Mallorca – 16th June

There were so many things that we could have done on Tuesday 16th June but I was aware that with only one day and another night, the best thing to do was live like a local in Santa Ponsa. My host, the Mallorca Resort Expert, had asked if I’d wanted to do a boat trip, go to the pirate show or see any of the sights while I was there – I preferred to spend time with her. I did have some work to do but we kept it to a minimum as well as working on content ideas for our social media work pages.
My friend had took the liberty of guessing what I might like for breakfast and had served it up on the balcony, overlooking the beach and sea. Our meal was a feast of yoghurt with fruit, cheese and ham on bread with garlic dip, olives, tomatoes, more bread and a hot drink. It was so good and we ate while people watching the goings on at the beach below.
We decided that’s where we would spend some time today, on the beach! We donned our swimmers, put on the suncream, grabbed our beach towels (my new one was super light) and a parasol before tackling those steps down to the beach. The sand was soft and hot but there was a lovely breeze as we sat down with a small bag of picnic type items. We had to keep an eye on the cheeky gulls who were well practiced in stealing any treats they fancied from people’s bags while they were in the sea. It was my first time this year, just lazing on the beach. Despite being so near to it in Dalyan, I rarely have a day off for beach going and thought perhaps I should do more of it.

Around 4pm we decided to head back ‘home’, after a walk along the seafront path and calling at the shop. I noticed my face was pretty pink and decided it might be a good idea to treat us to a face mask to prevent my skin looking like a typical Brit abroad, later! Here’s what we bought, with prices in Euros;

Santa Ponsa Supermarket
1.5l bottled water 0.31
Apple juice 1.00
500ml Fanta Lemon 2.00
1 can Mixed fruit cider 2.35
2 Aloe Vera face masks 3.00
Total spent €8.66 (£7.36)

I did a bit of work then we popped on the face masks and had a 10 minute lay down which turned into a cheeky cat nap but my face felt and looked loads better after it.
Back on that fantastic sea view balcony, we ate a really lovely meal of mozzarella, tomato, avocado and basil served with fresh bread, olives, rice crackers and a peach. I chatted on about how Fanta lemon in Spain is different to that in the UK. We also managed to have a croissant which we hadn’t eaten earlier. I was stuffed and feeling relaxed and happy, but not looking forward to leaving at 4am tomorrow morning. The visit had gone too quickly but I was still glad to have had some time in Santa Ponsa, which was so beautiful.

The evening plan was to simply watch the sunset at Il Chiringo, in Costa De La Calma. It was a place the Mallorca Resort Expert had been to many times before and she wanted me to see it for myself. After dinner we walked to the venue, bumping into a man with his dog on the way, who invited us to go to his house. We didn’t go but it struck me that the locals were friendly, and his dog was cute.
When we arrived we had timed it perfectly and were sat amongst the other locals who were all coming in from a swim to have a sunset drink or bite to eat. It was beautiful and I felt so lucky to get to see it, I perhaps wouldn’t have found out about this hidden gem if I wasn’t staying with my friend.
I wasn’t sure what to order to drink so I tried my first shandy made with lemon Fanta (commonly called Clara) for €4 (£3.40) and my fellow sunset watcher had an alcohol free beer which was slightly more at €4.50 (£3.83). I thought this was very reasonable given the location – the Fanta shandy was an absolute game changer.
We walked back, taking those steps for the last time where a cat watched us. He was nicknamed The Manager as he was in charge of the place. I packed my stuff in to Pauline, my petite pink under seat case, I had a full neck pillow too but this time I was flying with easyJet so there was no need for booking the exit row seat. We both set alarms on both phones so that we could make sure I didn’t miss my flight.

Gratitude List
1. Spending time, both for work and personally, with the Mallorca Resort Expert
2. An afternoon at the beach
3. Sunset at Il Chiringo

Costa Del Sol to Mallorca – 15th June

I had no idea when I woke up on Monday 15th June that today would be such a great day. We saw our last sunrise and sea view before I needed to pack up Pauline, my petite pink under seat case, for destination number 4 in 3 weeks. Due to me winning a luxury cruise Fam trip, I had needed to rearrange my Spanish section of my trip and I was now going to Mallorca to visit my friend, the Mallorcan Resort Expert, for only 1.5 days!!! I’d managed to get bargain priced flights from Malaga and then to Budapest and my friend was very kindly putting me up in her apartment.
It was the last buffet breakfast at the Ramada by Wyndham and I certainly made the most of it. I’d really enjoyed this hotel although, on checking the rooms the others had, I did think their rooms could’ve done with a better layout and their bedrooms were on the small side. I’m glad 3 of us were sharing and had a bigger room, despite sleeping on the pull-out sofa bed which was very comfy. I made a note for future customers, I would recommend the better rooms.
Everyone made it to breakfast for our last one and I even made a cheese and ham sandwich, plus took an extra breadroll for the last of the pork – I often take an airport sandwich if I can.
It had been such a lovely weekend and I genuinely was sad it was ending. Our taxi to the airport was booked through the hotel reception while Jamie had booked an Uber with Charlotte and Kerrie as their Bournemouth flight was slightly later than the Gatwick flight.
After saying bye to Carol, who was staying on to meet a friend, we said farewell to Jamie, Charlotte and Kerrie even though we would probably see them at the airport. The Gatwick lot plus me got in the taxi to the airport. Reports of queues at Malaga airport were not what we found and everything was straight forward. We saw the Bournemouth gang who were a tad early and they were heading for a bar/lounge. I said bye to Claire, Dawn and Spawn at the international terminal and popped over to domestic one to find that my flight had been delayed due to a storm. It was disappointing as now my Mallorca trip was even shorter. My flight should have been at 1.55pm but it turned out that we were only just taking off at 3pm. At Malaga airport I learned that the water dispenser was much colder in the domestic terminal than the international. It was also much quieter with lots of seating areas for me to snaffle my sandwiches and have a browse round the souvenir shops.
My flight with Vueling was booked with an under seat bag where the permitted measurements with this airline was 5cm shorter than that of easyJet. I’d checked this before I flew and noted that Vueling is the same as Ryanair. Pauline, my petite pink under seat case, wouldn’t adhere to that despite having detachable wheels and being under on width and depth. I couldn’t acquire a new case so I did a bit of research to work out how I could take Pauline, plus my neck pillow stuffed with clothes and not have to pay up to £70 in charges at the gate. To add on a larger carry on bag it would cost up to £50 if adding in advance. However, I noticed that if I added on a seat selection for an exit row at online check-in, it would be less than half the price and my case would have to go in the overhead locker anyway. I did that, confident that Pauline would not have to be put in the hold and I wouldn’t get a hefty fine for the sake of 5cm. The flight was good, I had a row to myself and all went well with the travel hack to get Pauline through as hand luggage. I was really looking forward to meeting my colleague in Mallorca on what would be very much a flying visit.

I landed at Palma airport at 4.30pm and made my way to the arrivals area where the Mallorca Resort Expert was waiting for me. I was delayed, she stood there patiently and I was able to sneak up on her. It was the first time we had met in person and had so far only met online so I was really looking forward to meeting her. We hugged and it felt good to finally get together even though we had a very tight schedule.
Rather than wait for the airport bus, we jumped into a taxi straight to Palma city centre. My host had organised for us to eat at a tapas restaurant which not many tourists know about and had booked us a table for when it opened at 6.30pm. This meant we had a bit of time for her to show me around some of her favourite shops in Palma. I was also glad that I had only taken Pauline, my petite pink under seat case, as we needed to walk through the busy streets of the capital and it was sunny. We stopped to listen to a street musician who was playing a Stevie Wonder song, we visited two of Dagne’s favourite shops; Georg’s which sold Salamis, herbs, olive oil, honey, and balsamic vinegar. The shop was so lovely, the owner very attentive and she let us try everything before I got a couple of souvenirs, mostly for myself. Puzzles was a really cute shop where they sell original puzzles that you can try out while at the counter and if you get frustrated and can’t complete them, the owners will lend you a hammer as a solution. It was such good fun and we had a good laugh before heading off to Bodega. For those not in the know, like the Mallorca Resort Expert, you would be forgiven for ending up at a different one. Ours was not the fancier, pricier La Bodega – more the traditional tapas place where locals queue as soon as it’s opened to get a seat.

Bodega was small but cosy and Pauline sat neatly under the counter/bar which we sat at on high stools. My fellow diner had a zero alcohol beer and I had a glass of red wine while we perused the excellent menu. We ordered a selection of tapas; croquettes, tortilla, brie, burrata on bruschetta, and patatas bravas which were all amazing – we both agreed on which were the best dishes. We had another drink each and, even though we were full, we chose 2 more of the pinchos to have with our drinks. The food and wine was so good that I would definitely put it in one of my top places to eat. When the bill came, I was expecting it to be so much more expensive so I was pleased when it came to just €25 (£21.25) each.

Next, we got the bus to Santa Ponsa, where Pauline and I were met with quite a few steps to climb that certainly weren’t in the brochure! Once inside I got a lovely welcome from my host who had bought me some gifts and even put some balloons out with ‘Welcome Jo Lo’ written on them. I felt like a celebrity or something as she had got both copies of my books out, ready for me to sign.
After an admiration of the amazing sea view balcony and a drink of water, it was time for a quick shower and change. My friend had arranged for us to visit a roof top bar and hotel where we enjoyed a glass of champagne while admiring the view. A kind guest took our photos at the H10 Casa Del Mar hotel and did a pretty thorough job. It was lovely for someone I work with to be so thoughtful and I had definitely found a good friend here. The rooftop bar was really cool and we relaxed by the pool with our fizz, laughing and getting to know each other more. Even when we were back home, the hospitality and kindness shone as my host tried to insist I take her bed and she have the couch – I was having none of it as I was not about to take someone’s bed, I was more than happy on the couch.

Gratitude List
1. Having the last morning in Spain with the Costa Del Sol gang
2. Meeting the Mallorca Resort Expert in real life
3. Fantastic local tapas and rooftop bar drinks together.

Photo Credit – some photos by the Mallorca Resort Expert

Dalyan to Barnes – 1st April

Where was the time going!? I was finding it hard to believe that it was already Tuesday 1st April and I had so much to do. All with a hangover, too!!!!
I still needed to calculate my budget v actual spending at the end of March, I was behind on my blog posts and I hadn’t even checked how many books I had sold in my first full month of trading! All this and we were off to the prison restaurant for a hello/farewell lunch with Jamie and then to the airport for our 2.30pm flight to Gatwick! I’d had a wonderful message from my friend and colleague, Dagne, yesterday but had not had chance to post it on social media. She had finally got her copy of ‘You Can’t Shit Yourself on a Bicycle’ and was on the beach in Majorca, reading my book. The photo was perfect! I wondered if the British humour would still translate well enough. I needn’t have worried as she was already enjoying it and said she felt like she was getting friendly travel advice from a friend over a glass of wine! Amazing, and that is all I could have wished for! Dagne was also the first person to send me a photo where it was the new version of the book! It was also the first one to be bought in Spain! I think this was the 5th country to have someone reading my book in, and that felt good!
When I checked how many books I had sold it wasn’t as many as I had hoped for but it averaged at over 1 per day. Apparently, that is good for a self published one with zero marketing budget/adverts. Still, it meant I had earned less than £150 for the month, which I would not get until the end of May. I needed to sell more and I needed a smarter way to do that. I was grateful for everyone who had bought it already and I needed a way to get it out to more people, particularly who would benefit from the travel advice. I think using Amazon puts some people off, and I’m not a massive fan of it either, but it’s the biggest seller of books in the world. If I couldn’t cut it using Amazon as a free platform, then it wasn’t wise to pay for a different platform. I was also surprised at how few ebook/kindle versions I had sold as I thought that was a popular way to read books these days. I would persevere and hope more people would buy it in the coming weeks and months. I’d already started a list of chapter titles for the next one.
My next task was to check the money situation; unsurprisingly I had gone over my £300 budget. In March I had spent a grand total of £370 including bills (but not rent or council tax). I was a bit disappointed at going over by 23% but I had splashed out on my hair this month plus some extra treats.
April was going to be tough to set a budget for as I was off to the UK for at least a week and we had a holiday in the İzmir area planned. Captain Caveman was also planning to move out of Sheffield as his 3 months renting in a shared place was up and he had decided to rent a house to himself in a more convenient location for work.
I didn’t eat any breakfast on account of feeling sickly from too much booze last night. I’d had a whole bottle of red wine and one whisky and I really felt it!!! I was doing all I could to not be sick by the time Jamie picked us up. Unfortunately, the storm last night had blown the adjacent new build’s roof off, some of it was on our balcony and some in the garden. We drove to the prison and we ordered food, I just copied what Captain Caveman had, köfte, hoping he’d eat some of mine anyway. As Jamie was kind enough to drive us to the airport I bought the lunch which only came to 985 lira (£20) for 3 meals and 3 soft drinks – impressive.

We drove to the airport and said our farewells to Jamie, it felt weird that I was going back to the UK after almost 9 months and I wasn’t sure when I would be back exactly. At the airport they let us go through to the lounge with our water and Captain Caveman went off to do a reccy in the Duty Free. It works out cheaper to get the small wines or spirit miniatures at the Duty Free shop, than buying in the bar but I had no plans on drinking or eating anything. On the easyJet plane, I had a whole row to myself, Captain Caveman was sat in front of me with just 2 of them in a row of 3. We took off on time and then Captain Caveman came and sat in my row, taking the window seat and I had the aisle. Luckily, I had brought chocolate Dido bars for a snack but we didn’t bother buying any food or drink on the entire journey. We were due to land about 5pm and Captain Caveman managed to get quite a bit of sleep.

We landed in to Gatwick airport on time on and got the train to Barnes. Captain Caveman and I were staying at his parents while they were away. We were walking in to the house just before 6pm, having cost £15.60 using my Wise card to get from Gatwick. I was really excited as I had a package, it was 3 copies of my book. It was the first time I’d touched or seen a copy of it and I was actually quite happy with it. It was small enough to fit in to a handbag which was a good selling point. I took a couple of photos and then we unpacked.

Captain Caveman suggested we have a walk around Barnes, get some dinner and do some shoping ready for us both being back to work tomorrow. Barnes was really beautiful and it wasn’t as cold as I thought it was going to be. Captain Caveman treated us to dinner at Base Face Pizza which was just amazing. I wasn’t going to be drinking but I ended up with a red wine and a pizza with ham and pineapple on. Captain Caveman had beer and a spicy pizza. He paid the bill so I wasn’t sure of the exact total but it came to about £50 for the 2 of us, including a drink each. Tap water was free and I just couldn’t get enough of it – it’s one of the things I miss when I’m not in England. Our food was so delicious, the waitress was really good and I took half of my pizza home as I was trying to be good. We saw the sunset over the river Thames and it was so nice to be in London together.
Our next stop off was at Sainsbury’s where I was gobsmacked at how much chocolate they had. Cadbury’s Cream Eggs were in abundance at 85p each or 5 for £3 but I resisted the urge to buy any chocolate. Here’s what was in our shopping basket (prices in pounds) and doing the self scan, which Captain Caveman was really good at;

Sainsbury’s Supermarket
2 tins Baked Beans 0.80
1 wholemeal loaf 1.39
6 eggs 1.75
Pork sausages 1.79
Fresh tomatoes 2.00
Total spent £7.73

I was shocked at the price of tomatoes and bread but pleased with the baked beans and sausages. We didn’t even watch any TV as we were both tired so we had an early night.

Gratitude List
1. Jamie taking us to the airport
2. Being able to go back to the UK with Captain Caveman
3. A night out with pizza in Barnes.

Dalyan – 19th March

By 7am on Wednesday 19th March, I was having snuggles on the sofa with Edna after both dogs had eaten breakfast and been outside. The weather had turned and more bad weather warnings came. My measurements showed no change to my bust or hips but I’d lost 2cm from my waist – I was doing really well with being under target on actual centimetres. For some reason, I had managed to be so busy with other stuff that I forgot to do my food diary. I checked my Amazon account as I had been actively selling ‘You Can’t Shit Yourself on a Bicycle’ for the last 10 days and had sold more than 1 per day on average! I was continuing to get 5 Star reviews too, which I was pleased about. This was good news as I was only using my own Facebook page to promote it, so far. I realised that I had not even added any information to the author section of my book page on Amazon, so I did that. I did my Turkish homework last minute and was just about to leave to go to class when the post man came with a special delivery for me. My friend and colleague, Dagne, had sent me a really lovely gift of a purse, some homemade jewellery with shells she had collected from the beach and a lovely postcard. She had already told me that she was desperate to buy my book and I was still working on getting it available in Europe as a paperback – it was already available for Kindle/eBook everywhere. On the way to Turkish class the wind was starting to get up and it felt very cold again. Our Turkish class was good and I wished I had more time to actually practice some of what I learned. At 1pm I rushed back to attend a training Webinar about package holidays. I then had a call with Dagne to thank her for my rather lovely gift, before shovelling down a salad and running off to Fat Club. There, I was obviously disappointed to find that the 300 syns I had consumed this week, had resulted in me putting on a whopping 1.6kg (3.5lb). Because my measurements were so promising, I wasn’t overly bothered about the huge weight gain and was confident I could get it back down to target again.

After finishing work, Edna and I were excited that Nanny Kay was popping over for a natter and some dinner.
Nanny Kay decided to drive over as the storm and blustery weather had started – cycling would not have been sensible. We had a good catch up with cups of tea and it’s always lovely to talk to Nanny Kay. She’d been away and catching up with friends so there was lots to get through while Edna got some fuss. We decided to order a takeaway for delivery from Simple. Onur, is the owner and chef of this rather lovely restaurant, located near Migros and Mimi’s, in the corner of the square. I really enjoy Onur’s food and he does some fantastic noodle dishes. We decided to order one each of the beef and the chicken noodles, I asked for it without chillies (as I’m allergic) and it came delivered to the door very swiftly. I thought it was well presented in the boxes and it cost a total of 680 lira (£14.26) for both of us. We both thought it was absolutely delicious and I would definitely recommend it, if you’re in Dalyan.

Gratitude List
1. Not being too concerned about the weight gain this week
2. Gifts from my lovely friend and Resort Experts colleague
3. Nanny Kay and the Simple takeaway.