How true, how true!

Partially explains the 45 kilos.

Brilliant hotels! And one of the rare chains which can accomodate a family of four (incl. 2 physically non-infant, psychologically infant-like, teenagers) in one room.

DBW and the girls shared a room in a London (while I was basking in my corporate luxury) and, due to their positive experience, the HolidayInn Express at Valencia Airport was the hotel of choice for spending our last night on Spanish soil.

Especially due to this complimentary contraption:

Nothing like a warm mug of instant coffee at 04:15 in the morning! It would have been nice, though, if they would have included more than just four bags of DECAF…

You can fly for free with Ryanair. No kidding! Had we flown from Monday to Monday, our flight would have cost nothing, nada, zilch!

Apart from:

• Airport Taxes: variable; € 19.00 in this case
• Luggage: € 20.00 for one item
• Airport Check-In: € 10.00 (yes: you HAVE to take the airport check-in option if you have luggage).
• Oh, and if you have the great idea to pay by credit card: € 5.00 per person and leg.

And there are those 15 “non-poolable” kilos per suitcase… That’s per person, mind you: it doesn’t matter that you are a family of four and have booked three suitcases. 2 X 14 Kg + 1 X 17 Kg = € 30.00 surcharge.

Simply book three suitcases for the same person, I hear you mutter.. AHAAH, gotcha: 3 X suitcases <> 3 X € 20.00. A person carrying 3 suitcases will be charged a whopping € 100.00 (which excludes future hospital costs to treat the subsequent hernia)! Mr O’Leary has got EVERYTHING worked out!

It’s manageable on the outbound flight, if you just happen to own one of those dreaded bathroom scales. But how many hotel’s amenities include a scale? How exactly are you then expected to spread 44.3 Kg of dirty washing over 3 suitcases? Glad they didn’t inspect our carry-on luggage too thoroughly..

That’s one of the disadvantages of travelling abroad: every single bug, spider or other member of the local wildlife seem to be double the size!

Man, do they have gigantic pigeons in Spain!

Sorry Sarah! That haircut turned out pretty nice, BTW..

We all needed a week’s holidays in the sun. All of us: even the two who “only” spend their time dozing at school the whole day.

But none of us could bear the thought of sharing our meals with a myriad other guests who’s intellect is reversely proportional to the amount of food they can pile on their plate in one go. Not mentioning the parents of little kids who consider an eating hall to be synonym to a kindergarten playground.

So we went hunting on the net.

And found this gem: a two-bedroom self-catering apartment (including two bathrooms: VEEEERY valuable when sharing a pad with two teenagers) on the Costa Blanca, Spain (average temperature in October 25 degrees C).

Save $$$ on the accomodation and invest in the cozy little restaurants of our choice was the general idea.

Before we discovered the seafood counter at the local supermarket, that is..

You’d be AMAZED by the amount of stuff I managed to cram onto my plate!