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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This week’s title is homage to the only response possible when someone asks how your Christmas was. Well, maybe that’s just me, as our festivities are typically quiet and uneventful and by the time I meet any human beings again post xmas I am in no mental state to be having actual conversations whilst also dealing with the existential crisis of returning to work.
To be fair, our festive period was exactly as described, with just the four of us on the day itself, (Me, Emily, my Mum and Louise once she finished work), and I’ll be honest, the majority of hours of my xmas day were spent cooking things. But the meal was nice, despite feeling so full I might die within minutes of starting to eat, due in no small part to deciding upon the wrong starter. A whole baked camembert with bread each was perhaps not the smartest choice with a turkey dinner to follow.
The gifting theme this year was driven by Louise finding these things online. So my Mum, Emily and Mikey and Rebecca, Tom and the boys all got one of these.
Boxing Day saw the boys visit us for their round two of present opening and a Carrs pasty bonanza for tea (if you’re from Bolton, you’ll know). That was Louise’s one day off as she returned to work again on Saturday to continue her less than festive “break”. I just felt quite pleased to recognise that it was actually Saturday. There was a bin collection on the same day that had it not been for the kindness of our neighbour I would have completely missed. It was the cardboard bin too, so that would have been a disastrous post Christmas omission.
I’ve done a few decent dog walks and generally just loved not being on a Teams call for a percentage of my life I never thought possible. For as long as it lasts I intend to savour every non working moment.
Last night, we mopped up some of the remaining Stranger Things episodes whilst eating leftovers from our Christmas meal in a more peaceful house than normal as Woody is with Emily over in Liverpool. It’s amazing how much calmer the house is with just the one dog around! He likes his Liverpool weekend getaways as he gets (more) spoiled over there.
Typically, during my festive holidays my thoughts would turn to planning our inevitable WDW trip the next year, but there isn’t a great deal to do in all honesty. We are a long way from ADR territory and those dining choices are the only things that should take any real thought and those will determine and fit in with what parks we may do on each day.
If anyone has any suggestions for eateries we do always like to fit a couple of newbies in amongst the greatest hits.
Before that, we hope to get away to Mexico in April. I can’t wait to go back for all kinds of reasons but right now I am just so sick of being cold and almost always wet.
As I am now risking sending you all (both) to sleep I shall return to my Twixmas hinterland to do as much nothing as possible.
Hello again. Turns out I’ve had, and needed, a little break from the weekly blogging so apologies to anyone….anyone??? who missed these on the last few Sundays. It wasn’t really planned and just happened but it was very much required and unavoidable.
I return today unable to promise a weekly delivery but for now, mainly as I’m off work until the new year, we blog again.
Over the years I know I have regularly moaned about work being busy, but I was a young naïve fool, as only now do I feel justified in claiming that. In the late summer I was asked to take on some new responsibilities at work as well as my real job and it’s been carnage ever since. It’s involved some travel too with visits in recent weeks to London (a few times), Southampton, Birmingham, Leeds and of course our Manchester office which, with the commute as it, is qualifying as a trip all on its own.
I can’t say I am deliriously happy at work, but that’s not really related to the silly levels of busy, but more the over arching landscape since a new boss and some changes came around during this last year. Everything will pass I guess and when you’ve been there as long as I have, these Johnny come latelys don’t seem to stick around for the long haul so hopefully this is a temporary thing as I could do without having to find another job at my time of life.
So that work stuff meant that for the last few months I really haven’t had a minute to think about much else, and the prospect of sitting back at the laptop at the weekend to write this nonsense did not appeal. I’ve already been spending good chunks of evenings and weekends either working or travelling for work so I decided to not spend whatever free time I did have typing these posts for a bit.
How’s everyone doing? Well, Louise keeps on nursing despite not really wanting to, Emily still works with me and Rebecca, Tom and the boys are all good, with Rebecca now working part time in a local nursery.
Yesterday we went to see my Mum to commemorate what would have been her and my Dad’s 67th wedding anniversary had he still been with us. She’s doing well, is fit and healthy for someone in their mid 80s and she’ll be joining us for Christmas Day next week. Louise is once again working on the day itself and for a lot of the festive period, such is the life of a Community Nurse and she tends to volunteer to do/get stuck with Christmas Day as many of her colleagues still have young children and they want to be there for the big present unwrap.
Both of my readers may have been wondering if we have any holiday plans for 2026. Well, next year is a significant anniversary for Louise and I, as we will hit 30 years of marriage, so we are hoping to gift each other not one, but two holidays, if funds allow.
We have hopes of a return to Mexico and Secrets Akumal in April. We’ve paid a low deposit to secure our dates and have to decide by February if we’re going. It ain’t cheap so we’ll make a call then as to whether it is wise to once again blow all our available funds on overseas travel rather than more sensible uses. Our house continues to conspire against us financially so we’ll see what major bills hit between now and then before inevitable saying sod it we’re going anyway.
However, our main trip next year is a, perhaps surprisingly a Disney one.
In September we have booked to return to Florida, this time with Emily and her boyfriend. It’ll be an off-site affair in our usual villa, flying with Virgin and that’s about all we know at this point. Our boycott of the US was not an easy thing to lift, but after Emily went last year and found that inside the WDW bubble all was well, we decided we didn’t want the orange turd dictating our holiday plans for the next three years so we’re going despite our strong objections to current events over there.
So let’s see how long I can keep this blogging up, and I’d like to as I do like to look back on these things many years later, and to do that, I suppose I have to write them first!
The day of the journey home is the most polar opposite thing to the outgoing travel day possible. It’s grim.
We packed, which involved having to get a security guy in to sort our safe. We’d accidentally left it open yesterday so the staff had locked it and we needed someone to come and open it for us.
With that out of the way we spent an hour in our pool. It was lovely having the swim up pool but in truth we didn’t get as much use of it as we should have.
It made such a difference not having to be out of the room until 12. We could also just leave our suitcases in the room for someone to take to the taxi pick up point. We said our thanks and goodbyes to the Concierge for our building and headed off for some lunch.
We were gutted to see the buffet place didn’t open till 12.30. After a few minutes outside in our travel clothes we had to find a spot inside as it was just too hot.
We had buffet bits for lunch.
We then headed to the lobby for our taxi.
The taxi arrived on time and it was a 90 minute drive with a very chatty driver.
We were mildly disappointed to discover there was no Premium lounge in terminal 2 for TUI. I have never written a more first world problems sentence in my life.
We weren’t hungry but to get a seat and drink we went into TGI’s for chips and guacamole.
To the gate area and we got a Starbucks for Louise. She has a well developed addiction and had been missing them all holiday.
We browsed some shops until boarding late as ever.
An uneventful flight back into drab familiarity of Manchester.
So there we have it. Thanks for bearing with this trip as I have literally phoned it in. My notes were made on my phone and I’ve just copied those here with a bit of tidying and added photos from my phone. So it hasn’t had the diligence and effort of a Florida trip and I’m sure it has showed.
If you were in any doubt, we adored this resort and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting that adult only five star experience. The service is exceptional and crucially for us the food was not what can sometimes be all you can eat all inclusive “slop”. We will definitely return and we are planning to do so next year.
We’ve struggled for years to find somewhere outside of the US that we could trust to give us what we were looking for and I’m really glad we gave it and another country a chance.
Thanks again for you hardcore persisters. It’s always been appreciated.
We were up and out at 9 heading for our Coffee and pastry when we saw one of our friends.
After eating we wandered to the beach and were glad to see our favourite beds were free.
I have to admit to feeling quite sad about the impending end of this holiday.
Got some sun for a change and then once again we shared a club sandwich.
I spent a while reading and wondering how I could avoid a return to work. With that in mind I tried to buy some Euromillions tickets but couldn’t as I was overseas so I messaged Emily back home and had her do it. I’ll let you guess if we won or not.
We went in the pool for a while. I had a White Russian who was quite OK with it and Louise had a margarita.
More sun back at the beach. We left at at 5.15 taking lots of pictures laced with melancholy.
We were in building 8 which we felt was ideally placed for pretty much everything.
After one last get ready and relax we were out at 7.30. We went to reception to checkout followed by a drink in the bar.
Then we walked over to the Theatre for another watch of the Beatles show.
Choosing Asia for our last meal was an easy decision. It was our clear favourite.
The waiter, having discovered it was our last night brought out a special dessert with a nice message followed by all the staff which was a lovely touch.
Much lovelier than my photos.
We headed back to the bar for one last Nightcap and we were off to bed around 11.
We slept till 7.30 and left the room around 9. We strolled to the Coffee shop for our semi regular latte and a pastry.
We got to the beach around 10 for lots more of nothing.
We didn’t bother with lunch, saving ourselves for a good dinner later.
Recognising I live in a glass house in terms of hair we did enjoy the fact that Dog the Bounty Hunter was on the next set of beds.
We spiced things up with a visit to the pool where we had a couple of drinks before yet more beach until 5.30.
At the pool I managed to snap one of the pool/fun staff who we thought was a dead ringer for Zac Efron.
With our remaining days being few I started to just capture random stuff so we would remember how lovely this place was.
Another enjoyable couple of hours in the room enjoying the dressing gown, after sun, drink and complimentary nuts (not a euphemism). Once we were showered and ready we made our way to the Asian restaurant.
We spent the 20 min wait for a table in the sports bar.
Two starters each tonight. I did say we were saving ourselves.
Sweet and sour and Pad Thai. I couldn’t finish mine (the Pad Thai) as the double starter filled me up.
We wandered to the theatre at 9.30 for tonight’s show.
Once again the quality was good.
A nightcap at the main bar before heading back to our room around 10.30. We watched a bit of a film, The Fugitive, before welcome sleep.
I was inexplicably and annoyingly awake early again. We felt the need for a proper breakfast and after wandering to the relevant building we had a 10 minute wait for a table. I went for a random bowl of fruits and museli type things and some toast.
Our usual beds at the beach had gone. I decided against violence and let them stay on them and we took the next set of beds instead.
From there we could stare at them in an intimidating manner. After some resting we both walked up the beach but we couldn’t get too far as the seaweed was pretty bad in places. Once again we were thankful for our resorts efforts.
Once back at our beds I finished my third book of the trip and then we watched the volleyball, both to admire the ever increasing levels of competitiveness and to make sure any rogue balls did not hit us which has to be an ambition in most situations.
We went in the pool again for a bit and we had a Baby Guinness each.
We stayed on the beach till 6. We weren’t out till 8 and there was no wait for a table at the Asian restaurant.
We went crazy tonight and ordered two starters as the portions looked smallish. I had a Beer. The food here was excellent and it turned into our favourite of the trip.
After eating we headed to the theatre for a The Voice competition. This had the a big chance of being awful but it was very good fun.
After the show we walked to the lobby bar where some live music was happening. We took a seat across from a young couple who turned out to be two lovely Germans and we chatted with them for a good while, humbled by their mastery of the English language. They were recently engaged and proved to be lovely company over a few drinks.
A light breakfast of coffee and a pastry around 9am after a decent sleep. Guess what? We went to the beach again. On the way we nipped to the onsite shop as we had run out of toothpaste. I say we, but such matters are the sole responsibility of Louise and she had woefully under stocked for the trip in this area.
You can only imagine how we laughed when the chap at the till asked us for $18. Yep we paid £15 for a toothpaste. For that money I was expecting new teeth to start growing.
Just to mix things up today we shared a club sandwich for lunch after some lazing.
More beach ensued. Feeling guilty that we had not made use of all the food options on offer yet I went and got some meat from the poolside barbecue and a pizza from the pizza oven. The pizza was lovely but the meat was a bit fatty for me.
Whilst waiting for the pizza to be ready this chap was sunbathing and eating pizza.
After lots more beaching we wandered back to the room around 6 followed by our usual routine to get ready. Have I mentioned how much we loved the turndown service. We would get stupidly excited to get back to the room once it had been done.
Out at 7.30. Bordeaux tonight and we had a twenty minute wait so we got a drink in lobby.
We actually waited 40 minutes so there were two drinks.
We had our bouches amused before Cauliflower and onion soup.
Lamb for me and chicken wellington for Louise.
Once done we headed to the theatre for an acrobat show. There was a lot of impressive dangling from silks.
With that done we headed back to the bar for one more. It was incredibly hot and humid tonight so we were glad to get back to the room and bed at 10.45 for the air con.
I was inexplicably awake at 5.30!! With seemingly no prospect of more sleep I lazed and scrolled until a more civilised hour.
One we were ready we headed to the Coffee shop for brekkie around 9. We encountered two iguanas on the way. Latte and cinnamon roll and blueberry muffin. That was our breakfast order not the Iguana’s names.
You will be shocked to hear we went to the beach. The morning passed without incident until we shared a club sandwich for lunch.
More beach until we moved to the pool in the late afternoon. We had a couple of drinks in the pool before, you guessed it, returning to the Beach.
We were back in the room around 5.30 for our usual CNN and after sun session. Usual showers and getting ready etc.
We were out at 7.15 and we headed to the main pool for tonight’s Asado show.
It was a bit slow to start and it seemed to keep stopping but it picked up towards the end.
Once it was done we did the short stroll to the beach as we clearly hadn’t spent enough time there. The moon and the decor looked lovely.
It was time for food so we wandered to Portofino. We passed the half hour wait at the lobby bar.
We woke hungry so breakfast was required but not before saying hello to the locals.
We tried some beds at the main pool just to add some variety and we got the last two beds. However we did not stay long. There was no breeze and we just accepted that we preferred the beach and moved to our usual beach spot.
We rested all morning and had no need for lunch. We did have a few drinks though. There was some reading and I paddled in the sea. These extremes sport holidays are exciting aren’t they?
Around 3pm we could see storm clouds heading our way. I checked my weather radar app and it said we had about fifteen minutes before it got to us. It was five.
We quickly packed up and headed for the room. We were mildly concerned that a group of swimmers out on a turtle spotting trip were left out in the water.
We got rained on a bit on the walk back until we reached cover and our room.
We sat on our covered patio watching the rain and listening to our yank neighbour talk to their Brit neighbours. We chuckled as our US friend told their Brit friends all about the Beatles, the UK and at one point he even tried a Scouse accent. Emily’s scouse boyfriend Mikey felt a disturbance in the force at that exact moment.
Once the rain passed we went for a swim in our pool and then started to get ready. We were out by 7 and headed for Akumart which is a weekly craft fair at the resort.
The food was BBQ style and very varied.
There were stalls of local fares and food.
After eating we browsed the stalls and inexplicably spent a fortune on two fridge magnets and a carved wooden stingray. The drinks must have been strong.
We walked back to the lobby bar and had some drinks whilst listening to an excellent singer.
Apologies for the bar staff being in the way for some of this video but it is worth watching the whole thing. She was excellent.
I had a week off last week as it was my birthday and the day got away from me. What do you mean you didn’t notice?
Than I returned to write today up and my notes are quite sparse and I didn’t take any photos during the day. Can you tell I had little to no intention of writing about this trip.
Anyway, I’ve started it now so we plough on.
We ventured to the proper buffet breakfast but I only had toast. After a later start and a sit down brekkie we got to the beach around 10.30. Then we did absolutely nothing of note but don’t take that as a negative.
There were two more sessions of competitive volleyball and at some point Louise had a stroll up the beach. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed doing literally nothing all day on this trip.
We were back at the room at 5.30. The usual ritual of watching the news, having showers and a relax in my resort robe ensued.
Out at 7.30 and we started with a drink at the lobby bar.
There was a show at the theatre at 8 so we headed there deciding to eat later. I understand that a five piece Mexican Beatles Tribute might sound weird but we loved it.
We chose the Seaside restaurant for dinner. It was pretty empty being later now and we sat at a table at the edge of the restaurant and spotted raccoons wandering about again. They are very cute.
Obviously feeding them would be stupid but as we saw the staff throwing them some bread we did too and then of course it wouldn’t leave us alone.
We didn’t mind.
The food was great too.
I opted for steak and it was massive.
I couldn’t finish it and threw a couple of pieces to our new friend. Eventually he jumped up and the wall at the side of me and stared at me. Then, maintaining eye contact, his very human hand reached across the table and slowly dragged the steak from my plate and ran off into the bushes.
I was delighted to be honest. I couldn’t eat it and I was very happy it would go to a good cause. It made our night.
Full and tired we walked back to the room, transformed into a mood lit delight by our turndown service and went to be at 10.30.
A later start today with us not getting to the beach till 10.30ish after the usual coffee and Danish for breakfast.
There was lots of reading and watching seaweed removal. To give them their credit our resort did all they could to move the seaweed out of the way. It’s a seasonal issue and beyond their control but they had a crew of men and trucks shifting it.
No lunch today as we just didn’t feel hungry enough after a late breakfast and we wanted to save ourselves for dinner. Our preference for the beach was justified again today with a lovely breeze making the silly temperature bearable.
Mid afternoon and I walked up the beach. The seaweed situation further up was pretty grim to be honest which increased my appreciation for our resort’s efforts.
After some more resting we went back to the room at 5.30. Showers. We both were nursing a fine collection of bites by now. Itchy was the main symptom. Somehow we would survive these horrors.
Out at 7.30 and we went to the main pool. Tonight was the Decades show and that was the glorious Starwberry Margarita with Tajin.
The buffet on offer was ok but we definitely preferred the restaurant food on offer.
I included that photo to show even the best photographers like me take a bad one.
The show was as you may have guessed a musical journey through the decades. We stayed till 9 and then walked to the lobby bar. We managed a couple more drinks before tiredness took over. We decided against going to the theatre show that was starting soon and instead went to bed at 10.30.
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