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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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