Lots to write up, but I'm only starting this two days after we got back, so it's bound to be truncated. Went to Minorca on a lovely holiday funded by Mum and Dad, with Kerry and family also. And of course Clare and Number one son and number two son. We had been talking about a family holiday for ages but it's hard and expensive to organise, has to be in school holidays. So spending all Mum and Dad's money before they retire seemed to be the best way.
We were heading to Marina Parc in Minorca for an all inclusive week. Started smoothly for us, taxi to Gatwick Airport in the crazy early hours. Lovely to be dropped at the terminal no messing with transfers. Met with the others travelling from Hampshire and breakfast in Wetherspoons. Reunited with my sunglasses that I lost a couple of years ago, seems I left them at Mum and Dad's. Snuck in a pint just for the sake of form, and then we were the last ones on the flight.
Plane was a dreamliner, very big, lots of legroom, seat back touchscreen, magically dimming windows and show off mood lighting. Seems to wobble a bit though. I hate flying. Super short flight to Minorca, about an hour forty, and then not much of a transfer either.
Got to Marina Parc in time for lunch I think, and pretty much straight into the pool. Then tea and drinks and back to our apartment to put the boys to bed and sit up outside on the terrace drinking sangria and playing cards. Pretty much repeat for the next seven days, lovely. This was the relaxing break spending time together we were all after.
Second day we went into the big old water park that forms part of the site, and was one of the main reasons Marina Parc won out. Lots of flumes and different kinds of entertainment including a monster boomerang slide. I went on this twice - the first and last times of my life. You get onto a big rubber ring at the top, in my case in tandem with my nephew Jack. Then you're pushed off the top of one side of a great big U shape, the theory being you slide fast down one side and up the other, and then repeat until you run out of momentum. There is a flaw though. It's very fast and you're (mostly) cushioned on the rubber ring. As you hit the bottom of the U, the ring compresses fast, your bum hits the slide hard just as it starts to rise again on the other side, then the cushioning kicks in again. I wondered why there was no queue for this ride, no one-else on it at all and I soon found out why. It kicked me up the arse, hard, I still have a clear bruise at the base of my spine. This is not a good ride, and it put me off trying the rest of the park. I can sit down again now, just about.
The nearby beach is Arenal d'en Castell and very nice, smooth sand in a huge natural bay, clear water and the weather was beautiful. Everyone was in the water, and Number one son particularly gained a lot of confidence in the water, he was out up to his neck on his own (us very close by) with no armbands or anything. number two son also had a good play in a little boat, and everyone enjoyed seeing the fish swimming around us. Our pictures from the first day1 don't make it look that warm, but it was. I see now there were clouds in the sky on the first day but they cleared soon after and the temperature was in the mid thirties for the week. We came back to this beach again.
We went into Mahon for the day one day. Mahon is the wife's maiden name of course but also the capital of Minorca (or should I be saying Mao is the capital of Menorca?). Clare and Number one son and I did a boat trip, the waterfront of Mahon is fantastic I would like to spend more time there. We had a slightly rum lunch in a cafe there. When I have forgotten everything else about that day I will probably remember the "cold grilled vegetables" tapas I got that was actually a dish of tuna and anchovies. DON'T CALL IT VEGETABLES! Call it fish, it will make it much easier for a passing vegan to avoid.
It was our anniversary while we were away so that night we had a night to ourselves and went to White Sands beach resort for a meal. We had a wander around the bars and restaurants above the beach of Arenal d'en Castell and not many of them really appealed, so we ended up walking right round the bay and found the best place by pure chance. It's not that fancy but is in a great spot and the food was good. And then as we sat down, someone put a piece of paper on our table; there was a quiz going on while we ate. Of course we won. Then there was bingo too, which we did not, shame as a couple of hundred euros were up for grabs. Don't look down your nose at it or the resort or the holiday or the island because there was bingo, it was fine. Seemed a bit incongruous but enough people seem to love it as a guilty pleasure that I'm surprised more places don't drop it into the mix.
All in all it was a lovely holiday. So stop reading here and all is lovely... The only thing that coloured it is the sickness. I got sick one night, violently spewing all night, but because it was after I had had a couple of beers (one of them being this2) no-one took it seriously. Then Derrick was sick the next day, but maybe that was coincidence. Then our eldest the next day, then on the last day George was sick, and to be safe they checked with the rep if he was ok to travel. The rep called the doctor, the doctor said no. Kerry also started feeling peaky, so Kez, and George were taken to hospital. Seems a crazy over-reaction to me but now I am suspicious that someone at the resort was expecting an outbreak of something serious. Kez, George, and Dez should be on their way back as I write this, but since we returned Clare, Jack and Mum have also been ill. I hope everyone's is over with as quickly as mine was. Of course I am being blamed for starting it, but a) seems unlikely my hangover was contagious and b) now I come to think of it I saw other people being sick during our stay. Any more details and I'll post them up here, unless it all turns really nasty.
Anyway don't dwell on that last bit, it was a great holiday, and really much appreciated that Mum and Dad spent their money on that instead of more ornaments or the money pit beetle.
Lots of pictures and videos of our trip3 here3, mixed in with my other pictures from this month.
Possibly more to post about our trip if and when I remember it.
Paul Clarke's weblog - I live in Hythe near Folkestone. Married + dad to 2, I'm a full stack web developr, + I do js / Node, some ruby, other languages etc. I like pubs, parkrun, eating, home automation + other diy stuff, history, genealogy, Television, squirrels, pirates, lego, and TIME TRAVEL.