The trials and tribulations of family holidays!

My experience in a small corner of paradise. I wrote this last year then never uploaded it, which is terrible remiss on my part! I am however going back again at the end of July 2015. I just booked it and hopefully I will be running a small seminar there for like minded colleagues. A bit of relaxing whilst learning the essentials of being healthy in both life and clinical practice. I just hope I get to see the same fabulous faces we saw last year! Oh… We will be staying 9 days this time in a junior suite! 🙂

This time however I booked our family holiday via the uk arm of sani holidays, ie direct and not via Thompson, because the UK (Luton) leg was horrendous!

So here goes……

Ok, it’s Saturday 24th August 2013 it’s 3.27 in the afternoon and I am on Aimee watch whilst she gets her afternoon nap. What I would also point out is that I am on patch of green luscious grass under spreading shading palm tree and I’m looking out on the aquamarine sea as it rolls over the white sandy beech in front of me!

It’s holiday time again, and like the majority of people I have to go away in August, not because of my daughter, she is just 3. It is mainly due to the clinic becoming a ghost building as our clients jet off to far flung and not so far flung places to get their doses or vitamin D in the few scant moments as parents we can genuinely enjoy with our children whilst they are off school.

This was a holiday with joint meaning as it was also my honeymoon, but when picking it we were stuck with wanting somewhere for us in our post nuptial bliss as well as somewhere Aimee could enjoy herself. We looked at Portugal, but after last year and the water being so cold, we looked to the Greek islands. One of my best friends George an amazing chap who I lived with at university hales from Cyprus, but after going there a few year ago and getting stung for €29 for a couple of brandy and cokes and a hot chocolate I thought we would try somewhere different. In fact upon chatting to George he said things weren’t too good, however with the American interest in a potential oil field just off the coast of Cyprus, he reckons things should be all good in a few years and financial sanity should return. I certainly hope so, as the number of people left destitute after the banks as far as I can see it took, up to 90% of people hard earned savings is pretty appalling! But I’m not a politician or an economist, just a simple chap trying to earn a living whilst doing something I truly believe in along the way. Making sick people well again!

So lets get back to the holiday again and stop meandering all over the place!

We eventually settled on Halkidiki, Porto Sani Hotel to be precise, we found it via the Thompson website and booked via them. We only made one mistake. Going via Luton, this was not a good start to the holiday as the hotel we were booked in was appalling and not a particularly good start to the week. To really put the boot in, I was so tired I left my bank card in the pay machine whilst paying for my car pick up! But Natwest being as useful as ever, transfer money to my other account moved stuff around and off we went, a bit tired and grumpy but none the less looking forward to our trip.

We arrived at Halkidiki airport on the Monday and were ushered to a somewhat cramped coach and off we went to our destination, an hours journey away from the airport. We arrived in mid 30 degree heat, a far cry away from the early 20’s of Southend! Our luggage was removed and put on a trolly to be wheeled in to the hotel. My better half at this point was panicking about something being left, remember we are tired and stressed after the rubbish night before and a tad short on patience. We ate lunch at the grill, the downstairs outdoor restaurant attached to the hotel and I had a gorgeous sea bass on a bed of endive with a side a lovely vegetables. This was the start of an amazing week of food, which I will get to in due time. The lovely cool reception area. Remember it was hot as you like outside but in here was always great greeted us and the holiday began!

Hotel Reception

 

We ate that night in the Poseidon buffet restaurant then went to bed, to be awakened by the music of a beech party going on till about 1am. To say I was peeved was an understatement! This was a 5 star holiday, our honeymoon to boot and another night of rubbish sleep!

We woke the next day, thinking we had made a mistake but resigned to enjoy it as best we could. As the day progressed however and I picked up my book, I had brought, I started thinking on the night before. This is a family based holiday for people of all ages but predominantly parents of and with children. So I sat back continued to read and did something I haven’t done in a long time. I actually relaxed! I didn’t think about work,until I thought about writing this and have read 2 yes 2, 500 odd page fantasy fiction books by Terry Brooks! I cannot tell your the last time I picked up a book and read it just for the sake of reading it! I love my work, it is a calling rather than a job, but I can become obsessive and this holiday has shown me a little about myself. Truth be told it has been quite Cathartic in fact.

So back to the holiday and why I am writing this? Well after our first night we asked at the front desk what was going on last night and would it happen again, mainly due to the reason for our stay as we didn’t want it ruined by loud music every night. We were given a full apology that it was an end of season party for the teenagers and in truth I think we were just grumpy after the day before and the appalling hotel room our agent booked for us in Luton. We also got a bottle of champagne delivered to the room by the Manager George Adam as a welcome on our honeymoon. As the holiday progressed the amazing staff introduced themselves, even some remembering our names after just a couple of

The Beach

 

meetings. Slowly, we relaxed more and more each and every day. We started waking at 8, popping down to secure a bed, this being my job and a great way to get some me time whilst I read my book until Emma and Aimee came down and we went to breakfast. You can see the lovely views I enjoyed, as a bit of “me time” before I was rushed off my feet playing with Aimee lol. By the third night we then decided that after Aimee was in the swing of things, and was also waking up late, having 2 odd hour naps in the afternoon (more reading for me 🙂 ) we would try the evening entertainment. In all honesty we could hear it from our room, not in a bad way, but pleasantly drifting across the trees at the back of the building, and wondered what it was all about? We started with the 80s 90s and noughty’s night. I can only say we wish we had gone the night before for the blues brothers night. Aimee enjoyed herself so much she actually cried when we had to leave to go to bed! The next night was a Michael Jackson tribute night and this evening is an Abba tribute night.

So far so good, excellent in fact, but what relevance does this have to my normal blog articles? Well, by now you are all aware about my love of healthy living, of healthy movement patterns, of healthy eating and healthy thought patterns. A holiday isn’t about eating healthily, or doing exercise, it’s about chilling on the beach and drinking beer!

Well if sitting on a beach drinking beer getting sun burn floats your boat then go for it, but I prefer things to be a bit more relaxed, a bit more all encompassing whilst still staying true to what I believe and that is not always easy to achieve on a holiday, and I’m sure many of you can agree on this one. The number of places I have been on when i was younger where its just pizza, or burgers of fish and chips is amazing, but now I’m getting a bit older with a young family I prefer the finer things in life. My better half still likes the naughty things and to be honest as its my holiday I’m not going to stop myself experiencing the odd dessert or two 😉

The Beach

 

This holiday however was spectacular when it comes to ticking all the boxes. If its food you like then you can want for nothing. The above view shows the extent of the bay and the marina. Also great for evening entertainment plus another range of restaurants from the hotel nestled around the marina, can be used as part of the half or full board payments. It’s a bit strange but really rather clever! You get to eat out in small tavernas and it’s all part of you payments! You can still stick to healthy non carb based diet with ease, in fact it’s easier to eat healthily here than at home, because one of the chefs has already done the work for you. In the “Poseidon” buffet restaurant you are spoilt for choice with the range of beautifully prepared salads, vegetables, fish and meat dishes. After talking to the head chef, who is helped by his two sous chefs they prepare a different menu each evening for 14 nights. It is at this point I would say a thank you to “Milina”, an awesome girl that waited on our table a few times, remembering Aimee’s name every time she saw her and asking how she was doing and if she wanted anything else. As I said, she was amazing with our daughter, as to be honest most if not all the staff were, but upon talking to here we found out, she was a qualified nursery nurse!

Dinner

 

Also my daughter got a taste for pistachios on the holiday, as well as the “green” pistachio ice cream. The girl “Xristina” who was working in the dedicated ice cream area was great with Aimee and also remembered her name every evening. The beauty of the buffet menu is those with small children, many of whom can be fussy eaters, there is an amazing variety of foods to cater for everyones choice. Plus with the 14 day menu you get to try something different every day if you decide to take a full two week break from reality. The thought of buffet food however does tend to conjure up some concern, but for those of you that have eaten in I would say the equivalent of 2 star AA quality restaurants, you get an idea of the quality of the food here. Bearing in mind the number of diners it is really quite some feat!

At lunch we tended to eat in the grill downstairs next to the pool. We also discovered they will bring certain foods down to the beach which makes a nice change. A real character was “Dimitri” who at one point we heard him taking flack from someone about refusing to pay for her orange juice as she clearly felt it was from the middle of the carton of juice and not the top and wasn’t as fresh as it should have been. He took it totally in his stride kept smiling and just dealt with it, he has far more patience than I have.

We did spend a couple of days round the kiddies pool, which was great, but a little crowded. Whilst speaking to Dirk the room division manager he informed us about the massive refurb over the closed season which will address this issue. They are increasing the size and hence reducing he number or rooms. This reduces guest numbers, but the staff levels will stay the same. I can only see this as a benefit to all who stay here. He also showed us around some of the other rooms, just to satisfy mine and my wife’s curiosity. We stayed in a double garden room, which we booked through our agent. Upon looking at the rooms, for a few pounds more each day a junior suite would be far more suited to a couple with one or even two young kids. If you want real luxury and have a “few” extra pounds burning a hole in your pocket then go for a one or better yet two bedroom family suite. The ones with sea views are amazing!

The View

 

At this point, i would also point out that apart from the hotel, there are a few other places to stay in the resort, the Asteria suites are a separate hotel of 48 luxury suites which the odd celeb will be seen wandering around. The sani village is just that, a village of luxury apartments and bungalows and finally at the other end of sani is the sani beach club. These appear to aimed at slightly older clients. They are a mixture of private bungalows some with their own pools. They even have a few of these for sale! Prices for the hotel at super high season, that’s school holiday time in July and August range from around €300 euros to €1200 euros a night half board. Promotions can get you rooms cheaper than this, but views from the rooms may not be as desirable. From chatting to guests, those that had gone through an agent like us were getting 7 or 14 might breaks, with a 7 night break being comparable to a 10 night stay if you booked everything yourself ie flights with the airline and accommodation with the hotel. Next time we would do this and probably go for a junior suite, which is just that bit bigger than a double room and not that much more price wise and do 10 rather than the 7 days we did.

The facilities in the hotel are superb, there is a small shop on the ground level where bottles of water can be purchased at a very reasonable price, as well as a range of foods, sun creams and even Johnstone baby wipes! It really was a great little on site shop. Should you require something a bit different then there is a supermarket in the marina, which is a simple 10 minute amble along the sea front. There are several other shops and restaurants and tomorrow we are finishing up in the fish restaurant. So is there a gym and spa, that’s a yes to both. The gym doesn’t have a massive variety of free weights which is a shame, but this is a holiday so I need to curb by enthusiasm for lifting weights a bit, even if I did get withdrawal symptoms! It’s has two great pools at the hotel, one for young kids about 50cm deeps and one for older kids about 1.2 metres deep. As I said earlier I got bored of the pool and after a couple of days we stayed down on the beach. This was awesome! It’s no more than about a maximum of 30 cm deep for the first 30 metres of so and even about 70 to 80 metres off the beach it’s no more than about 1 metre deep! I was swimming at about 150 odd metres off shore to be unable to touch the bottom! This was my real exercise on this holiday and it was great fun. Swimming up and down the bay between the kids play park area, which was a selection of inflatables in the sea and the wall of the marina; a distance of several hundred metres. The water is quite salty so I would definitely suggest goggles which also showed me the remarkable number of fish. Mainly grey mullet up to about 30 cm long. Ps swim in the morning as the winds tend to make the water a tad choppy in the afternoon unless you move around to the other beach that is overlooked by the “B” wing of apartments and suites.

If you like feeding the fish then throw some bread into the water in the marina, there are so many they swim out the water. And over the top of each other to get to it!

So would I go again? Absolutely yes. You can eat good quality healthy “clean” food or eat some not so healthy food if you really want to. You can swim in crystal clear fish filled waters and you can play with your kids in either of the pools or better yet the shallow warm waters of the bay next to the Marina. As I said I would go for a slightly larger room than a double I’d you have a young child, definitely if you have two children. I have a couple of days to go and none of us really want this holiday to end it has been so good. So after next year where we are off to Naples in Florida to stay with family, you can’t beat a free holiday, we will definitely be back, but we will be booking direct and spending a few extra days and bring a few extra books!

Ttfn

Stuart

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