Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Hi there everybody. Hope you’ve had a wonderful Eid. I certainly have. I’ve just got back from a fantastic seven-day holiday in
Apart from the traffic it feels a little bit like still being on holiday. There’s no feeling of rushing back into things … though I’ve hit the ground running and am back at work.
My family and I had a great time. From the moment we finished packing our bags till the moment I went to unpack them when we got home, it was pretty much perfect.
Our friend and neighbour Paul took us to the airport in comfort and style. The good folks at Gulf Air had arranged passes for us to go to their First and Business Class lounge and what a treat that was.
The Sky Nanny looked after my daughter Hannah, my wife Wendy had a chat with another mum, and I treated myself to the first of many cooked breakfasts and checked my emails one last time. It was all very civilised and enjoyable. I can honestly say it was easily the best airport lounge I’ve been in, and caters for both business travellers and families exceptionally well. The flight was smooth and before we knew it, we were in our rental car on the way to Limassol to stay four nights at the Apollonia Hotel.
And lucky me, we’d arrived in time to see the
Yep, it was going to be a great holiday.
We’ve been to Limassol before, so didn’t plan to do much ‘touristing’. Though we did go for a lovely drive up the Troodos mountains for the view and clean mountain air. It’s a beautiful place and truly cleanses the soul. Hannah had a lovely afternoon playing in a park and we all had ice-creams. (Ice-creams and chocolate featured heavily during this holiday).
Every morning started with a hearty hotel breakfast. Hannah always brought along one of her activity/colouring books to keep her busy as she’s never that hungry at breakfast. So as well as eating too much every morning, I also did a lot of colouring and stickers.
It was even more wonderful to wake up at seven thirty or later. When you’re usually up at five this is a pretty good lie in. And given Hannah is three is about as good as one can hope for.
Whilst in Limassol, we caught up with a mate of mine from when I worked at BJ’s; ‘Scouse’ Mark and his wife Connie (who Wendy knew from her days in Gulf Air). They now have a two-year-old daughter called Zoe and are expecting another child in a few months. We went to their house for a BBQ one afternoon. It’s great to catch up with old friends. Our lives are so different from when we first knew each other and yet they do not seem to have changed a bit … although, Connie (being very pregnant) did seem a whole lot rounder.
Now, we’d read a few internet reviews about the hotels before we left and our new hotel; the Lordos, had been slated and we didn’t have high expectations. This was a good thing … because we were very pleasantly surprised. Sure, if you were going for a romantic weekend you might be disappointed but as ‘family’ travellers we were happy. There were loads of different swimming pools, not a bad beach, and best of all … when we looked out our 5th floor room what did we see? A circus - setting up just down the road. We were leaving on Saturday and their first performances were going to be on Friday night. Hooray! What great luck.
Now, I’m an animal lover and a part of me doesn’t want to support circuses that have wild animals but I also feel that circus folk love their animals and look after them as best they can.
The show was fantastic. It was the perfect ending to a much-needed holiday.We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and Hannah has talked about nothing else since.
After breakfast on our last day we had one final swim before checking out, and in true proud dad form I’m going to boast that after all the swimming we did, my little three-year-old Hannah can ‘officially swim all by herself’.
After checking out, we did some shopping to kill time before the flight home. Funnily enough it was the only shopping we did. I bought a new pair of runners for something that I will tell you about in the coming weeks.
We returned to the airport, dropped off the car and checked in for the return flight. I wandered around the terminal and seemed to run into half the residents of
Although it was a relaxing and fun holiday it was also nice to be home. Hannah and Wendy went to our other neighbours Allison and Graham Dunkley to pick up our budgie ‘Messy’ and bring him back home and I went upstairs to unpack our suitcases … then I came back downstairs again with one of them.
Guess what – I’d picked up someone else’s bag! One of the lovely crew-members who’d looked after us so well (Ms Shetty, I am so very sorry).
Wendy could’ve killed me by the look on her face, but said nothing. She did have a bit to say, however, when she tried to phone the airport and couldn’t get through because I’d forgotten to pay the bill before we left. But I know she must really love me because the next World Cup rugby match was due to start in under an hour and she got in the car and drove all the way back to the airport to sort it out. And
Keep Smiling,
Krazy Kevin
