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...