The good, the bad and the tacky. Benidorm Feb 18. A final fry up, travel home and trip highlights.

[roxie2001]

Friday 16th February

I set my alarm for 8am, as we didn't want to be late home, Matt had to be at work later on. Nothing says end of holiday when you re back at work.
Somehow I managed to get my jeans on and it was breakfast time.
There are 2 little rooms that serve breakfast, they both have cooked food, and one has a waffle maker. The orange juice machine wasn't working in the first room, and thats when I discovered the next room.
There isn't a separate restaurant, you eat in the bar area, but it is a big space so plenty of seats. Matt chose the table furthest away.

The potato bites were great.

I had to make a waffle. The mix is next to the machine. It took 3 minutes, and chocolate drops and marshmallows were next to it. They wouldn't come out when I twisted the handle, so I opened the top and spooned some out, I wasn't missing out
Syrups were also available, I had toffee and it was delicious.

I also had a hot chocolate, but it was disgusting.

We went back up, got our cases and dropped our keycards into the box. The shuttle was there again, and left as soon as we got in.
The man taking us was going to Benidorm the following week for a birthday so he was happy to hear about the good weather.
After being dropped off in the same place we were picked up, we then had to get the bus to Jetparks. This was easy to find and a bus pulled up just after we got to the stop. It actually takes you to long stay as well.
The drive took about 15 minutes, the driver was lovely, shouting out the zones. I made a note of our stop when we parked, zone W, bus stop 26. The man next to us who had no idea where he was parked and told his kids to look out for their car. good luck with that!
Luckily the bus driver told him what zone he was after he explained what he saw on the way in.
We were the 3rd stop, so it didn't take long. It was nice not having to de ice the car and we drove straight out, well we did get a little lost getting to the exit. I had read reviews that some cars had trouble exiting, and was faffing about with the ticket I took on the way in, when the barriers opened up automatically.

I have to say, I loved staying over the night we came home and would do this every time we have a late flight. I was a bit unsure, but Im so glad we did. Having the whole day relaxing and enjoying the last few drinks, then not driving home in the dark was so worth it.

The weather was bright and sunny for the journey home. we have never used Jetparks before, and followed the sat nav. We came out using a slightly different route, and was soon at the stressful roundabout (this is what I call it, as it is massive and all the lanes stress me out.) Its the one that take you to Cambridge, and our exit is all the way around. I managed this much better than usual and was soon on the familiar route home.
It didn't take long, about an hour and a half.
We came home to see the house still standing, dd was fine by herself, well she had a friend stay for 2 nights. The floor needed mopping, and a hoover, but on the whole everything was good.
It was nice to see dd, who then went out an hour later.

As you can tell, Matt and I really enjoyed our break. Not any lows really, the Ryan air check in and being charged to change seats was a pain, but still cant argue at the price we paid.
I am sure it is a different place in the summer, and I wouldn't visit then but off season we would return, in fact we are planning to take dd there for Christmas if we can get a good price.
There are the rough parts, Vicky's daughter is still doing the rounds, and I did see bars advertising adult shows, but these are easily avoided.
There is still lots of things we could do that we didn't have time for, the open top bus, boat that takes you to Peacock Island and lots of hotels and bars to have a drink at.

The scooters were brilliant, so much fun.
The hotel lived up to the good reviews, and the food was fantastic. As much as I missed dd, it was so nice spending our first break without her in an adults only hotel. (She can come with us as its over 16s but we have always stayed in child friendly places in the past)
The weather was perfect.
The hotel night stay when we got home, I would try and book this with the hotel next time, I did ask at reception and she said we could have the night on our return, we would just have to call.

Matt didn't really like Jetparks, not because it was bad, just because it took so long (only about 15 minutes) to get to the airport, but I would use them again as it is a good price.
We have used meet and greet, short stay and hotel parking with a stay the night before.
My preference would be the hotel followed by short stay.
Matt prefers meet and greet, which I think used to be great until it got busy and you had to wait to get in to park, plus if the flight landed early, you still had to wait for your car.

A massive thank you for reading and comments. Even though I write the reports so I can look back at them, its lovely if other people enjoy them as well.

By the way, I weighed in 2 nights ago, and the damage was 4lb on, not bad after all the food and drink.