Friday, October 13, 2006
Days 6 & 7
Thursday 12th October - Day 6, began with a typical french breakfast of bread and croissants. After checking out, we made our way along the coast through Nice, towards Perpignon and the French/Spanish border. The weather gradually got worse, as we went through the southern part of France, toward the Pyrenees and the Spanish border.
Luckily for me, I handed over to my co-pilot for the particularly treacherous driving conditions we encountered, whilst I played Solitaire on my laptop! That’s the least I deserved having only 8 hours sleep in a week!
Conditions gradually got better, and whilst still cloudy, we made our way into Salou, our “home” for the next 2 days.
I remember Salou as a child, when I went there on only my second foreign holiday back in 1985, so I’d have been 8 at the time. 21 years later, and the place is unrecognisable from the place I visited all those years ago. But the essence of the place is still the same – and reminds me about all that is bad with Spain, and with package holidays. Ok, some people might love how regimented this place is. You queue up for breakfast at 9am. You then have a couple of hours drinking round the pool, or go to one of the various local markets to buy some cheap tat that you can get at home for less (and you’ve no real need or use for it anyway). Then comes the lunch in one of the various British bars in town – egg and chips probably, before returning to the room for an afternoon nap, then another trip into town or maybe the beach, before coming home to get ready for dinner, which was always (and would appear to still be), a big canteen style restaurant, where you can have anything as long as its fish (as it was on the first night), along with some fried potatoes (an alternative to the monotony of chips I guess!).
Maybe all this has haunted me since I was a child, but as I’ve got older, I’ve grown to hate package holidays, from the meals to the whole atmosphere of the place – I imagine it as being not far from that of being in the army – to me that would be my worst nightmare.
I much prefer to go somewhere quiet, where I can go to a busy city and all the bars if I want to, but somewhere where I can relax and see new places and experience different cultures. Half the fun of going abroad is to sample these things and to eat different foods, but it seems that a lot of Brits (and a few other nationalities act the same, I’m sure) only like a place if they serve British food. They want it to be like Britain, only with some sunshine! That’s their heaven. Personally it’s my idea of hell – I go on holiday to get away from Britain, as much as to sometimes go home and better appreciate that what you’ve got at home isn’t actually that bad (apart from the weather!!).
Ok, all that said, I’d better go pick out an outfit for tonight’s meal! We’ll soon be on the road again. Luckily we are staying on Terra-firma today, being that it’s Friday the 13th, but tomorrow morning after breakfast it’s back to braving the Spanish roads, and off down the coast to Almería for one night, before heading to Gibraltar. I’ve been wanting to visit there again for ages, ever since I nearly got a job there at the beginning of the year – so I guess it would be nice to actually see what the place is like! Not that I’ve any intention of wanting to work there now, but never say never. Besides, it’s a haven for cheap fags and cheap electronics, neither of which I need, but somehow I always feel compelled to buy both whilst they are cheap. I don’t even smoke, and I’ve got every conceivable gadget a man could need, but I guess you never know when you might need a spare Ipod!!
Luckily for me, I handed over to my co-pilot for the particularly treacherous driving conditions we encountered, whilst I played Solitaire on my laptop! That’s the least I deserved having only 8 hours sleep in a week!
Conditions gradually got better, and whilst still cloudy, we made our way into Salou, our “home” for the next 2 days.
I remember Salou as a child, when I went there on only my second foreign holiday back in 1985, so I’d have been 8 at the time. 21 years later, and the place is unrecognisable from the place I visited all those years ago. But the essence of the place is still the same – and reminds me about all that is bad with Spain, and with package holidays. Ok, some people might love how regimented this place is. You queue up for breakfast at 9am. You then have a couple of hours drinking round the pool, or go to one of the various local markets to buy some cheap tat that you can get at home for less (and you’ve no real need or use for it anyway). Then comes the lunch in one of the various British bars in town – egg and chips probably, before returning to the room for an afternoon nap, then another trip into town or maybe the beach, before coming home to get ready for dinner, which was always (and would appear to still be), a big canteen style restaurant, where you can have anything as long as its fish (as it was on the first night), along with some fried potatoes (an alternative to the monotony of chips I guess!).
Maybe all this has haunted me since I was a child, but as I’ve got older, I’ve grown to hate package holidays, from the meals to the whole atmosphere of the place – I imagine it as being not far from that of being in the army – to me that would be my worst nightmare.
I much prefer to go somewhere quiet, where I can go to a busy city and all the bars if I want to, but somewhere where I can relax and see new places and experience different cultures. Half the fun of going abroad is to sample these things and to eat different foods, but it seems that a lot of Brits (and a few other nationalities act the same, I’m sure) only like a place if they serve British food. They want it to be like Britain, only with some sunshine! That’s their heaven. Personally it’s my idea of hell – I go on holiday to get away from Britain, as much as to sometimes go home and better appreciate that what you’ve got at home isn’t actually that bad (apart from the weather!!).
Ok, all that said, I’d better go pick out an outfit for tonight’s meal! We’ll soon be on the road again. Luckily we are staying on Terra-firma today, being that it’s Friday the 13th, but tomorrow morning after breakfast it’s back to braving the Spanish roads, and off down the coast to Almería for one night, before heading to Gibraltar. I’ve been wanting to visit there again for ages, ever since I nearly got a job there at the beginning of the year – so I guess it would be nice to actually see what the place is like! Not that I’ve any intention of wanting to work there now, but never say never. Besides, it’s a haven for cheap fags and cheap electronics, neither of which I need, but somehow I always feel compelled to buy both whilst they are cheap. I don’t even smoke, and I’ve got every conceivable gadget a man could need, but I guess you never know when you might need a spare Ipod!!
# posted by Nige @ 10/13/2006 01:21:00 pm 
