Back to Salou/Portaventura with newbies and new things.

[roxie2001]

Well, here I am again writing a pre trip for Salou. This will be our 4th visit in October half term.
The reason for the title is that the previous years we haven't done much, apart from the theme park, but this year we have a trip to barcalona planned, plus we will get out more!
Plus, the cast has increased, for the first time my sister Steph is coming with my neice Kim and her two children and also Kims friend with her two children. Quite a big crowd this year, with four kids under 8, and one of them is severely autistic, so it will be interesting.
A run down of all the cast:
Myself, Julie, trip writer. 40 this year, qualified chef, I now work as a cook manager in a school. I love holidays, and am always saving and planning the next one. Complete wuss when it comes to big rides. You ll probably notice I wear sunglasses in most of my photos, I take them everywhere!


Oh, Matt, 37, also a chef, hes the thrill seeker, and will normally go off on his own for a couple of hours to ride the extreme rides, although he is scared of snakes. We both enjoy a drink
I cant find a photo of him by himself, so heres a recent selfie

DD, Jess, 14, so far, a really good teen. She has anxiety, but is working hard to overcome it. She loves watching you tubers, minecraft and music. Listens to the wombats, imagine dragons, mother mother and other emo/rock bands.
Here she is with jacckmaate at summer in the city, probably the happiest ive seen her in a photo!


Our friends, Tracy and Paul, their third trip with us. Tracy will be joining us at portaventura, so Matt will have a rollercoaster buddy. Paul doesnt like theme parks, so he ll stay at the hotel. He is due to have an op to remove his toes, so he will be taking it easy.
Tracy works at asda and Paul runs a pub.


My sister, Steph, 53, I cant remember her official job title, but she sorts out wages, time sheets and takes minutes. She is a fantastic help to Kim, and her other 3 grandchildren.


My niece, kim, 32, a full time mum at the moment. Shes here with Steph and Charlie, trying to break wheres wally in one place the record.

Charlie, 7, severely autistic, very loving and loves extreme rides. He cant talk yet, so can get frustrated. He is constantly on the go.


Elizabeth, 4, she will be 5 when we re there. Sweet little girl, always chatting and loves ty teddies.


Kims friend, Kelly and her two children. Ive only met her once, shes the same age as Kim, and has Troy, 8 and Maddie who is 5.

The plan
Us and Tracy and Paul are flying out Thursday October 22nd, until Thursday 29th. Steph and her gang are on the same flight out, but returning Tuesday 27th. We re all booked with ryan air, and paid £110 for return flights. A little more than last year, but we fly into Reus airport (from stansted) which is a 10 minute transfer to the hotel. It took a while for ryan air to release the return flight, I did tweet them a lot at the time, as we did think about flying into Barcelona, but they came through and added the return flight so we pretty much booked as soon as they came out.
Steph has booked special assistance with ryan air on line chat, they were brilliant. Her and Charlie now have pre booked seats on the back row, with no charge and will be able to use the special assistance line so he won't have to wait. They ll also be first off the plane. It will be his and Elizabeth's first time flying. Charlie is calm in the car, so we re hoping it will be the same on the flight. Failing that, he may be visiting the toilets a few times, and Steph has his medicine that will send him to sleep if he really hates it.
We are going to portaventura as usual, just 2 day tickets this year, as that is enough time for us. I think they were £28 per adult, a couple of pounds cheaper for children. We booked with atd, brilliant service from them, 2 days for the price of 1, and we got an additional 10% off as we booked the tickets together. With the 2 day tickets you have to visit consecutive days, so Steph will be going Sunday and Monday, and we will be going Monday and Tuesday. We tried a weekend day last year, and it was packed, so hopefully Charlie will get a fast pass. I don't think they ll stay long, but they didn't pay any extra for the ticket. Monday, we will go together and then do our own thing. Jess also hates big rides, so we ll probably take Elizabeth on sesame street land. We always end up on the water rides, and have a few goes on each before we leave. We hire a locker for a euro, store our lunch, towels and flip flops to get changed into before we hit the rides. It costs another euro to re lock our stuff up, but well worth it for the day.
As usual, we don't hire a car, return transfers are booked from the airport, separate ones as Steph is leaving earlier in the week. Ours cost £10.50 each. We booked with hoppa, with a 20% discount code.
The buses to the park are great, I rave about them in every trip report, hopefully this year won't be any different.
We re staying At the calypso hotel again, our 4 th visit. Again, I rave about it in my previous trip reports. It's perfect for us, 2 large swimming pools, amusements with a dance game Jess loves, all day food and drink, including a grill at lunch times, and great shows in the evening. The rooms are basic, but clean. You can hear the neighbours in the next room, but that has never bothered us.
We are paying £540 for me, Matt and Jess, all inclusive. Tracy and Paul's cost is £390. We booked with travel republic with £1 deposit, this week we ll start paying it off.
For the first time time, we are taking Jess to Barcelona for the day. Now she is older, hopefully she ll enjoy it. We will just book a bus tour when we get there.
The really exciting news for Matt is that Barcelona are playing while we are there. Messi is his favourite player. We ve been unlucky our past trips, and either just missed being there for a game, or they have played a big team so couldn't get tickets. This year he should be ok as they are playing Saturday or Sunday playing eibar. They normally have tickets and transport from the hotel, but I have to email the week before to see if there are organising a trip. Paul will probably go with him if they do. If they don't, Matt will just go alone using public transport.
I know people hate travelling with extended family and friends, but so far, we have never had a problem with it. We all just do our own thing without anyone getting offended.
All that's left is to pay the hotel, and order our euros from moneycorp.

[candycat75]

Hi nice start to your pre trippy! We're going in September (3rd time ) for my 40th birthday, staying at golden avenida suites this time. Can't wait, looking forward to seeing the park done up for Halloween!

[roxie2001]

Originally Posted by candycat75

Hi nice start to your pre trippy! We're going in September (3rd time ) for my 40th birthday, staying at golden avenida suites this time. Can't wait, looking forward to seeing the park done up for Halloween!

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Hi, Thank you. We do love it there. Portaventura looks amazing for Halloween. There are plenty of themed shows, but they don't interest us.