Can it be true?

Further to my last post, looks like I'm not the only one missing some sun on TV...

BBC expat soap flop Eldorado could be set to return to the screens after 20 years

TV and holidays - an even more perfect blend than Neighbours and a little understanding

Hands up who's seen the sitcom Benidorm? I love watching it - not because I think it's comedy genius (although I confess I do find it quite funny) but because it's set on holiday. As a bit of a telly addict, a TV programme that caters to my holiday obsession is my idea of heaven! Death in Paradise is perfect viewing and I loved The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (combining crime drama and holidays with TV? Life can't get better!). I've started watching Neighbours again in preparation for next year's planned trip to Australia, and I mourn the days of Holiday and Wish You Were Here. What happened to them?! I'll even confess to Sunburn (remember that?) and Eldorado being guilty pleasures in the past (but don't tell anyone!). It's not so much about getting ideas for future holidays (although that's always good) - it's more about watching somewhere hot and sunny, that is as far removed from rainy old England as possible. If I can't get some sun and relaxation myself, then watching it on the telly is the next best thing. Basically, I love a bit of sun-based escapism, and Benidorm fits neatly into that box. That said, as anyone who's seen it would understand, it didn't exactly encourage me to visit the Costa Blanca...

Read my next blog to find out whether Benidorm lived up to my expectations!

Albir Garden Resort

Given that I've already spent a while writing my review for Trip Advisor, it seemed sensible to post it on my blog, rather than write a separate view of the hotel. Of course, this one is more for information than entertainment, but might be useful for anyone thinking of visiting Benidorm or the area - or anyone just wanting a nosy about where we stayed on our last holiday!

As always, I'm basing my review on the price we paid. This isn't a five-star resort - nor does it pretend to be. And given how cheap it is, there are bound to be niggles and imperfections. However, I think it was a bargain - the negative points were unimportant, and outweighed by the positives. Firstly, the location is pretty good. Albir is just 5-10 minutes' drive from Benidorm - close enough if you want some action but far enough away if you'd like something more peaceful. There is a bus stop just outside the hotel, although we had a hire car so didn't use it. There is a decent-sized supermarket just opposite, and lots of shops, bars and restaurants in the area. It's about a fifteen minute walk down to the beach at Albir - shingle and far smaller than Benidorm, but very pleasant. The reception staff were extremely friendly and helpful. We found most of the bar and restaurant staff the same - a smile and 'gracias' goes a long way! When the light in our bedroom wasn't working, we reported it to reception and someone was along to fix it within an hour - similarly with a problem with one of the pool tables. The room itself was basic but fine - the apartments are laid out in three-storey blocks of (I think) 9 apartments altogether. The layout is such that we didn't have any neighbours, which was brilliant - on the downside, you could hear everything from the stairwell, which was a problem halfway through the holiday, when some very inconsiderate and noisy people moved into the block. We had a one-bedroom apartment, which meant we could put the kids to bed and still have somewhere to sit ourselves - I think we drew the short straw though, as the sofa bed was not particularly comfy. The maids came and cleaned every day, and we had plenty of linen and towels (although they were rather small and rough). We initially had 2 blankets in the wardrobe but when they saw we were using them, more appeared in case the children needed them too (although they had bedspreads already). It was a bit lacking in space for clothes - the wardrobe was big enough, but there was a serious lack of drawers! There were cupboards in the lounge and the kitchen though, as well as a shelf, a dining table (4 chairs) and a coffee table, so there was ample opportunity for storage in general. There was a wide-screen TV but it didn't have any English channels - you could buy a TV card from reception (not sure how much) but we didn't bother. The kitchen was small, with 2 hobs, a microwave and a fridge. Not sure what there was in the way of equipment, as we were all-inclusive, but the fridge came in handy! The balcony was a reasonable size with a table and four chairs. No washing line but plenty of rail space. No cover though, which meant it wasn't sheltered from wind or rain. The bathroom was basic but adequate - no bath, but a big shower. A very small sink with hardly any space to put your bits and pieces, but it served our needs. The food was fine - the usual buffet affair really. We have eaten better food in all-inclusives, but we've also eaten far worse! There was a good choice, and I could always find something I liked - there's always chips and pasta for the fussier eaters! We stayed for eight days, and the food on the 8th day was the same as our first, so it looks like everything is repeated after a week - would get rather samey if you were there for a fortnight. They have Italian and Mexican evenings once a week, and we particularly enjoyed the Mexican food. The restaurant experience is a little chaotic - you have to find your own table and get your own drinks from the bar or the juice dispensers. You usually had to get your own cutlery too! The daytime entertainment had pretty much stopped, as we were out of season, but there was always something on in the evening. A team of one lady and two men seemed to run all the entertainment - they did a mini-disco and games for the children after dinner, which my children loved, and which catered for all nationalities. We did not stay for the entertainment after that, so can't really comment, but it seemed to be the same people in various guises - one of the men as an Elvis tribute, for example. The one time we stayed for an hour, we were pleasantly surprised at the quality of their singing. The pool was nice with no problem getting a sunbed in October (although they weren't adjustable!). There was a good children's playground next to what I assume is the kids club in season. There is also an indoor pool, although we didn't use this - partly because it was warm enough to swim outside, and partly because swimming caps are compulsory! The only real problem we encountered was with other guests. When we first arrived, they had around ten national Tai Kwando teams staying there - while they were not at all disruptive, it meant that the restaurant was extremely crowded for the first couple of days, and we ended up eating in a gazebo area for the first night. They regularly have sports teams staying there - once the Tai Kwando teams had left, there were football and gymnastics teams. None of them caused any problems other than overcrowding, though. For our last weekend, it was a Spanish bank holiday, and there was a sudden huge influx of Spanish families. The hotel coped with this by implementing a timing restriction for the restaurant - it didn't affect us much other than to ensure the restaurant was quiet and calm, while the new Spanish families always ate afterwards. However, we found a lot of them to be very noisy and disrespectful, shouting up the stairs to their apartments at 12am, and leaving the area outside the bar in a filthy state. We also had a lot of problems with various nationalities pushing in the queues at dinner, with one lady being very rude to me. It did put a bit of a damper on things, but was hardly the hotel's fault. Overall, we were very happy with our stay here - it was not luxury, but we didn't pay for it. I'm more worried about our room being clean that a damp patch in the bathroom. I'm more worried about the food being good than having my drink brought to me. I'm more worried about the staff being friendly than having well-known entertainers. If they could just change some of their clientele, it would be brilliant!

For a little tour around our apartment and the resort, have a look at my YouTube videos below. You can visit my YouTube channel (Holiday obsessive) for more holiday-related videos (with more to be uploaded soon...).

BA: Brilliant, Actually (see what I did there?)

Back when I first started holidaying, I always booked package deals, so it was charter flights all the way. In the beginning, we flew Britannia (remember them?!); more recently, we usually flew with Thomson. Our city breaks were pretty much limited to Paris and Amsterdam on a coach and the ferry (or once a hovercraft, back in the day). We even pushed the boat out a couple of times and went by Eurostar. Everything changed, of course, with the advent of the budget airline - or, more specifically, easyJet, as I've never been able to bring myself to fly with Ryanair (have you heard Michael O'Leary?!). Suddenly, Rome, Prague, Venice and Barcelona were all within easy, practical and relatively cheap reach. It took a while for me to extend this to our 'summer' holidays though. Somehow, it seemed 'safer' to book a package, in terms of airport transfers, having a rep at hand and the general ease of the whole process, especially once we had children. But it was those very same children who put package deals out of our reach - our youngest turned two at around the same time holiday prices seemed to triple, and suddenly we were faced with an extra airfare on top of the generally higher prices. We soon realised it was much cheaper to book independently - hotels in Spain in particular are often very cheap, and car hire costs surprisingly little (and is so much nicer than a coach transfer!). As for flights - well, they're still more expensive with two children to include, but they're still cheaper than you'd expect. All in all, our holidays were about half the price of a package deal, and we were happy. Then, this year, I had a bit of a revelation. We were booking flights to Alicante for October, and easyJet hadn't yet made their October flights available. However, looking at the earlier flights they did have, they seemed a bit more expensive than usual. I knew that half-term flights would book up quickly and go up in price accordingly - was it worth the risk of waiting until the October flights became available and hoping I could book them before everyone else? I tried looking at other companies (even Ryanair) and, on a whim, I tried British Airways. We had flown with them once, back from Australia many years ago. We hadn't been particularly impressed, mostly because we preferred the Qantas flight on the way there. Anyway, I was really surprised to find the flights were actually pretty reasonable - and the September flights were cheaper than the easyJet equivalents! I decided to bite the bullet and book the British Airways flights - and I have to say, I don't regret it! The first bonus was that we didn't have to pay for our luggage - we were allowed 23kg of hold luggage each, as well as two (count them!) pieces of hand luggage. To be fair, there's no way in the world we would want to take that much luggage - you have to carry it for a start! But it was brilliant not having to try to pack our worldly goods into two suitcases, just to avoid paying extra. In the end, we settled for three cases, and three pieces of hand luggage, with the knowledge that we could bring a whole extra case of shopping home if we should so wish (we didn't). We were also able to put both of our car booster seats into the hold without charge (something that, despite numerous emails to easyJet last year, I'm still confused about - we ended up packing one of them in our of our two suitcases!). You can check in online up to 24 hours before the flight - at this point, you are also able to choose your seats (if you haven't paid to do so before). We were surprised to see that seats had already been allocated to us, then we realised that they were making sure that we were able to sit together - very handy if you're not quick off the mark with checking in. You're still able to change those seats, of course, but it takes away the worry of not sitting together. As well as checking in online, we were also able to check our luggage in the night before. This is something that we've often done with Thomson, but doesn't seem to be available with easyJet. It's handy when you have an early flight and you're staying in an airport hotel - you simply check your cases in at the airport the night before and then, when you're stumbling through the airport at 4 o'clock the next morning, you can bypass the queues and go straight to security. Another bonus was the free food on the flight - it wasn't much, as it was a short flight, but we got orange juice, a croissant and some granola for breakfast, along with tea and coffee. They even offered me an alternative, which I don't think has ever happened on a flight before! The service overall was excellent - the stewards were friendly and helpful and, most important for us as parents, they were great with the children. The children received little activity bags, which was nice, but the best thing was that they were given the opportunity to go into the cockpit and meet the pilot at the end of the journey - cue two very excited little boys (and a rather excited mummy!). Overall, we were very impressed, and couldn't fault BA at all. I'm not knocking easyJet -  we have never had any problems with them - but the service and the little extras on the BA flight really made the difference. In future, I will always check BA prices too, rather than automatically going to the 'budget' airlines - this holiday just went to show that you shouldn't make assumptions! Oh, and by the way - I bravely checked the prices of easyJet's October flights once they were announced (desperately hoping they weren't going to be half the price of BA!)  - they were pretty much on a par and, once you included the luggage costs, they were actually more expensive. Phew!

Airport hotel - heaven or hell?

The first time I went abroad, aged sixteen, my best friend's dad took us to the airport, and my dad picked us up. Of course, I wasn't old enough to drive, let alone own a car, so airport parking wasn't really an option. But even when my now-husband and I had a car, we still relied on the kindness of parents and friends to get us to and from the airport for a good few years. Eventually, of course, we decided to stand on our own two feet, and it didn't take long to realise that it was almost as cheap to get a hotel/parking package as it was to pay for parking on its own. There are numerous advantages to booking an airport hotel, especially if you have an early flight. It means you don't have to get up at stupid o'clock to drive to the airport, for a start. It also means you don't have the panic of getting stuck in traffic and thinking you're going to miss your flight, as happened to us once (but that's another blog). Anyway, we booked a few packages over the years, in hotels five or ten minutes away from the airport. It normally involved leaving the car in the hotel car park and getting a shuttle from the hotel in the morning, although I have vague memories of having to phone the hotel once for someone to come and pick us up from the airport - picture Igor, and you won't be far wrong. This all changed on our honeymoon, when we decided to treat ourselves and stay at the Gatwick Hilton. Apart from being a little posher than what we were used to (which wasn't hard), the crucial thing is that it's actually on-site at the airport - instead of waiting for a shuttle bus (sometimes outside in October in the early hours), you just have to crawl out of bed and along a tunnel, and you're at departures. Well, once we'd done it once, we were spoilt - no more random hotels and disconcerting pick-ups for us. Instead, we alternated between the Hilton and the Sofitel, depending on which terminal we were flying from (Hilton at the South, Sofitel at the North if you're interested).  All well and good, until our second son came along. No cot space, no extra bed - if we were really lucky and one was free, we could spend nearly double the amount on a family room - otherwise it was the even more expensive option of two rooms. Hmmmm. We soon found a solution - book a normal sized room and sneak one of the children in! We did this for years - I'd do the check-in by myself and say my husband was parking the car, then he'd follow me to our room at a distance. It was okay when my youngest son was little - we could always find space for our own travel cot. But the last few years, we've had to try to put one or other child in bed with us - not conducive to a good night's sleep! After last year, I'd finally had enough. We tried to put the kids to bed then hid in the bathroom waiting for them to fall asleep (another blog subject there!). An hour later, we could still hear them chatting - and we desperately wanted to go to bed ourselves, as our alarm was set for 4am! Eventually, we gave up and went to bed too - or at least, I tried. Lying there listening to my children toss and turn, along with theatrical sighs, and soon accompanied by my husband's snores (why can men sleep through anything?!), I soon realised I wasn't going to get much sleep. Finally, the children fell asleep too, one with a knee firmly placed in the small of my back. I lay there thinking about the fact that I had to get up in three hours. At four o'clock, the alarm went off. The boys got up, tired but excited. My husband looked remarkably refreshed (something to do with the ability to fall asleep at the drop of a hat and not wake for a hurricane, perhaps?). I'd only fallen asleep half an hour before. This year we splashed out on a family room - next year, I'm thinking two rooms, the boys and my husband in one and me in the other...

 

If you're interested in seeing what the family room at the Gatwick Hilton looks like, have a watch on YouTube. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel (holiday obsessive) for more holiday videos, coming soon...

Half-term Halloween horror

Our next holiday, in just a few days, is to Benidorm (don't laugh). More accurately, we're actually staying in Albir, which is ten minutes from Benidorm - maybe I should say 'Albir' to people instead of the B-word, and I won't get so many laughs and pitying looks. Anyway, when I was looking up things to do in the area (yes, you can leave the hotel in Benidorm, and not just for the beach!), I saw there was a theme park nearby - Terra Mitica, the Costa Blanca's answer to Chessington. Last year, when we stayed in Salou, we visited Port Aventura, and had a brilliant time. October has got to be one of the best times of year to go - it was still warm and sunny, but it wasn't too busy, and we hardly had to queue for anything. More importantly, they made a huge effort for Halloween - the staff were in costume, the whole park was decorated, and at least half of the visitors were in fancy dress (including the adults).

I've never been too bothered about Halloween - I never trick or treated as a child, and we haven't really done it with the kids either (our street is full of old people - it's not worth the risk!). But the atmosphere at the park last year was brilliant, and we said at the time that we'd love to come back at Halloween, and make the effort with the costumes this time. So, once we saw there was a theme park in Benidorm, we booked tickets online and then went right out and bought costumes for the boys, including face paint (not sure the masks would be too practical for a day at a theme park!). We even toyed with the idea of wearing costumes ourselves. So I went onto trusty Trip Advisor (where would I be without Trip Advisor? I could do a whole post devoted to it!) to see whether it's usual for adults to dress up at Terra Mitica. And that's where it all went wrong - a quick look at the travel forum showed that Terra Mitica closes in November. I hadn't even thought to check opening times - after all, Disneyland opens all year round, and the weather is far sunnier in Benidorm. Even the rainy British theme parks stay open until the end of half-term.! Anyway, I checked the Terra Mitica website and it turns out it's only open weekends in October! Maybe I should be glad it's open at all, but it means we're now really restricted. It's a two-day ticket, meant to be used on two consecutive days, which is rather difficult when it's not open for half the week! Luckily we're going for eight days rather than seven (it was cheaper, believe it or not!) so we can go on the Friday and Saturday at the end of the holiday. It's rubbish being limited though, especially as the forecast is rain for that weekend! Most importantly, though, they're not open for Halloween - surely they're missing a trick here? Are there really not enough British families on half-term (come on - this is Benidorm!) to justify opening? Will the children still be able to wear their costumes on the Friday, or will they stand out like severed thumbs?!

In at the deep end: the blog virgin

I've never written a blog. In fact, if I'm honest, I've not even read many. I do, however, regularly bore all my Facebook friends with detailed updates of whatever's going on in my life - although none as long and detailed as my mum's (sorry, Mum!). There's a strong chance that whatever's going on in my life has something to do with holidays - one I'm on, one I've just been on, one I'm about to go on or (too often) one I'd like to go on. As an ex-teacher, with a still-teacher husband and two young children at school, we've always been limited as to when we can go away; we do, however, get six lovely holiday periods a year, and we like to go away during as many of these as possible (apart from Christmas - I do like a little family time at home at Christmas, not to mention time to recover from the stress of it all!). The summer holiday is, of course, the most exciting time - five to six weeks off work, and we usually take advantage of this and go away for as long as possible. The last three years we've gone camping around France (and Spain, Andorra, Monaco, Luxembourg and Belgium) for four weeks, and next year we're planning to see as much of Australia as possible. I like to write daily Facebook updates when I'm away - partly so my family and friends can see what we're up to (especially those who like to holiday vicariously through us), partly so I can make people laugh with our inevitable holiday disasters (of which there are many) and partly just because I'm enjoying myself and like to talk about it! Of course, Facebook limits you with how much you can say - no one wants to read an essay for a status, and it's hard to tell a good story in just a couple of lines. So I thought blogging might be a good way to get around this - those who are actually interested can read more (and those who aren't can continue to scroll through their news feed, eyes to heaven). It also means I can perhaps reach a wider audience who might be planning a holiday and want more information about a destination, or those who have been to the same places as me and would just like to share memories. I'm not particularly well-travelled, much as I'd like to be - I've only left Europe four times, and children limit the kind of holiday you can go on - but I have got a fair few places under my belt, and there's so many places I'd still like to see. I'm not a 'traveller' either - six months trekking round South America with a rucksack does not appeal. I like a proper holiday - basic creature comforts at least, luggage transported by plane, coach or car, and the chance to come home before I feel detached from my normal life. But I'm pretty open-minded as to what kind of holiday I like (or think I will!) - camping, cheap hotel in Benidorm, cottage in the Cotswolds, Butlins, city break in Rome or luxury hotel in the Maldives (I'm still waiting for that one). Any questions about places I might have been to, holidaying with children, packing light, booking independently, etc. are more than welcome, as are suggestions of places I should go to. Anyway, I shall see if I can successfully upload my first ever blog, and we'll take it from there...