#Squadgoals. Salou/Portaventura October 2018. Travel Day..Second wind and shots!

[roxie2001]

Thursday 18th October
After having a year off last October, I am back with our family trip report.
Quick background if you missed the pre trip report, originally called the fam finale as we thought it was going to be our last holiday with Dd, but to our surprise she has said she will come back as she had a great time. So a title change due to this and the teenage slang amuses me.
Originally it was just myself, Julie and Oh, Matt but then Dd, Jess changed her mind and we added her on. Next to book was our friends Tracy and Paul (they travelled 2 days before us) followed by Linda and Russell and finally Debbie and Sandy. (The only pair that are not a couple)
My photos are a mixture from our 3 phones (I phone 6 and 7) and Sandys, a Huawei which has a brilliant camera and you can really tell the difference.
So back to the travel day. We had an early flight and a mini bus booked at 3.30. I set an alarm for 3am as we packed and showered the night before. The taxi was picking us at Debbie’s house, she lives on the same road as my mum so we drove and parked there and I popped our keys through the post before walking over to hers. Everyone else was in the taxi so we loaded the cases on and set off. It was really foggy so I was glad I wasn’t driving. Journey was fine, apart from Jess being sick just before we arrived. Luckily I had a bag so she didn’t make a mess and she was fine when we got to the airport just after 5am.
We collected our pre ordered Euros at moneycorp, £278.10 for €310. I needed a couple of clear bags so grabbed them and put our toiletries in then headed to security. The others had gone ahead and we waited about 5 minutes. Jess got an extra pat down and both my bag and case were taken for an extra look. I forgot to take the I pad out, this is the first time we had took it with us, it didn’t take long and we were soon walking to the Spoons pub.
It was very busy and we had 2 small tables between us.

Classy toilet selfie

We had one drink then it was time to head to the gate. The queue had already started to move so we joined on and managed to board without our cases being taken into the hold which was a bonus.
We had a slight delay on the runway. The flight was fine, Jess listened to music, Matt watched Only Fools and Horses he downloaded and I read.

I had started reading Dark Places and was nearly finished before we landed, annoying as I wanted to find out the ending.
We arrived at Reus Airport at 11.15. It was warm when we got off the plane and it’s only a small walk to passport control. We were among the first people through, and it was a quick process. We were glad to have our cases as they hadn’t loaded the carousal yet.
I had booked a private transfer for us three, Sandy and Debbie. Linda and Russell had booked at the same time as booking their hotel so they were on a shared shuttle.
We went to the kiosk and waited a few minutes for our driver.

The drive as usual was scary! It always seems mad driving in Spain and we nearly had a crash at a roundabout but we were soon pulling up to the hotel.
Check in was easy, although ours seemed to take ages and our room wasn’t ready but we were given wristbands and met Tracey and Paul in the outside bar for food and drink.
I wasn’t on my A game yet and forgot to take photos.
We went back to reception to get our wi fi code, which you can only get when the room is ready. Luckily it was by now and we went up, we had booked a refurbished room which was worth the extra money. I quickly unpacked and changed for the warm weather then all met downstairs.
It started to rain (which was forecast) so we hung about in the main bar. I am going to confess, we just drunk and chatted all afternoon and evening and thought copious amounts of Apple liqueur shots were a good idea.

We were doing the drinks run

Good times

I was glad when it was time for dinner.

Jess went bed soon after but the rest of us had a second wind and stayed out. At 9pm, a kids disco came on and I recognised a song/dance from our last visit, called chi chi wah, it’s also played at the haven holiday camp. (Matts parents has a caravan at one local to us) and I couldn’t help but join in with the other parents. It’s so catchy and the dance is easy to pick up.

Linda, Russell, Sandy and Debbie went to bed but the rest of us watched a singer for half an hour before calling it a night at about 10.30pm.
We were on the same floor as Linda and Debbie and found Russell in the corridor, he couldn’t get in his room so we all bundled into Debbie and Sandy’s room. Matt and I did a one for the road drinks run and we listened to some music before falling into bed.
I had a sofa bed and Jess and Matt had the 2 other beds, I thought these were a little bigger than singles. Jess was sound aleep.
A great start to our holiday.

[Melbatb]

That was a long day Sounds like it is going to be a fun holiday!

[roxie2001]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

That was a long day Sounds like it is going to be a fun holiday!

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Im normally in bed early on travel day, so surprised myself this time.
It was one of our favorite holidays.

[Megandllsmum]

Great start... Laughing at chi chi wah, we were in majorca a couple of weeks back and that and baby shark are still my ear worms lol... Chi chi wah, chi chi wah, chi chi wah wah wah...

[roxie2001]

Originally Posted by Megandllsmum

Great start... Laughing at chi chi wah, we were in majorca a couple of weeks back and that and baby shark are still my ear worms lol... Chi chi wah, chi chi wah, chi chi wah wah wah...

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Thank you, those songs are annoyingly catchy and after a few drinks easy to dance to.