1. Holiday Blog: Gran Canaria - Day 1

So... after a bit of persuasion, I am resurrecting my old blog site to start sharing my funny stories / views on life / general musings to the world at large. This week it will mainly be holiday blogs, but thereafter the world is my oyster... and no topic is sacred lol.  

Enjoy 😀.

NB I do this for my own satisfaction, so if people don’t like the stories, just don’t read them... 

1. Gran Canaria - Day 1

And so it begins... 😀

This is the first holiday I have come on in a long time as a mates holiday with a longstanding friend I have known, loved and respected for many many years... what does the week hold? Will we agree on food choices, activities, and meaning of life?

Or will we end up falling out, despising each for bathroom habits or just bore each other senseless...?

To be fair, even though we have been friends for a long time; (nights out for dinner, soul searching over bottles of wine, nights out dancing, getting older and wiser (?!?) and weekend sleepovers); I still believe that until you have spent an extended period with someone and shared a bathroom, then you never really know them...

Anyway, it started last night when we checked into to the airport hotel.  Actually it started before that when I tried to put my car into the wrong long term car park... but that was because I blindly went where the sat nav took me 😱.

After a guiding phone call from my friend who perhaps was already regretting his choice of holiday partner in crime, I got to the right place and we parked up.

Checking in to the hotel was straight forward and the twin room was bijou and compact. Good traveller etiquette came to the fore with each other’s toiletries neatly contained at opposite ends of the sink, and the television turned on for a semblance of privacy in the bathroom.

We nipped into the terminal to pick up our Travelex cards (something I have never used before), and then went to the Airport Wetherspoons for a quick drink. We had planned to meet other friends there for dinner too, but having perused the clientele and listened to the banter (full scale gang warfare between certain couples), we opted to go back and eat in the hotel restaurant instead.  Aside from being nicer surroundings, I have to say the food was better too 😀.

Given I am not actually a big drinker, I surprised even myself by having a few gins last night, but good chat with friends and lots of laughter set the scene for the holiday.

Overnight sleep was decidedly average, but I am no longer such a serial traveller as I used to be, but I definitely remember different hotel chains with comfier beds lol.

Alarm went off at 6am, and I jumped into the shower first.  Well, I say jumped.  I mean kind of walked like a disjointed sloth.   (Prior to taking daily painkillers lol.)

I did however turn the shower on like a rookie, and got soaked in the process.  As did my lovely new holiday PJ’s 😱.  

However, morning ablutions completed by both of us in record time, we went down for breakfast, where we met Pat.  A lady who thought she recognised us from previous visits (neither of us have been there previously, and I do have one of my skull caps on), but we just rolled with it 😀😀😀.

Have to say though, customer service was second to none, and the attention and friendliness by all staff really shone through.

Oh... as an aside, when I had ordered drinks the night before, I had actually taken my skull cap off.  I do actually have more hair than I used to now, although I do look a bit like a toilet brush, especially when I have been wearing my cap.  However, the bar staff were quite concerned I wouldn’t be able to carry a tray of drinks by myself and offered to come and carry it to my table... even though the bar was pretty busy at that at that point!   They were so lovely... to thought that I would trip, fall, make a scene and dirty their lovely clean environment.  To be fair, that is always a possibility... 😀

And, although this is my first holiday post active treatment and surgeries, I have been told I am only allowed to play the cancer card 3 times on holiday.  Unless it is beneficial to us.  Like when I was being encouraged to see if it would help shorten the security queue.  (That was said in jest though... as I would never abuse an illness...)

Check-in at the airport was seamless, boarding passes on the phones, minor hand luggage and only the merest glimpse of duty free on the outward journey.

We got settled at the bar people watching, whilst having gin for breakfast.  😜.

Boarding was actually a delight as we joined the shortened end of queue and boarded with no hassles.  We had the longest ever taxi out to the runway however... got bored before the plane even took off!  The only excitement was when the Captain announced he would have to over-rev the engines whilst sitting as this was normal given the weather conditions.... hmmmmm.  Never heard that one before.  Maybe there was a dead stale bird in the engines that needed to be disgorged...  The upside was that the whole plane vibrated and it was a bit like sitting in one of those massage chairs which are placed at  random points in shopping centres 😀.

Flight itself was actually quite good... we had a young family sit beside us, and the 2 wee boys were literally perfect angels.  One of them had spilled water over his jeans and was sitting in his minion boxer shorts (he was only about 2!), and was making jokes about pumping and warming his mum’s leg up 😂😂😂.

Of course, the small alcoholic beverages may have helped make things go more smoothly and also to make me sleep on the flight too...

The transfer to the hotel was really quick and smooth too, and we came prepared with small bottles of prosecco from the plane.  (I NEVER drink this much normally!!!)

Hotel is lovely and we got given another small glass of cava upon arrival.  🍾

Room is a lovely twin bed suite, and we are still being very polite and considerate around space sharing and privacy lol.

Turns out we might have some rowdy neighbours, but hey... it’s holiday time.  Nipped out for late lunch and to see the local area, and then back via the supermarket for the supposed usual snacks.  (This is not my friend’s first time at this particular rodeo, but the fact that he was on the hunt for a squeezable sausage had me in inappropriate hysterics 😂.)

After stocking up on the bottles of cava, we spent a lovely few hours people watching from the balcony before dinner.  And dinner was amazing.  As an aside, anyone coming here should seriously look at Hotel Neptuno for quality for everything!!!

Then to be honest the rest of the evening was a blur.  Well, kind of...

Instagram pictures chart our descent via colourful cocktails and gin.  But we did go see very professional drag artists, and ended up dancing till 4.30am.  And singing ‘Voyage voyage’.  And songs by the Venga Boys.  And Aqua.  But we categorically did not try pole dancing.  That may happen another night lol.

So in short, a fab night where we stayed off any kind of hangover by basically jumping around and dancing for hours. 😀😀😀.