Majorca

Although I posted a couple of pics direct from my phone whilst we were holidaying in Magaluf, Majorca last month, I never actually got round to posting about the whole holiday...

Initially we weren't planning on having a holiday abroad this year for various reasons, but when Jen became pregnant we realised it's highly unlikely we'll get away next year so had a re-think.
After trauling what felt like every site on the web, we found one of the best ones to be sunshine.co.uk (part of Hayes travel). Found a bargain week in an aparthotel in Magaluf but the only thing we were wary about is some older holiday watchdog reviews which suggested it was rowdy from groups of lads etc. Researched it some more and it turned out it this indeed used to be the case when it was Fiesta Sahara, but the hotel had recently been renovated and relaunched as 'Fresh' Sahara. As part of this work they'd banned groups and one of the conditions to book was actually that a shild MUST be present on the booking - a clever touch I thought, and gave us a real peace of mind too. Ended up getting the holiday cheaper again by Thomson at Cramlington under cutting the web price.
We only had about 10 days notice from booking to departure, but Jen and I both got the time off without problems and we're not the type of people who get stressed about the whole packing thing anyway.

We flew in the evening, so it was near midnight local time when we arrived at the hotel but Abigail coped with the whole thing fine. As requested, our room was to the rear of the hotel away from the noise and at the end of a corridor. All of whioch was ideal for ensuring Abigail had undisturbed sleep. Like most bairns, she's good as gold as long as she gets her sleep!
The Hotel was ideal and as promised all guests were families.

Although the pool and surrounding facilities in our Hotel were really spot on, we actually spent nearly every day at the beach. We prefer being able to do our own thing down there rather than the whole screaming kids round the pool thing. And don't even get me started on how much the whole 'towel on sunbeds' thing does my flipping head in!!! - Blo*dy Saddo's!
Anyhoo, Abigail really loved the days at the beach. She was happy in the shade for hours playing in the sand. Late morning when she got tired one of us would take her for a walk in the buggy until she fell alseep, and she'd then kip in her buggy for up to two hours in the shade.

Again we reeped the benefits of the Waterbabies classes Abigail has attended nearly from birth! She was really confident in both the pool and the sea - water simply doesn't phase her. It's only when we see all of the other arm bands, floats, rings etc etc that we're aware how much we take her confidence for granted now. I've no doubt that it'll all be about water parks when we're next abroad!

Abigail was good as gold for the whole holiday. We didn't go out every evening, but when we did it was good being able to enjoy our meals as she was so well behaved. Having said all that, I'm soooo glad I took the portable DVD Player and a selection of her programs with us. It made the flight easier for us, and it really helped to entertain Abigial during the times we were in the room. Thank god for Peppa Pig!

At first Magaluf may seem like an odd choice for taking a young child but it actually worked out well; Because all of the 'young-uns' tend not to hit the bars/clubs until after midnight, it meant that everywhere was quiet when we were going out for our evening meal. And as they were then partying until after 6 in the morning, it meant we were hitting the beach when they were all in the land of nod! Yep I know, this all makes me sound old before my time - but I'm not ashamed to say those days are long gone!!
It was actually quite funny sitting in some of the beach bars about 2 in the afternoon with a pint and a salad watching the herds starting to trail down with their eyes half way down their face, trying to avoid the sun and pluck up the strength to face a breakfast. They literally never see the sun!

We did no shopping or trailing around crappy gift shops all stocking the same tat, what so ever. I LLLOOOVVVEE the fact that Jen hates shopping when she's abroad!
I can safely say the in terms of the price of the holiday and what we spent when we there, that we'll never manage a holiday that cheap again.

We had 1 day of cloud where the sun struggled to get out, but we were really lucky with the weather the rest of the time. It hovered around 30 degrees which was spot on when you had the slight breeze off the sea at the beach. Our hotel was literally a 500 yard walk straight along to the Beach, and we had all the shops and restaurants on the way there. In terms of convenience it's definitely somewhere I would go back to.

That's Abigail's second holiday abroad but given she's just turned 2 I guess chances are she probably won't remember either one so far, lol. Flickr Set here and slideshow below...