a holiday
A history:
Last year, when we went to Corfu, we spent a lot of time peering at the hotels we passed, judging them and wondering if they would be better or worse than where we were staying. Everyone else on the coach did the same thing; it's pretty much what you do on those transfers, particularly in the dark when you can't see the country you're in. We pulled up at a hotel and the coach, as one, made a slight noise of 'oooh'. The couple that were staying there pretty much danced off the coach. On the way home from that same holiday, we picked up the same couple and in the daylight it looked pretty magnificent too.
Some research and hanging on like hell for a good deal to come up on a holiday website later, Richie and I pulled up on that same transfer coach. "Oooh, it's so pretty!" I heard one passenger say. "Fair do's to whoever is staying here," said someone on a Lads Holiday To Kavos. Richie and I strode down the aisle of that coach like gods, let me tell you.
We had in fact technically started our holiday the evening before, in sweltering London temperatures of about 30 degrees. We stayed at a hotel at Gatwick the night before as we had to be at the airport for about 4am. Yuck. A 3am start is weird at the best of times, but high five to the people embracing airport time and drinking quite copiously when we arrived at the airport. But we made it there very smoothly and got to our aforementioned fancy as hell hotel with no problems. Plus we checked in and found it to be truly magnificent hotel too - beautifully modern room, completely clean, no weird stains in the bathroom as per every other European holiday I've ever been on. As we arrived not long after midday we headed on down to the pool and started a pattern that continued throughout the holiday; lots of sunscreen, devouring books and occasionally dipping into the pool to cool down. The only downside was we were half board, so no lunches or drinks included. I discovered by the second day I couldn't skip lunch and just have beer instead...
We did have one issue with the weather, mind you. Storms hit badly after a couple of days. One night I woke up and watched a storm for a bit, and then thought briefly that the water looked pretty high. We were on a floor where the balcony was only about 3 foot about the ground, with a sort of courtyard outside, and the water looked like it was getting a bit higher. Huh, I thought, and went back to bed. We woke up with the room flooded. That was new!
Basically the weather went up and down for the rest of the holiday, but hey, once they cleaned the room they gave us a free bottle of champagne and a plate of desserts. This was on the same day we had our a la carte dinner, so we downed the champagne on the balcony watching the bats and listening to the distant thunder rumble before having a delicious dinner, slightly drunk in the best possible way.
It was just a really lovely, fab holiday. Weather aside, obviously. The hotel really was just lovely, with an infinity pool (!!!) and a private stretch of beach. I read a lot of dystopian future fiction, plus my usual Stephen King stretch. It was fab, it really was.
We did do some other stuff other than just read, be lazy and be flooded. We went to Corfu Town for a morning; we watched Mamma Mia in the lobby on a rainy afternoon, mostly with me howling "WHY ARE WE DOING THIS" under my breath to a rapt Richie (in the end I mostly watched the old ladies watching the film) and we did an aerial yoga class, where you sort of swing about in a hammock and do stretches. I have no upper body or core stretch so guess how that went, but it was really good fun anyway. But mostly - books, the odd beer or terrible Greek wine, sunshine, swimming, relaxing.
And now we're back and it's a Saturday so I still have time before I have to go back to work. I have some slight tan going on and I'm feeling pretty well-rested. The last couple of days we've been back in London and have been to see Aladdin and Marvel Live on cheap matinee tickets, which still had a lot of kids running around but there you go. We spent last night in Greenwich, quietly refusing to admit that our holiday was over yet. It's not until tomorrow, dammit!
Last year, when we went to Corfu, we spent a lot of time peering at the hotels we passed, judging them and wondering if they would be better or worse than where we were staying. Everyone else on the coach did the same thing; it's pretty much what you do on those transfers, particularly in the dark when you can't see the country you're in. We pulled up at a hotel and the coach, as one, made a slight noise of 'oooh'. The couple that were staying there pretty much danced off the coach. On the way home from that same holiday, we picked up the same couple and in the daylight it looked pretty magnificent too.
Some research and hanging on like hell for a good deal to come up on a holiday website later, Richie and I pulled up on that same transfer coach. "Oooh, it's so pretty!" I heard one passenger say. "Fair do's to whoever is staying here," said someone on a Lads Holiday To Kavos. Richie and I strode down the aisle of that coach like gods, let me tell you.
We had in fact technically started our holiday the evening before, in sweltering London temperatures of about 30 degrees. We stayed at a hotel at Gatwick the night before as we had to be at the airport for about 4am. Yuck. A 3am start is weird at the best of times, but high five to the people embracing airport time and drinking quite copiously when we arrived at the airport. But we made it there very smoothly and got to our aforementioned fancy as hell hotel with no problems. Plus we checked in and found it to be truly magnificent hotel too - beautifully modern room, completely clean, no weird stains in the bathroom as per every other European holiday I've ever been on. As we arrived not long after midday we headed on down to the pool and started a pattern that continued throughout the holiday; lots of sunscreen, devouring books and occasionally dipping into the pool to cool down. The only downside was we were half board, so no lunches or drinks included. I discovered by the second day I couldn't skip lunch and just have beer instead...
We did have one issue with the weather, mind you. Storms hit badly after a couple of days. One night I woke up and watched a storm for a bit, and then thought briefly that the water looked pretty high. We were on a floor where the balcony was only about 3 foot about the ground, with a sort of courtyard outside, and the water looked like it was getting a bit higher. Huh, I thought, and went back to bed. We woke up with the room flooded. That was new!
Basically the weather went up and down for the rest of the holiday, but hey, once they cleaned the room they gave us a free bottle of champagne and a plate of desserts. This was on the same day we had our a la carte dinner, so we downed the champagne on the balcony watching the bats and listening to the distant thunder rumble before having a delicious dinner, slightly drunk in the best possible way.
It was just a really lovely, fab holiday. Weather aside, obviously. The hotel really was just lovely, with an infinity pool (!!!) and a private stretch of beach. I read a lot of dystopian future fiction, plus my usual Stephen King stretch. It was fab, it really was.
We did do some other stuff other than just read, be lazy and be flooded. We went to Corfu Town for a morning; we watched Mamma Mia in the lobby on a rainy afternoon, mostly with me howling "WHY ARE WE DOING THIS" under my breath to a rapt Richie (in the end I mostly watched the old ladies watching the film) and we did an aerial yoga class, where you sort of swing about in a hammock and do stretches. I have no upper body or core stretch so guess how that went, but it was really good fun anyway. But mostly - books, the odd beer or terrible Greek wine, sunshine, swimming, relaxing.
And now we're back and it's a Saturday so I still have time before I have to go back to work. I have some slight tan going on and I'm feeling pretty well-rested. The last couple of days we've been back in London and have been to see Aladdin and Marvel Live on cheap matinee tickets, which still had a lot of kids running around but there you go. We spent last night in Greenwich, quietly refusing to admit that our holiday was over yet. It's not until tomorrow, dammit!