For completeness and because i’m bored i’m going to finish off these travels blogs once and for all.

So then Gilli Air, really wish I was there now to be honest instead of staring at the rain and pondering having to start work next week. Anyway there was one thing I forgot to mention in the last blog on the area and that is of course that I proposed to Rhiannon (Monday 16 June Rhiannon – so you won’t forget again). I’d been carrying around a ring since we left England, not an expensive one in case I lost it but a decent enough one nevertheless and i’d just been waiting for the right time to pop the question. That time never seemed to arrive! In fact Rhiannon half jokingly now suggests that it was because she kept annoying me. I half jokingly look away and change the subject.

Either way (not really by the way – above), I had decided that it had to be an island paradise that I was going to do it if it was going to be romantic, the Thai islands seemed to commercial, it was going to be the Perhintian Islands but it just didn’t seem right, plus Rhiannon had a nasty rash on her arm at the time (see previous blog) and I thought i’d wait in case it never went away. So the Gilli Islands it was and to be a bit different I decided to do it at sunrise and not sunset.

In order to plan for this, from about a week before I wanted to do it I kept mentioning how good it would be to do a sunrise and after a few times i’d got Rhiannon to give a grunting approval to getting up on the Monday morning (not quite as arduous as it sounds when you are leaving basically on a beach).

The day before i’d phoned Mr & Mrs Wittrick to get the all important approval from her dad, without which my plan was going to be foiled, which went something like this:
“Oh hi Carol, it’s Stuart, is Andy there?”
“Why what’s wrong?”
Nothing, it’s all good, I just need to speak to Andy.
Why what’s wrong?
After repeating that ten times I eventually confess the truth and on comes Andy and I remember that I hadn’t actually planned anything to say:
“Erm, hi. I was thinking that tomorrow i’d propose to Rhiannon, erm, is that ok?”
“Erm, ok, suppose so”

With the parental approval categorically in the bag there was no way I could change my mind now – not that I wanted to obviously, but even if we’d argued that night I probably would have had to go ahead, maybe in sign language if we weren’t speaking to eachother.

Fortunately we were staying at the Sunrise hotel which meant we didn’t have to stroll down very far to get the ideal spot and on the morning in question the alarm went off at 5.30 in the a – m I sprang out of bed and began badgering Rhiannon to move herself before the sun came up and ruined the whole thing. Up she got grumbling and moaning and we trekked the 50m to the beach side and say down on some cushions were normally we’d eat breakfast. It was all very comfortable but there were people occasionally walking past so I suggested we move onto the beach and onto a sun lounger.

We did, but that was no good for me either as how would I get onto, one knee with her watching, the sun was starting to come up now, so thinking quickly I got the practically asleep Rhiannon to get up again and move to the waters edge, which she did with language that would make a docker blush. Finally I positioned her facing away from me, dropped to one knee and said “Rhiannon”. She turned around and at that point I probably should have launched into a well rehearsed speech probably based on a film or something, but I didn’t, I just asked her to marry me.
“Are you joking?”
“What are you doing?”
It was early and i’ll give her the benefit of the doubt and say that there could have been any number of reasons why i’d be on one knee, on a beach, holding out a ring. Finally after what felt like an eternity she said yes. There were hugs and kisses and laughter and no tears(!) and then came the final part of the plan as we had breakfast and I slipped off to speak to the staff who i’d let in on the plan and few days before and they had bought a bottle of champagne so that I could spring a surprise breakfast on the ecstatic soon to be bride and we watched the rest of the sunrise, feeling pretty damn good and not a little pissed.
And finally, the staff had decorated our room in flowers – unasked for. Bless ‘em.