Whilst we have been adventuring around Amsterdam, Gemma Beans has popped the question (on my actual birthday) so we are now officially engaged again!
I’m a happy chappy as things are back on track now and we can continue with the plans we had before – although they are slightly altered Now! We have both grown up so much in the last 6 months and now talk about everything again just like we used to. I think we will always be slightly different people but that doesn’t mean we can’t be happy – and that’s the only thing that matters!
We’re off now to enjoy new years here in Dam – here’s to an amazing 2013!
Gemma and I love travelling – its definitely our favorite thing to do! Our latest trip was to the coast of Alicante in Spain, and as per our other holidays i figured i would do a little report and recommend the place we went and services we used.
We normally fly with EasyJet, but recently they have gone shit and stopped flying from the airports near me – so this time we opted for RyanAir and despite the planes being scruffy (they didn’t clean the floors between flights) it was exactly what you expect – cheap and cheerful!
They did a good job of getting us there and back in one piece, and on time too – the cabin crew (or “salesmen” as i like to cal them) were great but you get a bit sick of them CONSTANTLY trying to sell you shit from the second you take off to the second you land. I’m gonna pretend I’m asleep next time! đ
In regards flights tho, you get what you pay for – i didn’t expect anything more than what we got! Had a wing isle on the way back which meant lots of legroom and as the flight was only about 2 hours it seemed to be over quickly enough đ
Once we landed we were taken to a car hire depot where our car was waiting for us – a 1.2 brand new Nissan Micra in black. the company was called Drivalia Car Rental, and they were literally 5 ins from alicante airport. The lady was lovely, the car was brand new and awesome (and upgraded from the bottom class to the next one up as they had run out of group A cars! :)) – we do think they put on an extra insurance charge as we Had bought something when we signed up for it – but it was still cost effective, full tank of juice and a spanking clean car so we let it slide!
It was my first experience driving a left hand drive car, on the wrong side of the road! At first it was a SPIN OUT, but after a few hours i was used to it (well, apart from pedestrian crossings!) and the only real part of driving abroad (well in Spain anyway) is the mopeds! There is always 2 people on then, helmets but shorts and tshirts – and they squeeze through any gap they can find!
The hotel was very easy to find, it was one of the first left hand turns off the main road to alicante, once the main road was running along side the coast. We got settled in to our (freely upgraded to a family sized room from a double) room quickly and headed out to get some food and drinks for the apartment.
We stayed at Alicante Hills Apartments, and they were bang on – our room was massive, we had 2 bathrooms and could have slept 6 people in it if we wanted! It had a pool, jacuzzis, a restaurant (which was VERY reasonably priced!) and you had air con and a TV in the rooms etc – everything you need.
My onyl gripe with the apartment was there was a spot of crap splattered on the wall when we got there, and the cleaners missed it all week and it was still there when we left – i think the place was clean, but mainly because its so new – if they are not careful they will star slipping if the cleaners are not more concise. Also above the oven was a drawer, that got VERY hot when using the oven – badly planned out kitchen methinks!
Apart from that, the apartment served its purpose, we even went back to the hotel towards the end of the last day, after we had checked out and driven down to Santa Pola and Torrevieja and back again – just so i could have a swim and a shower! đ
Alicante itself is a nice place, but we did notice a lot of closed down and derelict buildings – the recession is obvious! It was more obvious the further out of central alicante, lots of random derelict buildings and villas along the N-332 – a shame really as many of the buildings that were screwed looked like they were beautiful at one point.
We will visit spain again, but we’re not bothered about staying in alicante again.
Flights 7/10
Car Hire 8/10
Apartments 8/10
Value for Money 10/10
We’re off to Gran Canaria next i think – cant wait woo!
In approx 32 days Gem and I will be flying to Holland, and visiting wonderful city of Amsterdam. Ive wanted to go for over 10 years, but i have either not had the cash, time or both!
Quite a few of my mates have been and have all given me tips to find the best spots, but to be honest as im going with Gemma (not on a stag do or something) i think our experience of Amsterdam will be a different one compared to that of my friends who have been in the past.
We’re gonna do the whole tourist thing, visit museams and attractions and basically do what we did in prauge and just wander about.
Our trip lasts about 4 days, so we have plenty of time to soak in the sights and see Amsterdam at its finest, we are also stopping at a really nice hotel called CitizenM which is hopefully gonna make our stop that little bit more relaxing.
Everything is booked, and we just need to clear the hotel balance once we arrive, i cant wait to spend my birthday in another country – should be awesome đ
Gemma and I have recently come back from what was probably the most chilled out holiday we have ever been on.
We booked a holiday a month or so ago as we came into a tiny bit of cash and decided the best way to spend it was on a week somewhere hot! So we ventured into town (after an unsuccessful hunt on the net the night before) and walked in to a few travel agents, who scoured their 1970’s style computer systems trying to find us something that was within our budget and somewhere HOT! đ
A few places sprung up, but all slightly over budget! Boo! Then in the Thomson shop a nice lady found us a holiday that was a bit too expencive, but she said the hotels had a brilliant reputation and that it would be worth spending the extra few pounds!
The hotel was called the Riu Belylaya and it was plonked right on the beach in Torremolinos, Spain. We checked the weather reports daily as we were more bothered about it being hot than anything else! The weather looked ok, kinda, better than britain anyway – so we packed our things and headed to the airport.
Our thomson flight was kinda average, not much legroom, a baby crying somewhere and plenty of turbulence. And we arrived quite late at night to a flooded dark spain. Oh dear! The rep said that they had received record rain fall and that cars had been washed down some streets. đ
We got on our bus to the hotel, and were told we would be the first drop off from the airport! Alright!! We arrived, and gemma, myself and a few old couples got off the bus and got our luggage. Wow. What a hotel!
I have always stayed in nice hotels when i have gone away, but this one was really nice! We were greeted by very friendly multi lingual receptionists who offered us champagne or orange juice on arrival (i bet you can guess what gemma chose đ ) and quickly located us and booked us into room 715. We took the lift, walked along the corridor and entered our large double room.
It was a beaut, nice (fairly small) bathroom with bath, shower, sink, toilet and bidet! We had two single beds pushed together, but on them they made a really nice display of two swans kissing out of bath towels – we had told them it was kinda a anniversary holiday you see đ
When we booked we were told we would have limited sea view. I think they say limited to cover their backs as one or two rooms don’t have a view, but ours was awesome! Although it wasn’t until morning that we actually saw how awesome our view was!.
Our View!
The next day was a bit grotty, the weather was picking up after being very rainy, but it did seem to be getting better, and it was still hot enough to sit on the beach and make sand castles!
From here on, the weather just got better and better, a few of the days were in fact scorchio! We spent one of these days on the beach all day – i got a tad burnt unfortunatly!
The hotel itsself continued to go from strength to strength too, the food was really nice, the staff were all wonderful and the rest of the hotels occupants were old people on a bowls holiday so we got 2 pools, a gym and all the sun loungers to ourself too! It was – at times – like we had the place to ourselves!
The only downside to the hotel (in my opinion) is the lack of english TV channels! I know that we shouldnt be in wathcing TV on holiday but it was nice to put it on when we were waiting for our fat bellies to go down after eatinc 6 course dinners haha.
Mountains!
Gemma was very brave a few days into the holiday, she actually ventured into the sea! Well done gemma!!
We were both playing in the sea that day, but we both chickened out after we found a dead jellyfish washed up on the beach! We really didnt do much else apart from ate, slept and sunbathed. I went swimming quite a bit, and went in the gym ONCE. Oh, and gemma had a massage as they had a treatments room next to the indoor pool.
All in all, it was an awesome holiday and i would reccomend the hotel to anyone!
The weather in spain in november was a lot better than we thought it would be, we had expected drizzle and been blessed with scorching sunshine!
The Riu Belplaya has to be one of the best hotels in torremolinos, if not in the whole of spain!
In approx 32 days Gem and I will be flying to Holland, and visiting wonderful city of Amsterdam. Ive wanted to go for over 10 years, but i have either not had the cash, time or both!
