Tag Archives: review

A Mummy’s Guide To Ibiza – Part 1

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A few years ago a colleague of mine told me that his original opinion of me that I was ” not fun, stuck up and a bit of a princess” but he had realised he was wrong. He probably didn’t know about Gav The Chav at the time or what the Armstrongs can be like. I am full of surprises (she writes as she listens to Kanye West) however I agreed to go to Ibiza anxiously as I have been feeling like a boring mum, how my colleague originally saw me recently, couldn’t even remember the last time I had been clubbing let alone seen the sun rise…

About 2 months ago, on my way to work, during a particularly tough week I started day dreaming about getting on the train to Gatwick and on a flight to Ibiza so it was fate when shortly after my colleague asked me if I wanted to go on a girls’ trip to Ibiza, it was meant to be! If anybody ever asks you if you want to go to Ibiza, SAY YES! You owe it to yourself , you owe to the world!

Vegas rules apply in Ibiza but there is plenty to blog about…

BEACHES

I had no idea how beautiful Ibiza was, on the first day we actually took a boat to Formentera,

which was a great way to start the holiday, it was pretty empty and super chilled, we were switched off from real life in hours. We could have hired bikes but ended up using taxis and one bus, most expensive bus ride of my life actually, 4 bloody euros for a 10 mins ride and with the exchange rate crashing whilst I was there it seemed ridiculous. The first beach we went to was Playa Migjorn, a bit windy but lovely.

We had lunch by the beach at http://www.arenals.com/, food was nice and the view was just great, obviously we had sangria, I think we had sangria with every meal!

We then went over to Playa Illetes, now this is a seriously beautiful beach, one of the nicest I have ever seen in the world. I’m not great taking pictures, the colour of the water and the clarity was 10 times better than it seems on these. I’ve added some filters to try to give you a better idea.

I could have sat there all day, unfortunately we had a boat to catch, actually we didn’t! We got the boat times wrong and ended up waiting around, such is life….

We went to Las Salinas on Ibiza the next day, this was my favourite beach, because it was SO MUCH FUN! I’ve rarely been as relaxed as whilst having lunch and drinking sangria (of course) at Sa Trinxa. We laughed and laughed and were aghast at the show the 2 nudists were putting on next to us on the beach, I can’t go into details but this must have been rehearsed, they had a whole routine going…

The whole vibe of the beach is just heavenly: everyone is happy, relaxed, friendly and living life to the full. I definitely don’t do enough of this. The beach bar plays great music and I will definitely be going back, cheers to Las Salinas!

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The other really notable beach we went to was Cala Conta, again super relaxed, beautiful water and the perfect place for a sundowner at Sunset Ashram. No entertainment this time except some particularly beautiful bodies to admire…

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Here are a few more pictures to give you an idea:

And this video basically sums the Ibiza vibe up:

That’s it for now, in the next post I will tell you about my new favourite place in the world Destino and why a trip to Ibiza is not complete without going to DC10

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Our Holiday at The Almyra Hotel in Cyprus

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Earlier in the year, I decided to go on holiday before it got too hot and before the whole of Europe goes on holiday basically.

The criteria were:

  • guaranteed sun
  • no longer than 5 hours on a plane
  • no jetlag or hardly any
  • a kids club that accepts children under 2
  • somewhere I had never been
  • good local food

This year was my  mum’s 60th so I decided to take her along so ideally I was looking for somewhere she would like too. After much researching (I get a bit obsessed with these things), Kuoni  came up with The Almyra hotel in Cyprus on a half board package that ticked all the boxes! I have never used a travel agent but it was actually a great experience as they organized transfers with car seat, got us free half board and were there to answer my questions.

So what was great about it and why is it REALLY family friendly ?

The four pictures sum it up pretty well:

A COVERED pool so little ones don’t get burnt, genius idea! There is another smaller pool very close for babies that is very calm and where we spent a lot of time, A’s favourite thing to do was to “empty” the pool, this went on for days…

If they get  bored of the pool, there is quite a good playground that is 100% in the shade where we spent a lot of time too.

They are tons of highchairs and they have a children’s tea from 6 to 7pm where the kids can eat and mummy can have an Aperol Spritz! The staff are super friendly and happy to move high chairs around and don’t make you feel bad about the mess!

They have this service called “baby go lightly’, where you can order EVERYTHING you might need before arriving so not only was there a cot ready prepared in the room (the mattress was quite thick, which is not always the case in hotel rooms) but the nappies I had ordered (this is not free) and the puzzles (this was free) and books I had requested were already there. The list of stuff available is very long, they have thought of everything!

Now it isn’t perfect and there are some things that could be improved, for example:

  • no children’s cutlery is provided
  • some of the high chairs didn’t have harnesses
  • you have to go down steep steps to the toilet by the pool
  • some of the playground equipment, despite being quite new was showing signs or wear and tear.
  • if your child is scared of cats then be prepared because there are quite a few hanging around

A spent 3 mornings and one whole day at the kids club run by Scott Dunn, this was really well organised and the staff were enthusiastic and caring, so whilst she was there , mum and I went to the adults only pool at the spa, utter bliss…

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We found a small but clean beach nearby where we rented 2 sunbeds and an umbrella for 7 euros a day and it was a nice change from the pool. As A decided to go to bed early and get up early (not what you want on holiday!), we were often the first on the beach!

And what happens to a toddler, who goes to bed at 9PM but wakes up at 6.30AM? They nap (never for very long but still it was a nice break!):

Post boob nap

One thing that wasn’t so great was the effect the plane and the air conditioning had on A, she coughed like mad the whole time and this kept waking her up 😦

Talking of the plane, what do you do for nearly 5 hours with an 18 month old on a plane?

  • Mummy thanks the man who was kind enough to move seats on the way out (on the way back, the person wouldn’t move…) so your toddler has their own seat (made such a difference!)
  • You spend a lot of time playing with the children in the row behind us (3 under 3, don’t know how the parents managed!)
  • You spend a lot of time cleaning things with wipes
  • iPad, iPad, iPad
  • Snacks, snacks and more snacks (houmous pot to dip stuff in worked very well)
  • you open new toys and get very excited
  • read books
  • walk around
  • don’t sleep

When we got off the plane, she stole a little boy’s Trunki, this entertained her whilst we waited for the bags.

All in all, it was a lovely holiday, the weather was perfect, I got to meet up with my colleague and his family, enjoyed drinks in the sun. I really recommend The Almyra, it’s so family friendly that a couple told my mum at breakfast “We didn’t realise it was half term and we didn’t realise it was that kind of hotel”. They would probably have been better off at the hotel next door where we had a great “traditional Cyprus” evening and where A danced her little heart away:

The food was really good, we really like the little restaurant by the water and Café Pinguino near the harbor.

It was really nice and even made me a bit philosophical (Some End of Holiday Reflexions).

Cyprus we will be back!