Tata Birmingham...Ola Espanol; Day one

Bags measured, weighed, and checked again, because Ryanair WILL charge you 35pounds if your bag doesn't fit in the frame or exceeds 10kg by any amount! Confusion about what to pack...will we need anything warm? In the end, we decided the layers we had on to leave cold England would suffice and filled our bags with summer clothes...remember what they are? I had a straw hat that I had hurriedly purchased at the Measham car boot, of course, after the incident of my nearly fainting at the battle of Bosworth last year. Now I hadn't had cause to wear it because apparently the sun died after that day (Insert laughter track here) and when I put it on to test it, it didn't shade my eyes and was too stiff to fit in the bag properly. A decision was made; I would buy a hat immediately upon arrival in Spain. The trip to the airport went smoothly because we didn't turn James on until we were past the part we knew he would get wrong. Bags were unceremoniously forced into said frame...phew, they fit, and we moved into the next queue. Window seat obtained and strapped in for the cattle truck trip to Spain. A few minutes of whinging from the guy who had to sit down the front...'But I want to sit with the family', to which I quietly responded 'Well you should have got here earlier then'. Some people just don't get it, it was only 100 pounds, to Spain, what do you expect!

Pleasant flight, arrived on time and got picked up by our prepaid shuttle to hotel...oh so very stylish, as the chauffeur stood holding his bit of card with our name on it, then led us to our awaiting Mercedes.

Glenn really enjoyed his smooth trip in the front seat, after he opened the wrong door (coz they drive on the other side) and was politely told by the driver 'I will drive!'. I sat in the back, squeezed into the corner by a large woman who had on far too much perfume and a daughter who needed a lesson in respect. Anyway, arrived at hotel Sol Timor approx 11pm, were happy with our room which overlooked the ocean, and then went for a walk along the promenade. Ahh to feel sand and warm cement under my feet...ahh to feel anything under my bare feet actually. Back to the room which we promptly rearranged so that the twin beds were at least beside each other, I couldn't sleep as the pillows were too fat so a blanket would have to do but after that we were off to the land of nod.

Breakfast was taken on a warm morning on the balcony, just glorious as we sat and looked out at the sunrise over the mediterranean and we were lucky enough to bejoined by a sweet white dove/pidgeon which of course was suitably fed with our left overs.

We had an itinerary, of course, so we knew that our first day was the market, where I was to purchase said hat, earrings for Freedom and to lookout for a blanket badge (our standard souvenir). The man at the front desk said to get a taxi, 5 mins and 6-7 euros. We asked how far it was to walk and he said 45mins. In our wisdom, we decided that a 5min car trip could not possibly take 45min to walk and set off with map in hand. You guessed it, 45min later, sweating (what the hell is that?), a lot of steep uphill and trying to safely cross roads later, we were there. It was probably the best market I have ever been to. unfortunately we didn't think to take photo's but, after seeing lots of hats that I didn't even want for 9euro, I spotted an apricot coloured, large brimmed hat with a metal rim so you can bend it to whatever shape you like, for only 3euro; bargain. Found some earrings, bought Glenn a lovely new polo shirt after some cajoling, and fought our way out through the now madding crowds of English tourists and headed straight for the taxi rank!

Spent a delightful couple of hours laying in the sun and not just sun, but heat, suncream required. You will notice we are laying on the white hotel towels even though clearly stated on the arrivals form was 'Do not take towels from your room' and not a sunbed, because they cost 2.50euros a day and we'll not be paying for that! Even with suncream, pink bits ensued and between Glenn's chest and my bum (yes I was wearing bottoms lol) we made a pretty good lobster.

A day trip to Gibraltar had been planned for friday, but the travel agent price was 33euros and we thought we had seen it on the internet for 13. So, off we set for a walk to the information centre on our trusty map. Should be a pleasant 30min walk along the promenade. It was again beautiful and the summer clothes were in full force. I even bought an iced lolly and ate it as we strolled along barefoot once again. It is so interesting to walk along and see so many different kinds of people and pick up bits of conversation as you go. The architecture was great albeit quite 'Surfers Paradise' as we were in a tourist zone. Eventually we found the spot where the map said the info centre should be and....it wasn't. By this time I was pretty exhausted, what with our morning walk to the market so we had a few rest stops on the way back. We finally arrived back at our hotel and looked at the time to find it had taken us two hours to achieve essentially nothing. Glenn went and booked the Gibraltar trip because we had seen others at a higher price along our walk, while I collapsed in the room. Found out later the 13euro trip is for shopping only and not the awesome tour we took which you will hear about on day two.

After dinner in our apartment, we took advantage of the hotel's free entertainment and went downstairs for their presentation of the music of 'Grease'. It was clearly not a professional show, but the staff miming to a soundtrack, but it was entertaining none the less and as I have been recently informed that my husband likes a dare, I suggested he ought to run on stage and sit behind the prop car. So he did, but he tells me now it was because he wanted to and not because I dared him 'Yeah right'.

  I did so want to sit there   nerr nerr  :)