You are probably wondering what the title means. It is the best bit of Spanish that I have learnt whilst on my holiday… well, in Spain. 😀

“I’m going to laugh, I’m going to dance, live my life, la, la, la, la“

This is a quote from a song by Marc Anthony. This song was played and performed a lot on my holiday. I just had to learn some of the words so that I could sing along to it and understand the song.

So recently I went to Benidorm. You will find it in the Costa Blanca section of any travel website. A very popular, but misunderstood place. It has a reputation for being full of drunk English people and just like Britain, with a bit of sun. You can definitely find that in Benidorm in certain places, but there is so much more to it than that. And yes, Spanish people do actually exist there! Do not be fooled by all of the stories you hear. Benidorm is split into two sections, old town and new town. New town is the stereotypical Brit’s abroad Beniform. Even so though, in my experience it’s not as bad as they make it sound. Not during the day anyway. Old town is more traditional Spain. When you are looking into booking a hotel in Benidorm, it is worth checking which side of Benidorm the hotel is, just so that you are not disappointed. When you see a picture of the whole of Benidorm at one side you see tall buildings scattered about here and there, and the further into new town you get, the taller the buildings are and the more of them there are. The tallest hotel in Benidorm is the Gran Hotel Bali at FIFTY TWO floors! So if you are not so keen on heights then I would stick to the old town.

The hotel we stayed in was the Sandos Monaco Beach Hotel at sixteen floors. We were on the fourth which was quite nice. We had a lovely view of the pool area. This hotel is more in the centre of Benidorm, so it’s a nice middle ground for exploring the city. It is a spa hotel which offers a great deal. When we booked our room we could pay extra for a spa package. When we arrived we got bottles of mineral water every day and vouchers for free treatments and use of the spa facilities. They have a hydrotherapy pool which I absolutely love. ❤ There was an ice pool, a warm pool, hydrotherapy pool, steam room and two saunas all inside. In the hydrotherapy pool there was a section where you lay on a bed type thing which is under the water, don’t worry your head isn’t! When you are laid on it your body is half covered in water and water shoots from little holes in the bed, this massages the body and gets stronger as it comes to the end of the timer. There was plenty of mood lighting and relaxing music and the sound of the water. I could have laid there forever. That was my happy place where I felt nothing could get to me. I felt so relaxed and free, in my own bubble of bliss. I haven’t felt that relaxed in a long time. The idea is to go around the pool, using all of the different water jets and waterfalls. They call it the circuit and each section is aimed at a different part of the body. Each section is on a timer, so you are supposed to stay in each section until the time is up and then move on to the next. Some of the jets are quite light and others are quite strong and powerful and each one massages you in a different way. It really is like a massage but by water pressure, not the pressure of another person.

On our way there I was SO EXCITED!!! It felt like the first holiday I had ever been on and the first time I had flown. It wasn’t, I have flown many times before. But let’s just say I haven’t got the best track record when it comes to holidays. I seem to go for hospitals rather than hotels. Not my preferred choice at all but that’s just the way things have gone. This holiday meant a great deal to us because the last time we went on holiday, and the last time we went abroad were both disasters. We were getting picked up at 4am to go to the airport. We all decided that there was no point in going to sleep because we would probably feel worse after a few hours sleep than we would with none at all. Gotta say that’s the first time I have ever had a shower at 2am. We had a bucket of chicken for tea and I ordered some popcorn chicken to eat through the night. The fridge was bare and the little food we did have was unopened, so we didn’t want it to be going off while we were away. So it just had to be popcorn chicken, it was the only sensible answer. 😀 When we got to the airport it was so busy. People and cases everywhere. We could hardly move. I couldn’t help but laugh while we walked through security. I was the only one of us that didn’t beep. Both ways might I add, it happened on the way back as well. Me in my very excitable state thought it was hilarious. Whenever I got the chance I kept doing a little dance and singing “we’re going on an airplane, we’re going on holiday” It was like all my Christmases had come at once. When we went to board the plane I was also really excited because we had to go up the outside steps, not on an air bridge. An air bridge just ruins the experience in my opinion. As we walk outside towards the plane I just think wow! It amazes me every time. On an air bridge it is just like walking from one room to another, you could be anywhere. When we were sat on the plane waiting, I was looking out of the window and I spotted something on the ground but wasn’t really sure what it was. My Dad explained that it was the conveyor belt with all of the cases on, but it wasn’t moving, there was a man sat on it waiting for the cases. When the cases started coming I was looking out for our bright pink and purple ones, but I didn’t see them. Some must have already been on the plane because there didn’t seem many. Taking off was exciting as always. I just love that feeling of the plane leaving the ground. It fascinates me how it actually happens. The sky was bright and the view was great.

It had only taken us six hours to get to the airport and fly to Alicante in Spain. In recent years we had spent longer than that sat in a car to get to Weymouth. And this wasn’t all sitting and feeling squashed and cramped. The actual flight was only two hours. It was so easy. And a sat-nav related argument free zone. Because we hadn’t been abroad for so long, we forgot about these things.

On our holiday we went on a few trips. One was to Mundomar. This is a wildlife park and aquarium. It is quite high up in the mountains and you get some brilliant views. There were dolphins, seals, flamingos, penguins and all sorts of different things to look at. It is definitely worth a visit. Below is a picture taken of one of the water tanks with something swimming in it. I think it may have been a penguin… if anybody can tell, please tell me so I can write it! 😀

The other place we went to is Valencia. I had heard of this place before, but didn’t really know what to expect. It turns out it is a beautiful place with very artistic and unique buildings, some new, but many are very old. There is also a castle and a cathedral. We bought some very colourful bowls while we were there. The picture below shows one large bowl and two small bowls, all of which are multicoloured with different flowers and patterns.

Every night in the hotel there was some excellent entertainment. A lot of it did seem to be dancing which I struggled with because of my bad sight. But there were also some great bands and entertainers. I absolutely loved Pablo Bloom, Rosalinda and the Saxy Swingsters. The entertainment team in the hotel also put on games, quizzes and kareoke. For the first time in a long time I wore dresses and nice shoes and I danced. And it felt so good. There were also activities in the day to do, so there was never a dull moment. I took part in a yoga session which was good. They also gave away lots of spa vouchers as prizes, so that is a good thing to keep in mind. Below is a picture of me with Pablo Bloom (My Dad thinks it’s the real life Orlando Bloom!)

This holiday I needed a break, mentally as well as physically. I did my very best to block out any negative feelings, thoughts or past experiences. One thing I was very sick of was hospital. A lot of the time it feels like every day conversations automatically result in talking about one of the billions of times I have been in hospital. It sometimes feels as if that is all that I am associated with. Like people think of me and they think hospital, like nothing else has ever happened in my life. And yes I am aware I am doing this myself right now. I wasn’t going to bring it up, but then I remembered something else I need to tell you. So anyway I was stressed with all the hospital conversations and I had quite a few routine hospital appointments leading up to the holiday, and I just wanted rid. I wanted rid of everything that remotely relates to that place. So I decided to play a little game. I banned the word hospital and I created The H Box. This is like a swear box, every time somebody says the word, they have to put money in the box. One hospital = one euro. I think it’s fair to say the word was mentioned, seventeen euros worth of mentions, one was even from me. But the word was never related to me and my experiences. It was all just in general conversation. And it made it funny. It made light of the situation. My Mum said a few times “Oh i’ve just seen a building… but I can’t tell you what it is” So The H Box did do it’s job and the subject was avoided. Maybe I’ll take it on holiday with me next year as well. 😀 We are saving the money to use on our next holiday.

Coming back from my holiday was extremely hard. I always take it badly, coming home after a good holiday. I sulk and get upset for days. This time it felt worse than ever. While I was away a massive weight was lifted and I just felt peaceful and free of all negativity. Now I’m back and it feels like the weight has doubled and just dropped on me. Everything just feels to much, but I don’t know what everything is. But that’s a story for another day. I’m getting there. I must be, writing this isn’t upsetting me now. It’s making me smile and look back on the happy memories.

So I’m going to leave you with the song that I started with. Those lyrics sum up my holiday, and they sum up how I try to live my life.

Voy a reír, voy a bailar vivir mi vida, la, la, la, la – I’m going to laugh, I’m going to dance, live my life, la, la, la, la

xx ❤ xx