

https://smileoliveuk.org/

The Smile & Olive Foundation is running an initiative to provide aid and relief to underprivileged families suffering from COVID-19 in Lebanon.

Lebanon is in a catastrophic state, with majority of the country depending on Non-Governmental Organisations for support. 

Hospitals are full and there is a shortage medical staff, oxygen devices, and medical supplies across the country. This is all happening during a long-term economic and political crisis that has been exasperated by the August 4 blast. 

Smile and Olive will be offering food parcels, medications and oxygen devices (where required).

You can donate via the Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/nellyattar?utm_source=Sharethis&utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=nellyattar&utm_campaign=pfp-email&utm_term=d19e6bf2329442a9984d11b3b887cbb2

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/nellyattar?experiments=b2c_041_fundraising_page_donation_prompts_2%2Cb2c_045_donate_button_color%2Cb2c_029_first_to_donate%2Cb2c_040_frp_trust_proposition_bar%2Cb2c_044_donate_to_yourself&successType=StaticDonateButtonClick

www.smileoliveuk.org

contact@smile-olive.org

https://smileoliveuk.org/

Smile and Olive Registered charity number 1177767

3 Feb 2021

Nineteenth of 40 donations

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The nineteenth of my 40 donations goes to a charity organisation called HUMEN.

Inspired by a friend of mine Johnny Ward who is rowing across the Atlantic Ocean unsupported and fuelled only by muscle-power. I climbed Aconcagua with Johnny and he’s just the guy they need on board.

https://onestep4ward.com/rowing-across-the-atlantic-ocean/?fbclid=IwAR0ffT9ywaaaITzM13FjUQs38gupQc-xL0qz69FNKZS5GU8fSR6tpV8riKQ

Home
https://www.wearehumen.org/

Humen provide anonymous and non-clinical safe spaces for men to talk, listen and connect on a regular basis across the UK. The HUMEN Space is preventative, practical and plain speaking. No lingo or prescriptive advice. Free one hour sessions where men get together to talk honestly in a confidential space without risk of judgment or ridicule. The right to talk should never be a privilege. Every Monday 6:30 PM (GMT) for any man across the UK.

Their operations have had to adapt since COVID restrictions but this has facilitated their local meetings going online and thereby becoming international.

They meet every Monday at 6:30 PM – you can register via the following link:

https://linktr.ee/HUMENorg

‘You are human. I am human. We are HUMEN.’

‘The Gym for Your Mind’

https://www.instagram.com/humenorg/

https://www.facebook.com/humenorg/

Johnny Ward
Visited 205/205 countries.
Blogger @ onestep4ward.com
Started MuditaAdventures.com
🌱Plant Powered

Update May 2021 – they did it!

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-northern-ireland-56929679

5 Apr 2020

Sixth of 40 donations

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The sixth of my 40 donations goes to Plan International who will ensure girls, young women, children and vulnerable groups are protected and supported as the COVID-19 crisis unfolds.

Plan International‘s crisis response focuses on on communicating public health information, installing hand-washing facilities and distributing hygiene kits whilst ensuring that the needs and rights of girls and young women are addressed.

5 Apr 2020

A stay of execution…

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Like a lot of people, the flights I had booked to get me to the events I signed up to in 2020 have been cancelled, for example:

The Manchester Marathon has been rescheduled to October so that’s something to work with and toward. One small positive is that I should get more time to train…

Ironman Kazakhstan is in late August – could this be OK? Current advice is that it could be postponed…. Will the world be rid of Corona in time for it to go ahead as planned?

I’m assuming a 4-6 month delay to everything, the Government advice to the more mature and vulnerable is to self isolate for 12 weeks so that’s equivalent to 3 months and I suspect this measure is intended to help the health care providers deal with other cases during that time, thereby ‘flattening the curve’.

All hail the NHS!

Hero key workers – thank you!

This is a complex and dynamic situation that requires personal and social discipline that we are not currently accustomed to.

The guidelines changed and as a result, I was allowed out of self-isolation and back to work but now we have a curfew from 15:00 to 06:00 so this has made training outdoors a little more difficult.

The phrase ‘Force Majeure‘ springs to mind so I’m spending time working out alternative solutions and revising the programme schedule to see how much of the 40s 4 40 challenge I can still complete in 2020.

Watch this space…..