Day 1 - Plane, Spain and Rain

One a.m. starts are rarely good things, but I must admit, this one was close. It took us surprisingly little time to get out of town, under the cover of darkness, and before long we were off to Birmingham airport. We saw very few other people on the roads (as you'd expect), so we were able to make good progress and lop at least fifteen minutes off our estimated time of arrival. Turning up at the car park, we checked in the S-Max and boarded the bus which would take us to the airport itself. The seats on the bus didn't allow for much legroom, and the journey was longer than I'd expected, but eventually we were dropped at the terminal entrance. Checking in was a breeze, but then I realised I had packed some stuff I shouldn't have in my hand luggage, and I started to get in a bit of an unnecessary panic. After we grabbed a hot chocolate at Costa to wake us up, I managed to buy a plastic bag to keep my liquids in during Customs, and the only casualties were my scissors and deodorant, which are easily replaceable.
Anyway, with that sorted out, we passed through Customs without any hiccups, and soon we were having a full English breakfast in Departures - Just what I needed to prepare me for a morning of travelling. Even Mum had a full English - What is the world coming to?? After this, we still had some time to spare, so I went to locate a puzzle book for the flight, but unfortunately I couldn't find one I liked. James Bond would have to do! Other than that, the shops were very uninspiring, so I waited out the rest of the hour by playing Mah-Jong on my iPod - What fun! Not. Eventually, we were guided onto our plane, a Ryanair 737, so no second breakfast, sadly! After a short delay, we had left the glimmering lights of the city behind us and were shooting upwards through grey clouds we hoped to see the last of.
I passed the next two hours of flying by doing Su Doku, reading Moonraker and listening to La Oreja De Van Gogh's latest album, 'A Las Cinco En El Astoria', and it's not bad! I'm still not hooked on Leire Martinez, but the typical sunny feeling of LOVG is definitely present. In particular, 'Mas', 'Sola' and 'Inmortal' are really good fun, and deserve places on the next Grandes Exitos.
Soon we were touching down in Alicante - A decidedly overcast Alicante. With no time to dwell on the weather now, we went through the motions of getting our suitcases and picking up the hire car, a graphite Ford Focus. Armed with our awesome GPS (Just as well, because our maps were rubbish) we journied to Benidorm without issue, and arrived at our hotel, the Deloix. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to check in yet because we were too early, so we traveled onwards to the waterfront for a walk and lunch. I must admit, I was less than impressed. The promenade was overlooked by a row of depressing flats of various shades of grey and brown, and the thousands of neon signs and posters made everything seem way too tacky. And every other person passing you by was either older than fifty or a chav. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against old people, but it would be nice to be reassured that someone a bit more like me can have fun in Benidorm. Not only that, but the sky was grey and it even rained from time to time, so no-one was on the beach and all the recliners were stacked up. All in all, it gave me the impression that we'd left England just for it to follow us here. This isn't the Spain I was expecting!
Anyway, after wandering along the promenade and back, we decided it was lunchtime. Nipping into the nearest restaurant, Mum and I used our Spanish to order some sandwiches, and chicken and chips for Pete. I'm still not sure what was in my half-a-baguette, but whatever it was, I loved it! Also, the orange juice here is brilliant. None of this concentrated business: All of it is fresh, and as a consequence it's that much better. Not that you'd expect anything less from a region which prides itself on its oranges.
On the return to the hotel, we decided to stop in a supermarket to get some supplies (alcohol and fizzy drinks!), and I took the chance to have a look around. It wasn't that interesting, though: Just a sort of Londis-type shop with a really weird name (Maxi Dia % - What??), so no magazines or CDs or anything. Hopefully I can get out to a Carrefour for that sort of thing. So, by this time it was time to check into the hotel, and we pretty much flopped as soon as we got in. Pete grabbed a Coke Zero, and I a Fanta, and together we watched the skiers make fools of themselves on TV. Pete was out like a light before long. I stayed up to chatch up on this diary and to reappraise the LOVG. Nope, still the same thoughts as last time. Ah well, it was a good enough excuse to get out of reality for a while.
After a little more relaxing, we decided to get down to the pool. It's not brilliant, but it's good enough for exercise. The outdoor one looks better, but it was raining at the time. Despite having to wear a hat (!), I managed to get in my thirty laps. So then it was back up to the rooms to make use of the average shower facilities, and before long we were ready for dinner! Making our way to the dining room, we discovered a brilliant buffet full of different, interesting foods. In particular, the panga fish was wonderfully meaty and the desserts were...interesting as well. I knew I had all week so I moderated a little and felt all the better for it. Hooray for moderation!
Relocating to the common room, we ordered cocktails (mine non-alcoholic, of course) and enjoyed the atmosphere of the evening. Eventually it got late, so we returned to the rooms, changed into our pyjamas, and were asleep straight away!

So there you go. Hope you enjoyed the first installment of my holiday diary, and make sure you tune in again tomorrow for some fantastic architechture, a photo frenzy in a natural park and, at last, a glimpse of the sun!

Jack