Home Time

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon

Enough of this Dominican Republic nonsense. We meet again just 17 days out from a WDW trip and in all kinds of ways it feels like quite some time since we did one. In terms of our historical frequency of visiting that part of the world then it definitely has been quite some time. It was October 2024 the last time Louise and I Disneyed, and putting to one side the persisting fear of the collapse of the US, we’re looking forward to it. Leaving it almost two years between trips has been unheard of for the last three decades so the anticipation is real, alongside the feeling that I have lost touch with all my knowledge of the place. Emily has been going consistently, so the passing of the planning baton may take an extra step this time.

I understand that our travel plans may not be the foremost thing in your minds so I shall recap the details of the trip. This time the travelling party is Louise, myself, Emily and her boyfriend Mikey. It is a proper Orlando theme park centric old school trip, leaving on September 10th from Manchester for two weeks.

We are flying with Virgin for the first time in so long I can’t remember the last time. Louise and I are in Premium, with Emily and Mikey saving their pennies by doing extra leg room seats in Economy.

We will be flying into Terminal C at MCO and picking up a car from Alamo before heading off to our usual and absolute favourite villa (thanks as ever to Matt for allowing us to rent his place).

Louise and I are sticking to Disney for the 14 days but Emily and Mikey are doing a night at Universal and will also do Halloween Horror Nights whilst there. Emily has been delighted to see the huge focus on clowns in this year’s houses. Her fear of clowns is no joke and frankly I have no idea why she puts herself through this!

To celebrate Mikey turning 30 this year Emily has also booked him two nights at Mikey’s most favourite resort, the Polynesian. They are doing two nights, club level there and I am sure that will be incredible.

With my work being so crazy, I delegated all the ADR bookings to Emily who smashed it, securing all of our first choices. I may be clutching at straws but the seemingly endless options for all our dining choices might be suggesting that the place will be quiet whilst we are there.

I will probably outline our day by day plan next week, so that’s something you can all look forward to. I just hope you can sleep with all that excitement and anticipation. We have a lot of our usual eateries on the plan but we’ve tried to sprinkle in a few new ones to expand our repertoire too.

I’ve missed the heat, I’ve missed the food and I’ve missed the familiar feeling of home we always get when we are there. I just hope we still feel all those things despite what is happening in the real world over there. I have been a little disappointed with the recent changes to off site folks visiting resorts. I get it, the folks paying to do so should absolutely be the priority, but it seems counter intuitive as those visiting will surely be tempted to book there for their next trip, and it blocking folks like us going to watch Yeeha Bob at Port Orleans is a real shame.

For years whenever anyone asked for WDW advice one of the things I always included was to visit some resorts. Sure, with an ADR you still can, but it feels like a little bit of the magic has gone.

Two more of these blogs before we leave so stay tuned for lots more detail on our plans alongside the glacial pace at which these last few days at work will go by. Some things never change.

Till the next time…..

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Fifteen May 8th

by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

After the horrors of the last full day come the increased horrors of the travel home day. Up at 8 and we packed. Room service, ordered last night, came at 9.

We showered and finished packing by 10. We then had some time to relax till 11 when our luggage guy arrived (another nice touch at these Secrets resorts is a chap gets your luggage) and he made us check the room one last time and that’s when I discovered I had left a drawer full of clothes. So there was a little more packing to do.

Our cases and us were placed in his golf cart and taken to reception. Our cases were loaded into our waiting mini bus but we were not allowed on as I had not checked us out so I went back to do that. This all felt a bit rushed and unorganised on my part but my heart was not in it. It felt so hard to be leaving this lifestyle and returning to work. 

On the mini bus halfway down the long driveway I thought I’d left my phone behind as I couldn’t find it. After a very stressful 30 seconds I discovered it had slipped into my seat.

The drive to the airport was awful. Our driver was a lunatic and once we got into heavier traffic it was very scary. Both ourselves and the other couple on our bus refused to tip him as we honestly thought he was going to kill us on every second of the journey.

Checked in was quick and then we went through security and what felt like about a dozen passport checks.

Despite being Premium we discovered there was no lounge access. Sigh. We are such princesses. The airport had strong metal hangar with some shops in it vibes and it was loud and chaotic. And hot, so hot.

Got a Pizza Hut and sat on a bench to eat it.

We did all our gift shopping and had a coffee, spending more here than we had in the last two weeks.

Eventually we boarded our bus out to the plane and did the slow walk up the greenhouse stairway. 

We took off around 5 and Louise was very unwell. She really struggled all flight. Not sure what it was but she was struggling to breathe. I’m sure her fear of flying was not helping. I rewatched Oceans 12 and refused dinner as I was not hungry following that massive meal from Pizza Hut.

Breakfast was decent. We thought we’d be off to A and E but Louise found some meds in her bag upon landing. It immediately helped and of course so did getting off the plane. 

Our bags were off within 20 minutes and we were soon in the car and on our way home.

Overall we thoroughly enjoyed this trip. We did find ourselves comparing this to Secrets Akumal in Mexico and there’s no doubt we do prefer that one. The food was better there and the resort felt more intimate and exclusive but there was very little not to like here.

The beach here was incredible and almost unreal in how perfect it was. The service we received was always excellent too and despite my painful tooth in those first few days and a bit of rain, we had no issues or complaints at all.

Thank you for reading the same day fourteen times over and now we can move on to other life events and a very imminent WDW trip that I would imagine will be of much more interest to both of my readers.

Till the next time…..

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Fourteen May 7th

by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

Here we are at the dreaded last full day. A traumatic time on any holiday. Once again I was up at 7.30 and off down to the pool to secure our cabana. The Pool guy was there one final time and in some tragic Spanglish I somehow managed to get it understood that we were heading home tomorrow. It involved “manyana” and my arms outstretched in some aeroplane style moves. He got tipped again and it seemed we were now friends for life as he made me send a Facebook friend request and have some photos taken. 

Then it was breakfast. Cereal and toast. 

We called Rebecca and wished her a happy birthday before concentrating on the last of the sunbathing. Lunch was from the pizza place by the pool. It seems I didn’t take any photos today until 5pm as some sort of protest at having to go home tomorrow. 

Our last afternoon was spent mainly in the quiet pool trying to figure out a lottery win or anything else that would prevent a need to go back to work. This last day melancholy/mild panic at the return to work is getting worse as I get older. At one point I nearly broke my toe on the bottom of the pool whilst mounting a float. I am confident the pain surpassed child birth.

As the day came to an end I suggested a final beach walk and this was, even though I say it myself a great idea and a lovely way to say goodbye to the place. It was a perfect golden hour stroll.

We turned back and headed back to the resort, past the beach bar, headed for the main pool and the bar there for a last drink in the pool. Margs and shots were had.

Up to the room next for one final getting ready and watching CNN. It’s sad how much I loved this time of day. Showers were done and we were not out until 8.30. We walked to Bordeaux, the restaurant we felt had been best all trip so this was to be our choice for the final meal. I don’t know if we’d caught too much sun but it felt very cold in there tonight.

Sadly the service was very slow, but the food was still good. 

Quiche and French onion soup for both of us.

Steak for Louise and Pork for me.

To finish we shared a crepe suzette.

The Piano Bar was rammed so we had a walk over to Dreams, the other half of the resort, which was the family version of ours and had a drink there in the lobby bar. We wandered around having a look at their pool and impressive water park style rides. Back at our bar it was still busy so we sat in the public square till it cleared. We had a couple of drinks there before heading home at 12. 

Till the next time……

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Thirteen May 6th

by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

We creep towards the end of this trip now. At this point we were not happy about that but I suspect the repetitive nature of these posts means you are. Not long to go now and then we can focus on our upcoming WDW trip which may bring some variety and interest back to this blog!!

I was inexplicably awake at seven and I ventured alone once again to secure a cabana at 8. My little pool helper friend was there again to help me lay out towels and pick up his couple of dollars tip.

Breakfast was solo too with Louise preferring sleep to food. Cereal with prunes and yoghurt etc and some toast. 

Louise joined at 10ish and we enjoyed and endured the sun. 

That was pretty much it for the morning for Louise but I did another beach walk.

I encountered a crab that was not doing too great. Like the soft idiot I am I spent ages walking to the sea and back so I could cool it down with water.

It seemed to be foaming at the mouth which can’t have been a good thing.

I didn’t do the same long walk as last time, but got a good few steps in before lunch which was at the buffet for a change. We were entertained by the couple next to us arguing over his cheating. He was hilariously untepentent.

I don’t know who I am any more as I thought my salad was delicious. I also had some chicken rice and chips etc. We went crazy and even tried a few desserts but none of them were that good. Just your typical “fun size” buffet desserts.

We spent the afternoon in the quiet pool and ordered a margarita and a chocolate martini around 4.

More lazing till 5.30 and then back for showers and CNN. 

Out at 8 and off to the French place but alas it was closed so went back to the Italian. There was a short wait for a table filled with a drink. 

Mushroom and chicken soup. 

Followed by Pork fillet and Lasagne. 

We wandered to our usual post dinner spot at the piano bar. It was quiet tonight at first so we could secure a comfy couch. It became very busy later with a huge group of young folks.

We attempted to take a selfie conscious that we hardly ever take photos of ourselves. Here’s why.

That was attempt number six before we gave it up as a bad job. Drinks had been had.

We enjoyed the piano and sax player till 12 before retiring to bed. 

Till the next time……

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Twelve May 5th

by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

Louise was not well this morning. It was entirely self inflicted so I left her to it and went down to the beach alone and secured a cabana there.

As I was putting towels on the beds and settling in a French couple were loitering and watching me. It was a bit weird as there were several other cabanas available. After a few minutes they managed to communicate to non French speaking me that they had left two towel pegs on the beds of this cabana and wanted them back. Maybe they thought that had somehow reserved it but I didn’t even see them. Anyway they wandered off and later I saw them lying in one of the many other available cabanas.

Louise came down around 10.30. I had to nip back to the room for reasons I won’t explain. On the way I came across this bad boy near the lift.

I flipped him over hoping to save a life. Whatever it was, it was alive. I’m not sure the size of it comes across in these photos.

We just lazed on the beach having avoided death by insect and then had lunch at 12 at seaside grill. Soup and steak for me. Salad and burrito for Louise. 

Back to the beach. At some point in the afternoon Louise became quite ill and all I will add is that there followed a traumatic restroom experience.

After going in the pool briefly we once again returned to the beach. Louise went back to the room at 4.30 still not feeling great. I stayed till 6 enjoying a beach golden hour and reading. Showers happened and Louise was still not well so we opted for room service and watched Your Friends and Neighbours on Apple TV followed by an early night. 

Till the next time……

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Eleven May 4th

by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

Awake around 8 and I went down to the pool solo to secure a cabana. We tried a different one on the other side of the pool today as it’s important to make every day different on these holidays.

Louise joined not long after. No brekkie today as we weren’t really hungry. Who are we? We then really enjoyed doing nothing all morning apart from a bit of reading. 

Lunch was needed on the stroke of midday at the market cafe. Of the two buffet restaurants here, this one doing breakfast and lunch, it was a much better buffet than the other we tried the other evening. I had a large salad and some nachos. 

After lunch we had to go to the shop again for yet more sun cream and after sun. At this point I think Louise may have been drinking it as we were going through so much of the stuff.

We went back to our cabana and enjoyed the fact that it was very hot. We therefore spent a long time in the pool. 

Nearby, a Brummie guy had started talking to yet another group of loud Americans. The culture clash between UK folks and Americans always amuses me. Many topics were discussed. Eventually they got onto the pandemic and the horrors of having to wear masks. I was eye-rolling so much I almost passed out. I think the quality of the discussion can be summarised by the Brummie guy telling them that he had the “PeeFizer” jab. I found that equally funny and depressing all at the same time. The US folks had brought their own Bluetooth speaker to the quiet pool which was obviously appreciated by everyone who had chosen to go to the quiet pool that day.

We went into the main pool for the last hour for a couple of drinks amidst another huge wedding party who were about eight hours into an unlimited free bar. I know it might sound like I don’t like other people and I’m really unsociable? That couldn’t be closer to the truth.

To the room around 6 and we were ready and out at 8. We returned to the Asian restaurant tonight and on the way walked past a wedding meal/party in full swing.

Spring roll and pork something for starters.

I also went crazy and ordered two California rolls. Louise was not keen so I had all of them.

I did manage to get her to try a large blob of wasabi which prompted a funny reaction and some spitting.

We both had beef stir fry. Tasty but only just warm. 

We wandered to the Piano bar and managed to secure a couch. Prime real estate in piano bar terms but it was pretty empty tonight for some reason. We waited for the music and tonight it was a Sax player at 11.

Home after that and welcome sleep. 

Till the next time…….

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Ten May 3rd

by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

I secured our cabana around 9. I say secured, but there was never any pressure or rush to get beds of any kind which was right up there with my favourite things about this resort.

I bagged a different one today looking for more shade having returned to the room yesterday more pink than I may have liked.

My big toe was at extreme risk here.


I know this looks lovely, and that is because it was.

I had dragged a spare brolly alongside the cabana for extra, extra shade today.

No breakfast as such today. However, we did devour some Pringles instead. During our time round the pool yesterday a member of staff came round surveying guests, asking what they could do to improve our stay. We said it’s be handy to have some cover from the rain on top floor balconies, but didn’t expect them to do that immediately at least. We did mention that at the other Secrets we had been too we loved having snacks in the room and the lady made a note. About an hour later I went back to the room for a bodily function and there were a load of snacks waiting for us. Excellent service.

During the morning I watched some football on my phone and Louise lay in the pool. We ordered a beer each which was soon delivered and then we went for lunch at the Seaside Grill. Chicken burritos and salad for both. Fruit platter to finish.


Back to our beds and some time in the pool. At some point I had a micro nap and generally did very little. I nipped back to the to room for more functions of the body and a maintenance man came to fix a broken bath plug I had reported via the app a few hours earlier. Turns out it wasn’t broken and we are idiots who cannot operate basic applicanes.

Some loud Americans came to play volleyball, loudly, in the quiet pool. They were very loud with one especially vocal person sounding just like a loud Seth Rogen. Did I mention that they were loud.

Up to room at 5.45, readied and out at 7.30. We tried did the other Italian tonight. Chicken soup for me caprese salad for Louise.

Steak and Lasagne which were both decent.

The Piano bar was far too busy so went to lobby bar for one drink and then to the amphitheatre for the Rock show. To bed after that as we, well mainly I, are massive lightweights.

Till the next time……

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Nine May 2nd

by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

I was awake around 8. I readied and went down to get a cabana, and I was sulking about huge weight gains. You will know that over the years my weight has often featured in all my posts. Having been a very fat kid, there is no doubt some deep lying psychological damage at play, and when I do manage to shift a few pounds, I do get very tetchy when my body betrays me and adds some pounds back after eating and drinking shite.

One of the things I really appreciated about both Secrets resorts so far was the fact that they had scales in the bathroom. I know that sounds counter intuitive but believe me, my mind will convince itself that I have gained thirteen stone in a daaaaayyy, and then usually when I get home I find it’s nowhere as bad as I thought, and I could have enjoyed myself a lot more.

So being able to keep a daily eye on things was a good thing for me. Apart from today when for some reason several pounds had come from nowhere and I had a cob on. They would come off again and go on again a few times during the trip with me returning home just a couple up on my pre departure fighting weight. However, today I was still in a mood about it.

So I had no breakfast and instead went for a huge walk around 11.20 all the way to the end of the bay.

It was a hell of a walk taking about an hour each way.

To put it in context, that tip of land you can see out to sea is our resort.

I was a big ball of sweat when I got as far as I was going to walk. So I stripped down to my shorts and went for a welcome dip in the sea.

I could have carried on this way….

But I turned for home, noticing a brand new resort being built at this end of the cove.

Once I got back to our resort I had clocked 7.5k in total. What do you mean I have a mild eating disorder?

We immediately went for lunch at the Seaside Grill. Chicken Burrito starters (oddly with chips) and a Cuban sandwich for both of us. Very good and filling.


After lunch there was lots of resting and reading. At around 4.30 we went into the main pool and its bar, for drinks. We watched some volleyball taking place on the beach and then returned to our cabana.

There was more golden hour action as we watched sun go down behind one of the hotel buildings.

Once the sun had left us we went back to our room at 6.15. We watched a couple of weddings from our balcony.

We didn’t make it out till after 8. Tonight we were going to give the buffet a try at the World Café. Whilst everything was fine, this was not a standout meal of the trip. It was a little but “buffet slop” of the kind that had for years put us off all inclusive trips.


It was all freshly made and of decent quality but just not “five star”.

I do take full responsibility for my very poor plate presentation skills here which does not reflect the food in the best light!

We ended the night in the piano bar after waiting for a seat as it was very busy tonight. We felt sorry for the poor piano player. There were far too many people with main character syndrome who would not leave him alone to perform and constantly badgered him to let them join in etc. In the end he hardly got to play but to his credit he didn’t glass anyone. We left, frustrated at having to listen to amateurs murder some classics. Bed at midnight.

Till the next time……

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Eight May 1st

by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

Day Eight already? This is flying by…..right?

We slept in till 8 before I ventured out to the pool and secured a cabana at the quiet pool and when Louise arrived shortly after that we went for coffee, cake and melon at coffee shop.

I had by this time acquired a new friend. There was a chap on pool cleaning duty pretty much all day and for a couple of days now as I was typically the first to arrive at the pool he would insist on helping me with the arduous task of laying out the towels on the beds. He would also bring us a couple of lilo things to use in the pool. As I am too polite for my own good I had tipped him each time, just a couple of dollars but now we were on hand shake and fist bumping terms and we were having awkward conversations using hand signals and Spanglish as neither of us spoke the same language.

All this would end in us being Facebook friends which wasn’t weird at all.

My oral situation continued to improve I am glad to say and normality was within touching distance which was a relief I cannot describe the scale of.

After breakfast we went to the shops for yet more sun cream. We still had some left but as often happens Louise decided the same sun cream we’ve used for a few decades was now causing her some issue, this time prickly heat, and she needed a different brand. We secured some at some eye watering profit margin for the shop.

We then did very little else other than read and rest. 

Lunch at the Seaside Grill again. We both had the soup and burgers. 

As boring as it looks that burger was delicious.

The afternoon was blissfully uneventful. I can’t tell you how much I was enjoying doing nothing.

With no rain today, we stayed out till 6 enjoying that lovely end of day golden hour that is always a highlight of these kind of trips.

We were ready, hungry and out to 1844 for dinner, which was one of the two Dominican restaurants. Sadly this would be our worst meal yet.

Empanadas, salad and steak for Louise. Empanadas soup and steak for me. We went crazy and ordered a dessert and it was without doubt the worst bread and butter pudding of all time. 

To the lobby bar afterwards for a drink.

At the risk of reinforcing offensive stereotypes there was a large red neck wedding party there celebrating the upcoming nuptials of Mary Sue and Bobby Lee (probably not their real names) and we watched with sadness how badly there were treating the bar staff. No manners, no tips and there was no need for it.

We wandered to the piano bar for the 11pm set and did our usual people watching. 

We made it to midnight before heading home to bed.

Till the next time…..

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Seven April 30th

by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

Louise slept in this morning mainly due to too much piriton for too much prickly heat. I went to breakfast alone at the market street buffet. Cereal and fruit were an attempt to be healthier and for the laxative nature. Things needed to change. I can confirm prunes live up to their reputation.

To the beach and I secured a cabana there. I read and scrolled until Louise came down about ten. 

We lazed for some time and had a naughty morning Margarita. I went to order nachos and pizza for lunch which was becoming a habit. There was a buffet on by the pool but we stuck with our usual.

Rain had been threatening all day and as we awaited its inevitable arrival we watched a game of volleyball which resulted in one chap suffering an injury. 

It looked like he rolled his ankle and he limped off in search of medical attention.

I went for another walk up the beach around 2pm and despite not going very far I felt knackered afterwards.

Rain was imminent so we went back to the room around 3.30 and sat on our balcony for an hour. 

The rain started as we got ready and it was torrential all night. When we were ready we ordered a golf cart to take us to Bordeaux, the restaurant not the region in France. It would be our best meal yet despite it being as cold as hell in there.

Quiche, onion soup and steak for us both. Very nice. 

We even managed to share a dessert.

Over at the piano bar we found an excellent sax player but he finished at 8.30. It was very busy tonight and we did lots of people watching and drinking.

The piano player came on at 11. 8 and 11 felt like odd timings for the live entertainment.

We walked back to the room as thankfully the rain had stopped. Bed at 11.30. 

Till the next time…..

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Six April 29th

by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026, Uncategorized

For those worried about my oral situation, things were starting to improve and my gum was starting to look a little less space hopper and the pain was only like routine child birth. An improvement on just a couple of days ago.

Forty years of getting up for work once again forced my body into waking up at an hour I did not appreciate but I used it to wander out to secure some breakfast from the coffee shop and then a cabana by the quiet pool.

This is the coffee shop and it was an upsetting 7.29am.

The early hour did mean I had my choice of all the cabanas. There was absolutely no sun bed reserving at this resort. We were glad as that is one of my pet hates that has put us off “non WDW” holidays for years.

By 9.25 the early morning cloud was clearing nicely and the relentless sun would char our bodies for most of the day.

At 10.30 I went for a walk up the beach.

My need to “earn” calories does not take a holiday.

Today I had turned left to see what lay in the other direction and it was a little more populated, with a large mainly French resort not too far away and then lots of very interesting little coves.

At times the terrain got a little too “natural” for my liking and all I could imagine were the headlines of “Fat Northern Bloke Dies Due to Stupidity on Nice Beach”.

So I headed back to safety.

See, lots of nature and danger…..

No idea what was going on here….

I was ready for lunch on my return to so I ordered some stuff from the same café/grill as yesterday, and a kind man brought it to our cabana.

Breaking every rule in the book, we went in the pool immediately after eating, but fear not, there was no swimming, just too much Tequila. By too much, I mean one. We did also have two Margaritas though so that exceeded my alcohol intake in one day for the about the past thirty years.

We saw that there was rain forecast from around 3pm, so we left the pool just before that and went to sit on the balcony until it arrived.

It was 4.30 before it finally did so we went inside then and started to get ready. It was raining when we set off for food, armed with umbrellas, but a nice man in a golf cart drove by and stopped to pick us up. He dropped us off outside our restaurant.

Dominican tonight….

I had some slightly odd crisp bread with Avocado mousse to start….

Louise’s Ricotta Balls persisted….

We were hungry so also had a soup each before my main which was Chicken and Rice…

and Beef Tenderloin for Louise.

This was one of our better meals of the trip.

We got a comfy couch in the piano bar and listened to a piano and violin duo for a bit who were somewhere over there.

We gave up after one drink and went to bed after another tiring day.

Till the next time…….

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Five April 28th

by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

Normality was returning to our sleep patterns and we slept till a reasonable hour before heading to the coffee shop for a pastry and latte for breakfast.

We based ourselves at the quiet pool, snagging a very comfortable cabana. These were free, extremely comfy and from this point on we made sure we got ourselves one whenever possible.

It looks a little cloudy there but it was mighty hot and we enjoyed the hotness until lunchtime by not doing very much at all. My tolerance for doing absolutely nothing was unmatched on this trip. A welcome antidote to the chaos of working life I think.

For lunch we ordered Nachos and Pizza from the small café by the pool and it was delivered to our cabana at the exact moment the impending rain that had been threatening for an hour or so also arrived. Demonstrating our commitment to food we sat on our cabana, under two umbrellas, onboarding our lunch. We quickly became waterlogged and realising it wasn’t about to stop I went into the nearby (very) hot tub to avoid the cool rain. The food was very tasty but not captured on film due to the wet nature of our surroundings at this time.

Once I had warmed up, we took our dampness and brollies back to the room. We showered and relaxed in the room watching the King’s visit to the US on CNN.

The rain stopped at around 4pm so we got dressed and went for a wander around the resort. We had a couple of games of pool on the least flat pool table in the world, which made things interesting to say the least before heading up to the lobby bar for a couple of drinks and chat with Emily back home. I lost the first game as the black ball fell into a pocket it should have been nowhere near had the table even been close to being flat. No, I am NOT a bad loser.

Some idiot got us Tequila shots which resulted in about three days in hospital for me. I am not a big drinker and I struggle to understand how folks do shots on purpose and enjoy them.

It was nice to just sit on a comfy couch in a perfect temperature and not have to be anywhere or do anything. We walked back to the toom to get changed for dinner and we were off to Portofino, an Italian, at 7.30.

I had soup….

and pasta…

Louise had Ricotta Balls….which can be painful if left untreated….

and Cannelloni.

The food was decent but not earth shattering. We watched the band in the Town Square thing very briefly before heading to the Piano Bar. The entertainment there had finished for the evening, or at least the early spot had and frankly we were too tired to wait for the 11pm spot, so we went to bed around 10.30 after potentially the most uneventful day anyone has had ever. Luckily, you get to read about it here.

Till the next time….

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Four April 27th

by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026, Uncategorized

For those wondering/caring about the sponsor of this trip, today is when it may make some sense. But first, we were awake earlier than is normal and we still hadn’t fully adjusted to this new time zone. We made best use of the time by heading for a buffet breakfast again, but to be fair I had mainly fruit today. I did enjoy how the honey on offer was literally dripping from a honeycomb. Nice touch.

I had for the last few days been troubled by some pain in my gum. For those who inflict all my posts on themselves you will know that just before we went away I had to go to the dentist for some work to reconstruct some tooth that I lost (getting old is crap). At the back of my mind I did hope that this would not lead to a similar issue that I had on a previous holiday after flying. On that occasion it was the flight home that caused an infection/abscess in my gum. It does seem that if you have folks messing with your teeth before flying it does leave you open to these risks.

I was doing the natural thing of hoping it would all go away by itself and ignoring the pain for now, horrified at the thought of having to find some kind of treatment whilst away.

To distract me further Louise dragged me to the shops and she purchased a pair of orange flip flops. This was understandable as this was a clear gap in her meagre holiday shoe collection back in the room.

Anyway, we headed to the beach today knowing that there was some rain forecast for later.

When the clock struck a reasonable time we ordered a cocktail. A couple of Miami Vices.

I had a brief dip in a very rough sea, perhaps a sign of the incoming weather and after that we Facetimed Rebecca back home.

The rain came at 12.30 and we timed it perfectly at the sign of the first drop to be walking into the Seaside grill just as it lashed it down.

One thing we did notice on this trip, compared to our other “Secrets” experience was the language barrier seemed to be more of an issue. Of course, speaking no other language than English (aside from being able to fluently order Black Forest Gateaux in German) this was not a complaint, but more of an explanation of how I ordered soup but ended up with Cerviche.

I was not 100% certain what that was but suspected it was fish. Indeed it was and maybe even raw fish but in the spirit of he who dares wins I ate it anyway and it was fine. I won’t be rushing to have it again, but it was an experience.

Louise just had two starters and I had a Cuban Sandwich after my fish. That was delicious.

The rain was heavy and persistent so we took our time finishing our meal.

We left the restaurant around 2pm and walked back to the toom under brollies. We then sat out on our balcony under those same brollies bemoaning whoever decided not to put a roof on the balconies on the top floor.

Once the rain cleared we headed down to the pool.

At this point my gum was becoming a real problem.

We changed for dinner and left the room at 7.30. I went to reception to change some larger dollar bills into ones and fives for tipping and headed to Castaways, the steak restaurant. In hindsight perhaps not the best choice for someone who was dentally challenged.

We had to wait for a table with a drink during which time we got messages from Emily back home that she was hearing noises in the house and the dogs were spooked. We Facetimed with her and it seemed the noises were sounding like coming from the roof which was odd. Once she felt reassured and I’d messaged two sleeping neighbours to keep an eye out she felt a little better and tried to go back to sleep. Is there anything worse than getting a call from one of your kids who is scared and you’re thousands of miles away and can’t directly help? We went to eat.

We were a little distracted during the meal but we had a salad and Grilled Provolone.

We both then had a New York Strip. We did wonder if there was some kind of potato famine on the island as they were in very short supply both on the menus and on the plate throughtout the trip.

The food was fine but the service not the best but to be honest at this point my gum was the only thing on my mind. We started to watch one of the shows on tonight but I had to admit defeat at this point and go in search of medical assistance. We went back to the room and I called the front desk who immediately despatched a golf cart to pick me up.

It was there in about two minutes and I was whisked to the on site doctor and seen immediately. She was around 14 years old and after a few questions and credit card swipes issued me with lots of drugs, but most importantly the sweet, sweet Amoxicillin that would be the best purchase I had made in quite some time.

I walked back to the room, took a lot of drugs and went to sleep.

Till the next time…..

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Three April 26th

by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

With all that sleep under our belts we were in good shape to make it to all three meals today. We were awake at 5.30 having slept for almost twelve hours. We took our time getting up and ready and headed in the direction of the Market Cafe for a buffet breakfast after making sure the view was still there.

We did that thing of sitting at our allocated table for about half a second before then getting up and aiming for the food.

There was a huge range of options from the alcoholic, to the healthy….

To the downright unhealthy….

I ended up with this very varied collection of stuff.

It was all very nice but a phrase once coined by Peter Kay sprung to mind….

“Has tha’ nowt moist?”

It was crying out for some beans, or anything to give it a little moisture.

After breakfast we inexplicably had to go shopping and as you’ll appreciate the shops on site would absolutely not be price gouging as you had nowhere else to go.

We needed a hat for Louise as she had burned her head yesterday and some washing powder as Louise had failed to pack me sufficient unmentionables. If she’s not careful I will be forced to do my own packing in future.

Many dollars lighter (although the packet of washing powder was oddly just one dollar!) we headed back towards the pools.

This would be our spot today, next to the main Jacuzzi that we never went in.

We did absolutely nothing all morning other than look at that sky.

Having had a large breakfast neither of us needed lunch but we did venture into the main pool and got a drink from the swim up bar.

I had a rum and coke which gave me heartburn. I am so Rock n Roll it’s scary.

Even with her newly acquired very expensive hat, Louise was still finding the intense sun was burning her head so she doubled up and used the cardboard thing that came in her hat for added protection.

In the afternoon, probably at the very hottest part of the day we decided to go for a walk up the beach.

Once we walked past the edge of our resort it was completely untouched and unspoilt.

But we had no idea what this was/is….

We walked for about thirty minutes before turning back, so we were both balls of sweat when we got back to our sunbeds after that hour. We had a shower and then a swim to cool off.

We headed up to the room around 5pm and actually made it out of the room again at 7.30.

We were to eat at Meraki tonight which was billed as the Mediterranean restaurant. We were expecting Mezze and all that jazz but the menu was a weird mix of all kinds of stuff.

Spring rolls and soup for starters, I had the soup

I had steak which was enormous and quite teasty.

Louise had Chicken Tikka Masala which wasn’t the best.

We stopped at the piano bar for a drink before heading to the Amphitheatre for tonight’s Rock Show.

The highlight of the show were a couple beyond drunk desperately trying to be in the show and at one point the wife was literally lap dancing for random audience members with tomorrow’s washing on display. The husband had an uncanny look of Timmy Mallett and that would be how we would know them for the rest of the holiday when we saw them each evening. Despite being in their forties he dressed like Justin Bieber and she mostly didn’t seem to like to wear clothes at all.

If this video avoids a copyright infringement, you may be able to see them here. It does not really do justice to how drunk they were.

After the show we strolled back to the room and we were in bed by 10.30.

Till the next time…..

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Two April 25th

by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

Regardless of location there is always something very special about the first day of a holiday. It’s the promise of the adventure ahead, the hopefully long break from normality and the fact that all the clothes you brought with you still fit, which may not be the case at the end of the trip.

Having said that, waking up at 3am is never a welcome thing but after a wee, and noticing that the room had some hidden magic, where when your feet hit the floor out of bed, some soft lighting comes on in the bathroom I did manage to get back off again until 6. We watched the sunrise over the ocean from our balcony and Louise finished her unpacking.

We were ready and out by 7.30 and headed for breakfast. Whilst the Dominican Republic would not compete with Mexico for wildlife, we did spot this fella on the way.

Breakfast was just a coffee and a pastry from the coffee shop, both still full from the usual 10,000 calorie travel day yeterday.

We headed to the beach and set up camp before having a wander on the surreally beautiful shoreline. This was easily the most incredible beach we had ever seen.

After that exhausting few minutes of walking we returned to our sunbeds for a well deserved rest. We called my Mum back home and then had a wander up to the pool just in time for the bar to open and our first cocktail of the holiday at 10am. I had a Miami Vice and Louise had a Paloma. I couldn’t tell you what was in either but they were incredibly sweet and lovely.

After more beach, we set off in search of lunch around midday. We opted for The Seaside Grill as it was closest.

I started with the salad….

Louise started with Nachos and wet knockers (wet swimsuit!!)….

We both had the burger, which I had already started by the time I remembered the photo….

Breaking every rule in the book, we went for a swim in the sea immediately after lunch and then we spent an hour up by one of the pools. Louise realised she had failed massively by forgetting to bring any After Sun. We had words as all she had to do was iron and pack everything for both of us and I knew buying some here would break the bank.

$21 lighter and with a massive sulk on we went back to the room around 5pm. I showered and Louise had a bath. We were delighted to see that this Secrets also had the in room TV channel that we had loved in Mexico. It’s hard to explain what it is other than a rolling film of “zen” type images and noises. You had to be there.

We were both absolutely knackered so we decided we’d have a nap for an hour before dinner. I briefly woke at 10.40pm, had a wee and went back to sleep until 5am! I did say were were tired.

So no dinner tonight and I have submitted my clam for a refund of course.

I apologise for this truncated first day but our need for sleep was too great. It had been a very busy and stressful time at work (you know I’ve moaned about it constantly) but tomorrow we reap the benefits.

Till the next time…….

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day One April 24th

by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

Welcome to day one, part one of our financially irresponsible double trip year to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. Sure, I know I don’t look old enough, but somehow here we are.

After a false start involving Mexico, cartels and some stressful rearranging , we found ourselves waking up today bound for the Dominican Republic for the first time. Louise told me that she was awake at 2am. I only woke up at 4am when a video she clicked on her phone played at full blast. That saved me the trouble of switching off my alarm an hour later at 5am, when I actually needed to be awake. I did try to get back to sleep only for Louise to do the same thing again about ten minutes later.

Defeated, I rose, attended to dog’s toilet needs and showered. Once dressed the packing was completed and we left around 6.10am after saying goodbye to Emily and the dogs. The cats did not require one.

The traffic was pleasing and we pulled into our parking at 7am, which again was nice and quiet. Premium check in/bag drop with Tui was deserted too and being special Premium people we also got a free go on the security fast track lane. All in all a very quick and painless start to the day.

Terminal 2 at Manchester is undergoing some major changes so the layout is all different with lots of construction walls up hiding stuff so we were a little disorientated but our noses led us to the lounge soon enough. That for some reason was very busy, mainly it seemed with people who had not pre-booked and were waiting in line only to be turned away. Our pre-booked asses were waved through quickly and I was soon at the buffet.

Juice, coffee and a plate of the breakfast stuff followed and once we’d lined out stomachs, the drinking began (and ended for me).

We did some shop wandering and smelled very nice after it. There was a stop at Boots and then Starbucks before the long walk down to gate A6.

Our Premium specialness saw us board early and being a nervous flyer Louise picked up that the song playing in the cabin as we sat down included the lyrics, “Kiss me like we die tonight”. Still better than Jess Glynne but an odd choice.

The Prosecco/Juice was not offered until we were airborne, and that was quickly followed by the drinks service and some crisps. Once the meal arrived (I had buttered chicken) I watched a Robert De Niro gangster film. I know that doesn’t narrow it down too much but I can’t remember the title.

I did try to have a sleep and I think dozed for a bit. Next thing I knew more drinks were being offered and we had three hours to go (of the 8 and a half in total).

I watched another film, Black Bag, which again was decent. When that ended we were pretty much starting our descent. Somewhere in the Premium cabin, someone was whistling. Not constantly, just the odd little phrase of music every now and again. After about forty minutes of this, Louise was ready to eject them from the plane. To be fair everyone was getting annoyed with it, even the crew, and we did eventually spot who was doing it. A bloke sat with his headphones on, a bit worse for wear and thankfully he stopped before anyone had to be arrested.

There was a bus from plane to terminal.

We waited in a ten minute queue to get through the passport bit and then much, much longer for the bags to start arriving.

I’m sure it was just tiredness, but I too then wanted to commit acts of harm to a young chap who wandered right in front of all of us stood behind the yellow safety line at the carousel to position himself in front of us all, despite us being there for about twenty minutes. I really dislike people an alarming amount of the time.

Once we had the bags we survived the Hunger Games of getting from the terminal to our coach whilst being hunted by hundreds of locals trying to wheel our cases for us. I managed it all the way to the back of the van, where I handed my cases to what I thought was our driver, only to find I then owed some random guy a tip for lifting my two cases into the van. Two dollars lighter I got onto the minivan and we waited about twenty minutes for the eight other people to do the same and then we set off.

It was a long 90 minute journey. Once we arrived, check in was smooth. I did fall for the upgrade spiel, being offered a “very special” discount due it being our anniversary for a premium room over looking the ocean. In all such deals I will of course have been the loser but, wait for the view, for the few quid a day extra we felt it was worth it.

We were then golf carted over to our room.

And here is the view I teased….

And the view from the side of the balcony back towards reception.

Some of the room itself….

We unpacked, showered and headed out for food.

We wandered to the Asian restaurant, having enjoyed that the most at the other Secrets we went to in Mexico last year. By the way, this resort is the Secrets Esmerelda Playa.

We both started with Spring Rolls.

I had Shrimp Pad Thai.

Louise, Sweet and Sour Chicken.

Too full for desserts we paid (oh no, we didn’t need to!), and strolled to the Lobby for a night cap.

It was 9pm local time, so 2am in the UK meaning we’d been awake for 22 and 24 hours respectively. Sleep came easily.

Till the next time……

The Whole Tooths

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon

Despite the chaos and unending drama around the world, with just a few days to go before we are due to fly, it does seem that we may be able to go on holiday. This is good news. Today was the official “get the cases out” day and we have a spare bedroom filled with clothes in varying stages of ironed-ness and over the coming days the packing fairies will place them into my case ready for the off on Friday.

I have been to the Post Office and ordered some dollars for tipping, with everything in low denominations as I am notoriously cheap and will not be tipping anyone in tens and twenties. We are all inclusive after all. I can pick those up on Wednesday if all goes to plan.

I am both relieved and terrified to be stepping away from work for two weeks. I am desperately in need of some time away from Teams and the daily drama and chaos of my current working life, but I am equally terrified of the plates and balls that will get dropped without me constantly fretting about them on a minute by minute basis.

What narcissism to think that I am that vital to anything.

I have been ordering the seemingly endless pet supplies that Emily will need for the time we are away. It is only at times like that that I fully understand the huge financial drain these furry shits are. I refer mostly to the cats of course.

Speaking of furry shits (and no I do not have a rare stomach condition with those symptoms) poor Bean has had a bit of a week. We’ve been battling tooth and gum issues with her for a long while but it came to a head last week and we had to admit defeat and get her to the vets for some intervention. It was clear that things were not getting better and we did not want her suffering, especially when we are away.

To cut a long story short, as expected she needed an operation to remove the offending teeth that were causing all the issues, pain and smells. Bless her, she had thirteen teeth out in total and has of course been drowsy and recovering all week. Getting her painkillers down her when she is not that keen to eat right now has been a challenge but already we can smell an immediate improvement in her breath and I’m sure she will be better for it in the long term. On that note, and you knew I couldn’t resist moaning about the costs, she now needs to live for another couple decades to make that financial investment in her well being worthwhile.

With Bean out of the house for a full day for her op and then for a good few hours on other days for check ups, we have also suffered at the hands and paws of Woody who has revealed just how much he relies on Bean for emotional support! He cried the entire time she was out, either because he was missing her or assumed she’d gone on some fun adventure without him. If he only knew how much better off he was ruining my Teams calls with his non stop moaning.

Pre op

Immediately Post OP

She looks more like herself now of course with the drugs out of her system, but bless her.

In other tooth news, in a not uncommon bit of play fighting this week, Tom suffered his own dental drama. With the rough housing getting a little too extreme, Freddie accidentally connected foot to tooth and now Tom has an appointment at the dentist tomorrow to see what can be done. Boys will be boys!

All this makes my dental visit last Monday seem pretty calm, despite me having a filling without an injection. It is common knowledge that I have a real fear of dental procedures but I trusted the dentist who assured me all would be well and it was surprisingly pain free and she sorted my own chipped tooth issue out brilliantly. So in the dental wars of this week I feel like I have been the winner.

Four days of work chaos to go and then we fly…..I cannot wait.

Till the next time…….

Fuel Me Once….

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon

Just a brief one today as we’ve been busy Eastering with the family.

I don’t know if my social media algorithm just likes to mess with me but all I’m seeing are posts from people talking about jet fuel shortages putting holidays at risk.

I know, as ever, there are bigger issues but I am so tired of this constant uncertainty around hard earned holidays. Ever since the carnage of Covid it seems there is always something to take away from your pre holiday countdown excitement. It seems in recent years until you are leaving the tarmac and heading for the clouds you cannot be sure of anything. I long for the days when the world seemed calmer, more predictable and allowed folks to book a trip and be relatively sure it’ll go ahead.

We leave on April 24th and all the doom mongers online seem to be talking about summer holidays being at risk but that does little to reduce my worries and resentment of the one man root cause of all this.

September’s trip is a whole other ball game. We are way too far out to even guess at the state of play at that stage. That’s just a case of assuming we are going for now and reassess in August.

So here we are with another angst ridden post about an upcoming holiday and some goon in power somewhere doing stuff to detract from my ability to look forward to it. Sigh.

Anyway I hope your Easter’s have been lovely. Mine consisted of a gig last night in a very windy Wales (some nice pics below) and today lunch out with Rebecca, Tom and the boys and then a walk with dogs and boys up on the field before they consumed a record breaking amount of Easter related sugar.

I’m looking forward to a better Monday than most tomorrow and I’ll leave you with some professional pictures we got from our latest Pink gig.

Till the next time……

I Got The Music Adjacent To Me

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Uncategorized

I didn’t post last week as we had the boys staying with us so time for other stuff was short.

Honestly my weeks are just a blur of travel, hotels and a varying degrees of crisis management so there isn’t a great deal to document anyway. Next week looks similar but I am having a week off the work related travel the week after as it’s just getting silly now.

I know that usually the core content of these posts has traditionally been Disney holiday related but even with one theoretically in the barrel for September my desire to plan is low as I don’t trust the US to behave itself sufficiently to make that trip a reality. I suppose once we get our other trip out of the way and we get into the warmer summer months assuming there isn’t a world war, civil war or global economic apocalypse then I can get my head in the game.

So whilst I can’t share any WDW specific content I can try to hide the content vacuum by posting some stuff I’ve been up to in my other hobby in the hope that nobody notices that I’m posting about nothing.

Many weeks ago in one of my posts I mentioned that I’d been filming a new promo video for one of the bands I’m in and I threatened to share that once complete. It’s taken much longer than it should but that video for the Pink tribute is below alongside another less produced and polished video shot by our singer Emily at a recent wedding with Mustard.

Enjoy/endure at your leisure.

Till the next time….

Cuban Feels

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Uncategorized

If this orange turd starts something in Cuba next I will impotently scream into the void and end up booking a holiday in a dark room on some bleak industrial estate in the UK.

Yep the Dominican Republic is literally next door to Cuba and I am, as I’m sure he intended, exhausted by this constant stream of horror and distraction. With some of his mouthpieces starting to mention Cuba being next, I am worried that there will nowhere safe to holiday oh and yes we will all die in a nuclear holocaust. Hopefully this ridiculous nightmare ends soon in some way for the benefit of the entire planet.

As ever, me pissing and moaning about a holiday while folks are dying in a war is ridiculous but there’s nothing new there.

I, like most of the world, am just looking for some boring normality rather than wondering how far this lard bucket is willing to go to prevent his jail term.

Anyway….

Last night Mustard played a lovely wedding in poshest Cheshire.

Some weddings can be a bit of a slog if the guests aren’t there for a party and more of a chat but last night was the opposite. We had a packed dance floor all night and it makes such a difference.

It was a late night/early morning so today will be a quiet one. Louise is working so it’ll be a visit to my Mum for Mother’s Day, a dog walk should it ever stop raining and then a bit of football (watching) before I settle down to dread the impending Monday as God intended.

I am London bound again next week and that’s always something to look forward to. 🙄.

Till the next time……