Rest, relaxation and a bit of rain in Spain COMPLETE 11/10 About This Page:

[chezp]

Rest, relaxation and a bit of rain in Spain

Pre-trip report

Dates: Saturday 10 – Saturday 17 October
Adventurers: Me, Cheryl (36) and DH Mark (44), along with Mark’s parents, Dave and Barb
Itinerary: staying in Moraira at Mark’s parents’ villa
Celebration: Enjoying some very much needed rest and relaxation.

Some of you may remember that we headed over to Mark’s parents’ villa in the south of Spain last autumn – the full details of which can be found here: Sun and Sightseeing in Spain

For those who don’t remember and for those who read the trip report and are thinking “it’s over a year ago now, I don’t retain information for that long”, a little bit of background. Mark’s parents bought a property in Moraira in the Costa Blanca part of Spain about two years ago now. Costa Blanca means “white coast” and it’s located on the south east of Spain, about five hours from the capital of Madrid in the centre of Spain and about five hours further down the coast from Barcelona. The Costa Blanca runs along the Mediterranean Sea and it’s renowned for its beautiful beaches and its stunning climate, with brilliant sunshine much of the year round.

We had such a good time last year that we decided we wanted to go out at around the same time of the year again this year. However, those plans didn’t quite work out. Mark looked at the holiday plans of the other people at his work and discovered a fair few people had already made bookings for various points in September, so that was September out. We looked at the first week or so in October, but I had started a Public Relations diploma and would be into my final essay of the course by then, so I wanted to leave going as late as we could, so that I’d have plenty of time to work on the essay and hopefully get it submitted before we left, so we plumped for the second week in October.

I was able to get some good priced flights, although learning from our experience last year, we decided to go with more reasonably timed flights, with one going out mid morning and the return flight in the middle of the afternoon. Although we could’ve gone for cheaper flights, last year, we found our outward flight was so early that no bus services were running at that time and we had to catch a taxi, which meant the deal we got on the flights suddenly wasn’t such a good deal, by the time you added the taxi fare in and, on the way back, our late night flight got even later when we were delayed. We swore we’d never do either again and we didn’t.

This time we’d be flying out to Alicante, rather than Valencia, where we flew to last time, as it’s a bit closer to Moraira and as Mark’s parents would be picking us up and driving us around while we were out there, we didn’t want to put them to any trouble. The fact that they’d offered to act as chauffeurs saved us a fair bit of money on a rental car, which weren’t cheap out there – mind you, you find me a rental car that is cheap these days!

I really did very little planning whatsoever for this trip, partially because I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue in early July and didn’t know what I’d be capable of by then. I figured it was better to just relax and take it easy and recharge my batteries, very unlike me, but it would be just what I needed. Sure, I still made a list of things I’d like to see and do while we were out there, but that was about as far as I got with any plans.

One of the things we had all said we wanted to do was go back to Valencia, as we were all absolutely overwhelmed by their stunning aquarium and wanted to spend more time out there. It is a truly beautiful city with some amazing things to do and see. We also talked about going to see some of the vineyards in the area and I wanted to see Palau Ducal, which was owned by the Borgia family in the 15th century, as well as visiting Alicante and nearby Elche or Elx (depending on which spelling you use), which is famous for the 300,000 palm trees growing around the city, some of which are in a private garden. I had a few other suggestions for possible excursions, but those were the main things I wanted to accomplish this time around – not a great deal for us, I’m sure you’ll agree.

More than anything, I was looking forward to taking it easy and enjoying some much needed relaxation time in warmer climbs...

Next: shall we wait until the rain eases up?

[Minnie Lor]

Wonderful start. I'm looking forward to reading about your adventure's.

[Colexis Mom]

Great start!

[Nimros]

Great beginning - I was wondering if you'd be taking it easy on this trip.

[duck addict]

Hooray the TR has started

[pamcarey]

Great start! Can't wait to read all about it!

[goofysdtr]

Sounds like exactly what you needed . . . hopefully it all works out that way! Can't wait to hear all about it.

[MinnieJen]

So excited to hear about your trip!

[Lemap760]

Looking forward to hearing all about it.

[Hugmonster]

Looking forward to hearing about you relaxing some more. I know it is hard for you, like me on vacation to just be.

[KMB733]

Great Start!! Can't wait to read more!!

[DrDolphin]

Wonderful beginning Cheryl - can't wait to hear more about your Spanish adventures!

[chezp]

Friday 9 October: shall we wait until the rain eases up?

Our vacation really started the day before we flew out, although we both still had to work for full days. For me, it was a day in the office, as I had made it back to three days a week in the office, with the other days worked at home. I was car sharing with a colleague and very glad I was, as by mid afternoon, exhaustion really was hitting me – something to do with working more hours than I was down to that week. It was a shame, as I had felt so much better earlier in the week, but that’s the problem I’ve found with chronic fatigue – it can hit you completely unexpectedly and it’s so hard to know how much you can safely do without wearing yourself out.

Both safely back home, we took one look at the weather and decided to wait a bit before venturing outside…. At least until the rush hour had died down. It’s worth saying something here about our weather at home here, as it had been varied to say the least! A week or so earlier, we were getting record breaking temperatures, with highs into the mid 60s, unheard of for early October and our garden was still in full bloom, with no sign of frosts to date. However, the previous two or three days, it had tipped with rain – and to be honest, probably just as well, as it had been pretty dry before that for some time.

Around 7pm, we set out and, just as we were joining the motorway, we saw a three car accident, with the entire motorway closed off by the police. I was so glad that it had happened about 50 yards before we were due to join the motorway. Of course, as a result, we had barely any traffic for the next few miles, as everyone was being held behind that. The rain had eased off a bit and we had a good run to the airport, getting to London Gatwick just after 7.30pm.

The first thing we noticed was how much work was going on there, with roadworks in place and a more limited entrance than we’d had last time to the Sofitel Hotel, which is connected by a pedestrian walkway to the north terminal. We would later see signs and I would read an article, telling us all about the work that’s going on at present, which includes the building of a new short-term car park, the work we were seeing. We already knew that the monorail link between the north and south terminal was closed for refurbishment and I later read that this work would include new trains and stations. I can’t wait to see that when it’s completed.

We walked straight up and checked in and were given our voucher for our dinner and the information about our car parking and how to pick out car up from valet parking when we flew back in.

We headed upstairs to the second floor to our room and discovered that, sadly, it wasn’t overlooking the main atrium, as it had been when we had stayed here in May, but instead, it was overlooking the north terminal, which just served to remind you how close you were to it!


North Terminal at night

Our next stop was dinner at Le Café and, when we got there, we had about a five minute wait, before they could seat us, during which time I got some photos of the lobby.




Our vouchers entitled us to eat two courses from the holiday menu and I went for the Caesar salad “nude” – yes, you read that title right. We loved that! Mark had the soup of the day, which was mushroom and white bean. Having sampled some of it, I can tell you that it was very good and mine wasn’t bad either.

For main course, I had the mushroom ravioli and Mark had chicken, which he described as a bit dry, although mine was fine, but a bit rich. No photos, as to be honest, it was nothing spectacular and it wasn’t the type of place that you’d photograph the food – you’ll find me saying that a lot this report. After all, this isn’t Disney style dining!

I asked for the dessert menu and was very intrigued by the sound of the coffee brulee, but our waitress left us with the menus for so long (at least 10, if not 15, minutes!) that I gave up, as by then, I really was starting to fill absolutely full. To be honest, the food was OK, but the service was terrible. By now, it was 9.20pm and we’d probably been there for about an hour and a half, which was ridiculous. We settled up for the drinks we’d had, as they weren’t included with the vouchers, and noted that there was an obligatory 12.5% service charge. How I hate it when they do that – and it always seems to be at the places that aren’t that great.

Having paid up, it was back to the room and back to bed.

The weather today was very wet with lots of rain and temperatures in the 50s.
The best thing today was starting our vacation.
The worst thing today was the weather on the drive up to the airport.
Today we tried the restaurant at the airport hotel.
And the result was the food wasn’t bad, but the service was terrible.

Next: where is everyone?!

[Colexis Mom]

Glad you made it to the airport! Looks like a nice room! Sorry the dinner service was not good!

[BritDisFan]

Great start! We love the Sofitel.